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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Defaulting to "Icons on Buttons"
From:       Zak Jensen <coolguyzak () gmail ! com>
Date:       2005-09-03 16:40:35
Message-ID: 21bb44f305090309405c4e0315 () mail ! gmail ! com
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On 9/3/05, Fred Schaettgen <kde.sch@ttgen.net> wrote:
<snip>
> 
> So there are several arguments which are mutually exclusive:
> - clutter vs. additional hints
> - easy interpretation ("ah, a back arrow") vs. easy association ("ah, I know
> that from the toolbar"):

I do not agree with the interpretation vs. association exclusivity.
For instance, consider the back arrow example... back arrows are
easially interpreted, and can be easially associated (Back arrow on
toolbar vs. back arrow in Go menu)... maybe I don't fully understand
the concept, though.

<snip>

> - single SVG icon source vs. good look for all sizes
> 
> Disallowing icons completely for menus and buttons is clearly no option.
> Putting icons everywhere also doesn't seem to make sense. So the truth must
> lay in between.

I have a reccomendation for this: Icons should be used for any items
on the toolbar, at the very least. (So, for instance, Back, Forward,
Home, Refresh, etc. would all get their icons duplicated in
Konqueror's menu). This will help with toolbar associativity.

In additioon to that, any action which is shared between applications
(Open, Save, Save As, Settings, Quit, New, etc.) should get icons.
This will help with action associativity between applications.

I don't know if there are any other bits that should have icons... but
I feel the above should be considered necessary.

> Where should we draw the line in the KDE HIG?
> When is it appropriate to use an icon on buttons and menu items?

This is largely the same question you just asked... except for the
addition of buttons. Concerning that, my opinion is to do something
similar to what I detailed above. Any buttons which are commonly used
should keep their visual cues to them. Hence, OK, Cancel, Save As,
Defaults, Advanced Settings (if we choose to continue using that in
KControl), etc should all keep their icons.

Action buttons... ones that describe a certain action that will happen
("Accept Cookie" vs "Decline Cookie", for example) should not have
those icons.

> When is it clearly not appropriate?

Mostly, I say action buttons. There are probably more things that I am
not considering here... I like providing a "general set" that can be
built from rather than limited to... So excluding things isn't really
one of my fortes.

> To what extend can icons be reused for different actions?

My opinion is that icons should be exclusive to 1 action. (This
doesn't include overlays, such as the mounted overlays on removable
media). It only gets confusing when there are several actions with the
same image associated with them. However, that doesn't mean that
images cannot be reused at all... Consider the forward and back
buttons in Konq. Any time that an action could be expressed or
visualized in the concept of forward and back, then those images could
be considered.

For instance, in KPDF, when you are navigating by bookmarks or pages.

> Should all sizes look the same?
> 
> 
> Fred
> 
> --
> Fred Schaettgen
> kde.sch@ttgen.net
> _______________________________________________
> kde-usability mailing list
> kde-usability@kde.org
> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-usability
>
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