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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: About KMail Toolbar Mail Icons (ATD)
From:       Zak Jensen <coolguyzak () gmail ! com>
Date:       2005-09-29 22:52:39
Message-ID: 21bb44f30509291552w7cfe84fdw624b52902e79a8e () mail ! gmail ! com
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On 9/29/05, Sébastien Laoût <slaout@linux62.org> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> NOTE: I'm using Nuvola icons and will apply the reasonning to Crystal SVG
> too...
>
> I was looking at the KMail toolbar to "Send Queued Messages".
> And then seen that:
>
> * The icon for "Send Queued Messages" show a mail with the stamp face
> * The icon for "Reply" show the other side: with the "triangle";
> * The icon for "Get Mails in" show that "triangle side" but the mail
>   is open, this time (triangle pointing to the top);
> * The icon for "New Message" also show that side, the mail is closed, BUT
>   the mail icon is not rotated of 45°.
>
> All those mail icons are inconsistent.
>
> When seeing the "Send Queued Messages" icon, I first thinked that we see the
> stamp face because the mail « is already written, have a stamp, and READY to
> post ».
>
> I tought it was a good idea but the other icons don't follow the reasonning.
> So here is what I propose to have consistent mail icons that are both
> differenciable and recognizable as a particular action:
>
> * The icon of "Reply" should be open, because we haven't written the mail yet,
>   so it is open to "put the letter we haven't written yet into the mail";
> * The icon for "Get Mails in" should be closed, because by clicking this
>   button we will retreive the mails and in real life they are closed.
>   In the counter case, someone spyed your mails! ;-)
>   It should also illustrate a pile of messages: we often don't get one message
>   when fetching mails, but two or more (if we haven't done so in a while).
>   This addition would also make the difference between "Reply" (illustrating
>   one mail) and "Get Messages" more visible.
> * Idem: "Send Queued Messages" should illustrate several mails, as the term
>   in a plural one, the icon should reflect that!

I think part of the issue here is the ambiguity of the term mail in
English, where the singular and plural forms of the word are identical
(in American English, a single piece of mail is usually referred to as
a letter).

It is interesting to note that in the circles I travel in, the plural
form of email switches dependent on context. "I have to fire off
several emails before I go to lunch". "Sure, I'll go to lunch after
checking my email". I wonder how many other dialects/languages this
also occurs in--but I digress.

If the icon creators don't know of this ambiguity, they may confuse
it. Either way, I like your idea.

> * The icon for "New Message" should be open too (like the "Reply" one) and
>   perhapse also 45° rotated (but for that one I'm not sure: it perhapse help
>   some diversity in the icons if it's not).

Hmm. It may be better to make the envelope stand on its horizontal for
the reply (and forward, if this occurs as well). In all 3 situations
(new, reply, forward), the user has the opportunity to edit or add to
the email. The act of sending it hasn't yet occurred--and is not
actually related to the reply action itself. For instance, I could
choose to reply to a message, but then save it as a draft.

> Is such detail OK from a usability point of view?
> Does such "Attention to The Detail" (ATD) is worth bothering?
> Is there some usability study that state such icon detail is worth bothering?

The imagery really helped on this one. I agree that the "new" icons
you are proposing seem more intuitive to me. (Particularly since I
only speak English, thus wasn't exactly sure what each icon meant).

> Then, I remembered I was using Nuvola icons :-)
> Switched to Crystal SVG and the situation is... different:
>
> * Every icon show the same face;
> * They are ONLY differencied by the little arrow direction in the small green
>   circle!
>
> So perhapse we should apply this ATD, so we get both benefits:
>
> * Icons aren't nearly-the-sames anymore;
> * They are more doing theire job: they are identifiable to a logical action.

I never understood the crystal set. If I remember, though, they are
not "editable", as everaldo owns them. May be wrong here.

> We can also go further:
>
> * "Send now" should show the "triangle face" but the triangle should be
>   curved: as if we took a shot during the user closing the mail...
>   If you get my point.

Interesting idea. It is important as well, to put in a distinction
between the single mail sending this entails and the multiple nature
of send/recieve queued. I'm not sure if the "send now" icon will be as
identifiable as you intend it to be though.
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