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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: icons on buttons
From:       Celeste Lyn Paul <celeste () kde ! org>
Date:       2008-01-12 14:20:17
Message-ID: 200801120920.26273.celeste () kde ! org
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On Saturday 12 January 2008 05:37:01 Dominik Haumann wrote:
> On Saturday 12 January 2008, Jos Poortvliet wrote:
> > Since when does 'doing what MS and Apple do' constitute a good reason
> > to do something? Sure, we can try to figure out WHY they do certain
> > things, and if their reasons are sound, we can follow. But I see no
> > compelling reason to remove icons from buttons - and though I am no
> > expert, I can easily see why it's actually an advantage in terms of
> > usability. There are projects out there which are trying to copy MS or
> > Apple, but we ain't one of them. We just want to create great, usable
> > software - copying them blindly doesn't bring much advantages that I
> > can think of when there are ways to do better than them.

I don't know of too much evidence which supports icons on system buttons, save 
the few examples where the icons can help with translations and illiteracy 
(not a primary or even secondary goal of the windowing system and shouldn't 
be used as justification). The dialogs and button options should be written 
in a way that the actions are clear to the user.  The icon meanings and can 
be misinterpreted and take up space which could be used for better buttons 
(space is always an issue for Spanish and German translations, probably 
more).  Together with the label, I don't think there is a strong enough value 
added to counter the "screen junk" and inconsistency issues.

I don't know of any compelling reasons to have icons on the buttons, and the 
counter examples seem like a good reason to take them off -- at least by 
default*

> Besides: open .kde/share/config/kdeglobals and edit the section [KDE] with
>
>   [KDE]
>   ...
>   ShowIconsOnPushButtons=false
>
> It's configurable... (something KPersonalizer did)

This is not something we should expect the user to do.  

*The button icon configuration should be configured in the window behavior 
section of kcontrol.


-- 
Celeste Lyn Paul
KDE Usability Project & HCI Working Group
Kubuntu
www.kde.org
www.kubuntu.org

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