Re: [Usability]Icons in Menus

[Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>]

On 29 Jan 2003, Dave Bordoley wrote:

> Date: 29 Jan 2003 09:51:43 -0500
> From: Dave Bordoley <bordoley msu edu>
> To: Usability gnome org
> Subject: [Usability]Icons in Menus
>
> I don't know if this has been discussed or not (if so please point me to
> the discussion), but i find the default preference of icons in menus
> very unappealing. For one not all menu items have icons so menus end up
> looking incomplete. Furthermore, the additional icons make identifying
> checkboxes and radio buttons harder as they get lost in the noise of the
> other menu icons.

The icons become like a button and have both a pressed and unpressed
state.  Certain icons would benifit from being redrawn for clarity at
small resolutions.

You dont need to have icons for everything.

In some situations attempting to have icons for everything will actually
reduce usability rather than improve it (no icons are better than bad,
confusing icons)

> If no one objects I will file a bug with libgnomeui requesting a change
> of the default preference. I should also note that the mac and windows
> do not have icons in their menus.

Huh?
windows definately has icons in menus for a variety of programs.

Alan Horkan
http://advogato.org/person/AlanHorkan/