Re: [Usability] Rational for icons in button

["David Adam Bordoley" <bordoley msu edu>]

From: Frederic Crozat <fcrozat mandrakesoft com>
> Hi, 
>
> I'm having an argument with one of my co-workers on the "icon in button"
> as used in GNOME (and never elsewhere, except maybe old Borland
> programs). 
>
> So, I was wondering what were the pros which led to use of icons in
> buttons ?

probably something that some gtkhacker just did one day without thinking 
about it. There has never really been a big usability discussion about it. 

> While I agree putting icon in every button would be silly (it can be
> hard and sometime impossible to use an icon for every actions), I think
> default actions should have their icons, which will ease recognition for
> users (well, my co-worker has the opposite opinion..)

Well Calum, I and Greg have all argued that icons in some buttons and not in 
other buttons make dialogs look not-professional. Notice how both the mac 
and windows don't have icons in buttons. I don't think that the icons really 
help in most cases anyway[1], and we should be encouraging devs to use more 
action oriented terms for their button labels in dialogs anyway (While using 
"ok" is acceptable, its better to use more descriptive terms save, download, 
update for instance). 

dave 

[1] What does an "x" have to do with cancel? what does the "Return" icon 
have to do with ok?