Re: [Usability] Save Icon

[Calum Benson <Calum Benson Sun COM>]

On Sun, 2006-01-29 at 20:21 -0600, Shaun McCance wrote:
> On Sun, 2006-01-29 at 04:49 -0200, Evandro Fernandes Giovanini wrote:
> > Em Dom, 2006-01-29 �13:58 +1300, Matthew Paul Thomas escreveu:
> > > On 29 Jan, 2006, at 3:25 AM, Steven Garrity wrote:
> > > > ...
> > > > 6) "We shouldn't have to save at all." Probably/maybe. Doesn't mean we 
> > > > should try to find a better icon in the meantime.
> > > > ...
> > > 
> > > (7) Those programs that still have manual saving shouldn't need an icon 
> > > for Save anyway, since it's not nearly important enough to include in a 
> > > toolbar.
> > > 
> > 
> > I completely agree. IMO:
> > 
> > 1) menus shouldn't have icons.  
> 
> I completely disagree.  Icons in menus reinforce the
> connection between the action and the icon.  It helps
> you learn the icon, so you can use the icon in the
> toolbar effectively.

Which suggests, perhaps, that only menu items that have a corresponding
toolbar button should have icons.  (This is how Microsoft originally
intended things to be, when they introduced menu icons... but then they
spoiled it somewhat by making it possible to add every single menu item
to the toolbar, in Office at least...)

Cheeri,
Calum.

-- 
CALUM BENSON, Usability Engineer       Sun Microsystems Ireland
mailto:calum benson sun com            Java Desktop System Group
http://ie.sun.com                      +353 1 819 9771

Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Sun Microsystems