Re: [Usability] Ellipsis on buttons

[Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org>]

On Thu, 2006-03-23 at 17:51 +0000, Joachim Noreiko wrote:
> --- Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org> wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, 2006-03-23 at 14:50 +0000, Alan Horkan
> > wrote:
> 
> > > Developers should be slapped for not properly
> > labelling things.
> > > (Reading documentation to find out what things do
> > should be an option not
> > > a necessity.)
> > > 
> > 
> > Oh, come now.  We use iconography for all sorts of
> > purposes
> > in our interfaces.  Should drop-down menus remove
> > their arrows
> > in favor of a "Select" label?  Should disclosure
> > triangles be
> > removed in favor of "Open/close group" buttons?
> > 
> > This need to label everything gives us bulky and
> > cumbersome
> > interfaces.  One reason Mac interfaces often feel
> > slick and
> > efficient is that Apple isn't afraid to use their
> > icons.
> 
> I'm taking a wander through some of the dialogs on my
> mac...
> The non-labelled buttons I see are:
> 
> Little round '?' for help in dialogs
> + and - to add and remove items in a list (eg list of
> printers)

These are largely what I was referring to, as well as
some of the icons in iTunes:

http://kwc.org/blog/archives/desktop.itunes.jpg

Although I think iTunes tends too much towards not
having labels.  I'm a big fan of using iconography
(not necessarily just image icons, but more generally
symbols that represent things) for common and standard
operations.

The Help button is a perfect example.  Because Apple
uses the single ? icon very effectively, they can put
it almost anywhere in an interface.  Add and Remove
are also good examples.  Whenever we use them, they
end up feeling awkward, occupying a disproportionately
large amount of space that ought to be used to display
more data.

We have a love affair with icons alongside text, but
we're afraid to let them stand on their own.  We even
default to icons+text toolbars.

--
Shaun