Iconitis

[Jim Giles]

>From article <1930 at dataio.Data-IO.COM>, by bright at Data-IO.COM (Walter Bright):
> Don't misunderstand me, icons have their place. The arrows on the ends
> of scroll bars are an ideal example of correct use of icons. I don't know
> anyone who misunderstood that.

Actually, even these can be badly implemented.  The expectation of a naive
user is that: 1) the arrows on the end of the scroll bars go to the furthest
extent in the pointed direction; or 2) the arrows on the end of the scroll
bars move the file by an amount equal to the display size (ie. got to
next/previous page).  Most implementations I've seen follow neither of
interpretations.  The change in the displayed portion of the file is
neither consistent nor easily predictable.  Oh well, at least the file
moves in the expected direction.

My major objection with icons is that often I know very well what I want
to do, but I can't do it without walking down some menu.  This requires
that I use the mouse, move to the right place to bring up the desired
menu, move to the selected item, etc..  But, since I already KNOW what
I want to do, what I really need is to type in a short command!  The
icon interface simply slows down experienced users.