[WEB4LIB] RE: icons/images for email reference service

[James B Lenze KC8NNU]

On Sun, 24 Feb 2002, Sarah Graham wrote:

> Ever heard the cliche "a picture is worth a thousand words"? Marketers and
> computer interface designers have known for a long time that icons perform
> important functions in our world. For example, think about how many complex
> commands and functions are represented on your MS Word toolbar. Then imagine
> how awful that toolbar would be if it was all words and not images. We are
> all familiar with the printer icon meaning, "send document to the printer" -
> it works well because it represents a simple action.
> 

You make some good points.  However, I submit that the icons on the
MS toolbars work best for people already familiar with MS word or other MS
office products.  And the more you work with the products, the more
"intuitive" the icons seem.  But the newbie often has trouble figuring
them out.  Today, I had a patron who printed ten copies of a report
because she was expecting the "print dialog" box to pop-up when she
clicked that icon.  She double clicked the icon.  When the box didn't
appear, she doubled clicked again, thinking that she hadn't done it right.
After the fifth time she double clicked, she asked for help.  So much for
intuitive.

James Lenze
Garden City Library
Garden City, Michigan