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Scott Parsons wants <<... to use a graphic instead of the word "find." I'm
trying to substitute it with either a magnifying glass icon or a pair of
binoculars icon. I printed both icons and showed everyone in the office. No
one got the meaning with either one.>>
Coincidentally enough, I had the exact same discussion yesterday with one of
our developers, and he had exactly the same problem. This plays to my
prejudice (supported by a large body of anecdotal evidence and by something
I read long ago and wish I still had in my literature files): people don't
decipher icons, they memorize them. Not coincidentally, that's exactly why
we use tool tips in software: because the icons are meaningless to anyone
except their creator who hasn't already used them before and thus memorized
their meaning. If you ever want to screw up a colleague big-time, sneak into
his office when he's away and "customize" his Word toolbar by rearranging
the icon positions. You'll find out just how strongly people depend on the
positioning of icons to remember what they do.
I'm a strong defender of visual communication, but icons fail the "it works
well and works reliably" test.
<<I don't have the luxury of using a tool tip, since it is written
documentation, and do not want to type "find" anywhere I use the icon. Any
suggestions?>>
Well, you could take a screenshot of the icon with the tooltip text
visible... <g> My advice? If you must use an icon, either include a visual
glossary of icons and make it painfully obvious that this glossary is
available, define the icon somewhere where you know readers can't miss the
definition, or accept the fact that if the context doesn't make the meaning
clear, you may have to resort to using words after all.
"Technical writing... requires understanding the audience, understanding
what activities the user wants to accomplish, and translating the often
idiosyncratic and unplanned design into something that appears to make
sense."--Donald Norman, The Invisible Computer
