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Subject:Re: Graphics instead of words From:"Edwin Skau" <eddy_skau -at- mailcity -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com Date:Tue, 23 May 2000 11:04:44 +0530
Hi:
Icons have their utility value in applications, usually as GUI buttons that need to be introduced first. The concept springs from the way we recognise people from the way they dress. At some point, you need to be informed that the man in uniform is a policeman, etc. Icons, though representative, are not necessarily intuitive graphics. They have to undergo the process of initial association. If this step can be circumvented, hats off to you.
However, icons in documentation have limited application. If it is an icon the user has already encountered in the application, go ahead and use it.
Using an icon for documentation purposes alone has been successful in the Dummies series. But like others have mentioned earlier, you have to use a thousand words on this picture first, before you use it to replace those thousands elsewhere.
