RE: icons vs. buttons?

["Lauren" <lt34 -at- csus -dot- edu>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+lt34=csus -dot- edu -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com 
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lt34=csus -dot- edu -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On 
> Behalf Of Tracy Taylor
> Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 12:57 PM
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: icons vs. buttons?
> 
> Hiya - this may only be relevant to those of us who write 
> about software.  
> 
> In my opinion, within most software applications one has 
> buttons.  The toolbar in Word has buttons, not icons.  And 
> icons open programs.  
> 
> However, I got this definition from my user experience professional:
> Button - an affordance  that leads to an action, which is 
> surrounded (generally) by a border that looks  somewhat 3-D.
> Link - an affordance  that leads to a new page or site and is 
> generally  text.
> Icon - a small picture  that represents (we hope) an action, 
> some information, or an  idea
> Any thoughts, or generally agreed upon principles?  Thanks, Tracy

I have thoughts.  A link is a text representation of access to an
application or web site.  An icon is a graphical representation of the same
access and is not dependent on an application, except for the O/S interface.
A button is an icon within an application that is a link to other
applications, links, or other features within the application.

Lauren

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