11–20 of 42 posts
I'm of the strong opinion, that we should use the actual word "Save" whenever the space constraints allow us to do so. I've spent countless hours explaining to my grandparents that the dustbin icon actually means "delete", and if you want to share a picture, you press the button with the three node graph.
Using a word like "Save" in place of an icon could be problematic when translating into another language in which it was a much longer word.
I'm of the strong opinion, that we should use the actual word "Save" whenever the space constraints allow us to do so. I've spent countless hours explaining to my grandparents that the dustbin icon actually means "delete", and if you want to share a picture, you press the button with the three node graph.
Which - to nitpick - is actually Latin and pre-dates French by several centuries:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampersand
it has a tradition in English as well, where it has actually more use than in other Latin derived languages, and actually the "ampersand" in English comes from a corruption of "and per se and", losing its original connection to "et".
In Italian the character is called "e commerciale" and in practice it is only used in the (anglo derived) names of firms (besides of course programming), in French it is esperluette, in Spanish it is called directly "et" (or Y comercial) in German it keeps the original relation with "et" as Et-zeichen (also Und-zeichen).
It is a very good example, as it is a symbol that originated in Latin, but which meaning was slightly changed by English and actually remained in common use only there, and survived centuries to "land" as a common symbol in computer scripting and programming.
About the floppy disk icon, it is IMHO a higly debatable one, like the (manilla) folder of the type used in vertical file cabinets, now that these are either completely extinct or only survive in a small number of offices.
I.e. the symbols were created in times where the object represented were extremely common, and as such were a good exemplification of a concept, but think also at the icon Winzip or similar use for compressed archives, a file cabinet inside a (compressing) C-clamp (in times when old-style metal clamps have become rare) compared to the (senseless) one where the symbol is a rectangle with a partially opened zipper.
So, personally I struggle to imagine symbols that could replace them "universally", i.e. there is the risk that any developer/designer would start using different images, creating a modern Tower of Babel.
I'm of the strong opinion, that we should use the actual word "Save" whenever the space constraints allow us to do so. I've spent countless hours explaining to my grandparents that the dustbin icon actually means "delete", and if you want to share a picture, you press the button with the three node graph.
We should keep it. The benefit from switching is miniscule, and the value lost in continuity and recognizability is massive. I'm tired of designers chasing fads.
Notepad++, MS Office and Emacs has the floppy.
What alternative would you propose?
We should keep it. The benefit from switching is miniscule, and the value lost in continuity and recognizability is massive. I'm tired of designers chasing fads.
Imagine if those "designers" suddenly got interested in the Chinese language. - "Hey, why is the character for 'sun' so boxy? The sun is round! Let's make the character a bit rounder! New Unicode position!" - "Oh, but you forgot to remove the line in the middle, I need a new Unicode position for my variant!" - "Wait! In my newly designed font, I just replaced the original one. What do I do with the two new Unicode ch…
We should keep it. The benefit from switching is miniscule, and the value lost in continuity and recognizability is massive. I'm tired of designers chasing fads.
I agree. Also, what modern icon could be used to replace the floppy disk that would be immediately recognizable as meaning "save this file"? And if it represents a currently-used device, like a USB thumb drive, how long before that one becomes obsolete? And would we end up with each product having a different icon?
Safe -- regarding obsoletion: probably a safe bet compared to a piggy bank (pun intended)