In the 1800s, broadcasting meant standing in the field and throwing seeds in every direction.
We've been adapting old idioms to new uses since long before everything turned into a computer.
Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore
231–240 of 279 posts
Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore
#232Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think those symbols are just learned. Take folders. They look like this: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/50/Earthwise.jpg That makes it obvious where the symbol is coming from. The only problem is that those kinds of folders are not commonly used in Germany. I think I never saw a folder like that before I started using computers. Folders look like this in Germany: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co…
It took me many years to work out that that the Mail icon I saw everywhere with the little red flag was a U.S mailbox. Where I live mail comes through a slot in the door.
It does in city/residential neighborhoods in the US as well. Outside of that, a mail man cannot walk door to door, so he delivers them from a car. I'm now wondering how that is handled in your location?
Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore
#233Oh man, not another one of these "durr, icons are based on technologies that don't apply anymore!" articles. Tell you what, you invent "better" more "modern" icons that everyone can recognize and then maybe I'll be willing to read your blogarrhea.
Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore
#234The article began with an introduction to what could have been a really great dialogue. Why do those who didn't experience the inspiration for icons still inherently understand them? Yet it dropped that in favor of the same schtick for each icon.
I think that the point, which the article may miss, is that we don't inherently understand them. We have to be taught to understand them—but we only have to be taught once to use a given set of icons, so it's good to use the same ones other people use, even if they're meaningless.
(I'd draw an analogy to "Why do we inherently understand menu items written in English?" We don't inherently understand them (witness non-English speakers); we just get to draw on our existing familiarity with English to make the understanding easier.)
Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore
#235So every icon should be a computer chip now? People will still know what a folder is for some time into the future, so I don't think the icon of a directory tree would do them any good in place of it. Maybe files should be leaves and folders can be trees? And bookmarks can be text "". This would not be a nightmare.
Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore
#236Earlier quoted context omitted.
This "nothing we can replace it with" sounded wrong to me, so I spent a moment trying to quickly draw on my tablet some possible alternate metaphors for many of the things used in this article, and I came up with these: http://drostie.org/icons.png (Disclaimer: my ability to draw is very limited so this looks unintentionally minimalist, because my "boxes" are just squares.) You could have some convention which says,…
I like the look of those, but I did laugh when I saw the cell phone with an antenna on the top.
I actually spent fifteen minutes or so going back and forth on that. My old cell phone had one, perhaps for style, yet my new phone doesn't. And I was thinking a lot about that bizarre V-shaped TV antenna, too. ^_^
Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore
#237I have a handset in my house. Envelopes are still used for lots of things. I still get mail. I use screwdrivers pretty often, and I have access to wrenches. I recognize the old microphones from movies (and even if I didn't, they look similar to newer mics.) I've also used a polaroid in the past 5 years. I've also seen TV sets with "rabbit ears" in the past 5 years. The others I'm at least familiar with. I'm 18.
The hot trend for visionary types to do today is wax on about how kids these days only text and use Facebook between Netflix show. Everything else is just too difficult, supposedly.
Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore
#238Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly, I suspect there is nothing we can replace it with. A TV with rabbit ears will always be a TV - perhaps a hundred years from now?
This "nothing we can replace it with" sounded wrong to me, so I spent a moment trying to quickly draw on my tablet some possible alternate metaphors for many of the things used in this article, and I came up with these: http://drostie.org/icons.png (Disclaimer: my ability to draw is very limited so this looks unintentionally minimalist, because my "boxes" are just squares.) You could have some convention which says,…
I like your general icons, but your phone is already obsolete. I'm also not sure why the last two represent real world devices rather than abstract concepts, given that your other icons are pretty intuitive.
Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore
#239This is awfully condescending towards people in their twenties and younger. > Want to indicate Settings or Setup to a twenty something? Show them a tool they've never used in their lives. > If you don't know who Johnny Carson is, how could you know that this is a old-style microphone? > No one under 30 has seen a Polaroid in years but we keep using them for icons. We don't live in a cultural vacuum where everything t…
I'm nearly 40 and I've never seen one of those old-fashioned microphones. According to the author, it seems I should have trouble recognising it.
Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore
#240Actually, my TV has rabbit ears again -- only they're for DVB-T now.