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Share: The Icon No One Agrees On

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Re: Share: The Icon No One Agrees On

#41

Post by Theodores »

zippergz wrote: post #31

It seems like "just pick something arbitrary and everyone agree on it" is a better solution than "find a small simple icon that effectively evokes 'share' to a brand new user." In other words, this is confusing not because the icons don't represent sharing well enough, but because they're different on every platform. There are lots of things on computers that aren't immediately obvious, but once you learn the convent…

There is some irony to the fact that we cannot 'share' what the 'share icon' is supposed to look like.

Unless some decree comes down from The President or the security council of the UN then we will probably have Apple/Microsoft/Android variants for a long time to come. There is no incentive for social networks to have a standard icon because they want sharing to be their icon/logo. Maybe it might be a better convention to perpetuate the share button as being uniquely un-shareable just for meme value.

Re: Share: The Icon No One Agrees On

#42

Post by Glyptodon »

The milkshake idea was in my head before I even got to the section where the writer mentioned it, so it's at least got some sort of universality (for an American).

It also makes sense to me because I most frequently want to share specific things with specific people rather than everyone.

I wonder if there might be two different share icons - one to share with someone specific, and one to share with the world at large.

Re: Share: The Icon No One Agrees On

#43

Post by [deleted] »

ggchappell wrote: post #20

The problem that comes before this one is whether share is a well-understood action. If I "share" via e-mail, then I transmit a document to others. After this, each recipient has a separate copy which, thereafter, is completely out of my control. If I "share" via social network, then I upload a document. This makes a single copy, accessible to previously chosen people. It is (depending on the social network) somewhat…

[deleted]

Re: Share: The Icon No One Agrees On

#44

Post by marcosdumay »

ggchappell wrote: post #20

The problem that comes before this one is whether share is a well-understood action. If I "share" via e-mail, then I transmit a document to others. After this, each recipient has a separate copy which, thereafter, is completely out of my control. If I "share" via social network, then I upload a document. This makes a single copy, accessible to previously chosen people. It is (depending on the social network) somewhat…

> But are they?

Yep, they are. It's impossible to share digital data without making a copy that is not under your control. There are some difference in write permissions, but people also do understand those.

Re: Share: The Icon No One Agrees On

#45

Post by moskie »

lclemente wrote: post #7

As an Apple user, everytime I see Android's share button I think of the Steam icon ( https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Steam_logo.svg ).

I don't think that has anything to do with you using Apple devices. Probably has to do with you using Steam.

Re: Share: The Icon No One Agrees On

#49

Post by dmdeller »

kbutler wrote: post #26

Rather than "Share", read the action as "Send to". This clarifies the author's preference for icons with the arrows, fits with the usual mix of upload/post-to-social-app/open-in-other-app actions, and removes the motivation for the somewhat out-of-place milkshake icon. (You can keep the 'share' label for marketing purposes if you want...)

Exactly. Apple does not refer to this icon as the 'share' icon in official documentation. It is actually the 'action' button[1]. As in, I have some data in this app, and I want to do something with it outside of this app. Hence, the symbol of an arrow moving outside of something.

Many of the possible actions resulting from tapping that icon (on iOS) may be unrelated social sharing (e.g., copy, save to photo library, assign to contact, etc.).

[1]: UIBarButtonSystemItemAction; https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/uikit/...

Re: Share: The Icon No One Agrees On

#50

Post by lcnmrn »

ripter wrote: post #11

Upload and Share tend to be the same thing for most users. You want this on that . I don't think it's coincidence that the share icon looks like an upload icon in iOS7.

This is the correct behaviour. The exact same sign is used on exit doors of buses. http://ak6.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/3922265/preview/sto...

The same thing happen with information, it goes from one place to another. The fact that this action takes many forms doesn't really matter.

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