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Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore

hanselman.com

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Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore

#161

Post by zerohp »

bdunbar wrote: post #125
bitwize wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

* ...because they're called folders, and we know how to use them?* Historically they were called directories , which I would love to see a return to from the wrong and infantilizing "folders".

which I would love to see a return to from the wrong and infantilizing "folders". Probably too late. I work with nice guys, progammers in their late 20s, mid-30s, who have only ever known those as 'folders'. By convention at work if it's on a unix-y OS it's a directory, if Windows it's a folder. It's just easier that way.

Some of us in our 30's still remember them being called drawers on the Amiga.

Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore

#162

Post by 1337p337 »

jreeve wrote: post #146
shanselman wrote: post #140

Earlier 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 reminds me very much of how the genesis of ideographic writing (such as Chinese characters) was related to me. I'm not at all certain that it is correct, but gist of it was that these forms of writing start with illustrations but gradually become encoded over time.

Not only that, but the author also seems annoyed by older terminology taking new meanings, as with "radio buttons", "bookmarks", and "folders".

The irony here is that he has no problem calling the device he uses a "computer", despite the older definition no longer holding true, or especially referring to "files", which is certainly not a term used in the old sense.

Dijkstra's "On the Cruelty of Really Teaching Computer Science" rails against analogies (the source of these terms) at length, but I'm not certain that there's much validity to the argument when the new meaning of the term eclipses the old one.

Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore

#163

Post by flomo »

ggchappell wrote: post #80

Interesting. I'm 46. I've used reel-to-reel tapes because they were the normal thing to use at the time. But it has never once occurred to me that the voicemail icon represents a reel-to-reel tape. Now I'm trying to figure out if I'm stupid or not.

That recording tape symbol was also used on VCRs and stereo equipment, so it was already an "old person icon" long before it evolved into the standard phone icon for voicemail.

Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore

#164

Post by TorbjornLunde »

Icons don’t have to make sense if people can learn them. I think people are being way to hung up on things being too skeuomorphic.

Remember that A didn’t start as an A, it started as a sign for ox. That’s right, our writing system had skeuomorphic origins.

Someone growing up today might not know what a handset it, but I’m pretty sure they recognize the handset icon. This is true for a lot of stuff in our culture (think of non-textual road signs).

Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore

#166

Post by Raphael »

crazygringo wrote: post #84

This blog post is fairly useless without proposals that do a better job of communicating these concepts. It almost seems that the author wants to do away with metaphors entirely? If we aren't going to use an address book as an icon for our list of contacts, then what on earth are we going to use??

The contacts icon could resemble a person.

Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore

#167

Post by TillE »

bdunbar wrote: post #125
bitwize wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

* ...because they're called folders, and we know how to use them?* Historically they were called directories , which I would love to see a return to from the wrong and infantilizing "folders".

which I would love to see a return to from the wrong and infantilizing "folders". Probably too late. I work with nice guys, progammers in their late 20s, mid-30s, who have only ever known those as 'folders'. By convention at work if it's on a unix-y OS it's a directory, if Windows it's a folder. It's just easier that way.

If you're in your late 20s (and a computer nerd), you probably grew up with DOS: CD, DIR, etc.

Besides, if you're a programmer on Windows, even if you're really young and started with .NET, I'm pretty sure the API and the MSDN docs still consistently use "directory" throughout.

See, eg:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.directory....

Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore

#168

Post by epaga »

I thought Hanselman's tweet made the point far better than the entire article because the article very quickly became quite the stretch trying to find examples: overlooking the fact that many, many people are still using dead-tree calendars, folders, and clipboards. As well as binoculars and magnifying glasses.

The really interesting point - that there are more and more icons that truly are becoming "icons" in a more metaphorical sense of the word - was already made quite poignantly by the tweet.

Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore

#170

Post by DavidAbrams »

cdcarter wrote: post #153
DavidAbrams wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The question is why Facebook forces you to use an E-mail address as a user ID. Now THAT's amateur hour.

You can log in with your URL.

Assuming you've defined one, and a URL is not an appropriate user ID either.
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