The first time I saw the iOS "uploader" icon on my iPad, I thought for certain that it was for Up navigation in the app. There's nothing intuitive about it.
Share: The Icon No One Agrees On
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Re: Share: The Icon No One Agrees On
#162Apple gets this spot on by having an icon represent the action actually being performed, i.e., sending some information somewhere. That could be to yourself (a bookmark) to another person, a group of people, or the public at large. It doesn't really matter. Many of the others are trying to represent the abstract concept of "sharing", which doesn't fit the use case at all. That's why those icons don't make any sense.…
Apple gets this spot on by having an icon represent the action actually being performed, i.e., sending some information somewhere
Yet most people find the Apple icon obtuse and confusing. I would hardly say that's spot on when it fails at its primary role.
Re: Share: The Icon No One Agrees On
#163I've always thought a megaphone would make for a good share symbol. It makes much more sense (in my head) than most of these in the link.
Re: Share: The Icon No One Agrees On
#164The 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…
Non-technical users have always understood the concepts of: publish (or broadcast), share (or collaborate), and give (or send). The computer world is the one that limited these concepts. Before web: you can only copy and give. After web: you can give, or publish. After cloud: you can give, publish, and share. I think these concepts should be as well differentiated in the digital world as they are in the physical.
Isn't it all copying on the web/cloud? Your file isn't lost on your end when you give/publish/share/etc.
Re: Share: The Icon No One Agrees On
#165The 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…
Agreed, the share button can significate a lot of thing, other than sharing on a social network (which I have never used).
Including : * Printing the document * Viewing a video on my TV * Mailing it * Marking it to Read Later * Copying the URL * etc...
technically it's more a "Send to another application"
Re: Share: The Icon No One Agrees On
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
Non-technical users have always understood the concepts of: publish (or broadcast), share (or collaborate), and give (or send). The computer world is the one that limited these concepts. Before web: you can only copy and give. After web: you can give, or publish. After cloud: you can give, publish, and share. I think these concepts should be as well differentiated in the digital world as they are in the physical.
Isn't it all copying on the web/cloud? Your file isn't lost on your end when you give/publish/share/etc.
Yes a core feature of digital technology is copying it underlies everything. It takes extra effort to 'simulate' not copying i.e. collaboration, and that's why shared document collaboration like google docs etc. has really only showed up recently.