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Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore
81–90 of 279 posts
Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore
#82Around halfway through I jotted down a few thoughts. I like and appreciate people thinking about this sort of thing however, so I'm not saying any of this to offend. > I don't see any reason that we couldn't be storing our files in abstract squares rather than folders in the sky. ...because they're called folders, and we know how to use them? If I said, "Here, have a square," is your first instinct really to think oh…
The common thread in most of these is dematerialization: like the phone example, discrete physical objects have been replaced by software functions running on generic computing devices, i.e., the main cause of obsolescence is the system itself.
So what can the system use for icons? Rows of "smartphone" icons or "computer" icons?
(As a text-mode purist, I am not too sad about this.)
Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore
#83Not that the floppy disk being used as a Save icon was actually floppy, of course.
Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore
#84This 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??
Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
Who cares? A floppy disk nowadays is the thing that indicates "save", and that's it. You don't have to have seen a floppy disk to know that it's the save icon. If that were the case, company logos would be objects. A swoosh is Nike, and that's that.
Sure, but if you're not old enough to know what a floppy disk is, someone would first have to tell you that the floppy disk was the save icon. I think the op's point is that icons are no longer making the user experience intuitive, they are actually adding another step. Young people have to figure out what they represent first before they use them where the point of an icon is to eliminate that step.
Definitely, but I didn't know what a clipboard was before I started copying and pasting (text on the computer)... You probably learn which button is "Save" when learning what saving actually is, I don't know how intuitive the pictograms for these actions can be.
Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore
#86There's a good article to be written on this subject, but this isn't it. "folders": we can go back to "directories" if you'd like. It's still what I say most of the time. "wrenches/screwdrivers/gears": This was the most baffling one. Who's never used a screwdriver? And he says it as if it's obvious. "phone": 75% of the US still has a landline (as of a year ago anyway), so I find "you haven't used this in 20 years" to…
we dial a phone number as well - I haven't actually seen a dial phone in 20 years.
Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore
#87There's a good article to be written on this subject, but this isn't it. "folders": we can go back to "directories" if you'd like. It's still what I say most of the time. "wrenches/screwdrivers/gears": This was the most baffling one. Who's never used a screwdriver? And he says it as if it's obvious. "phone": 75% of the US still has a landline (as of a year ago anyway), so I find "you haven't used this in 20 years" to…
I agree, I was very surprised that he doesn't even mention the "hourglass". It's true that it's less and less frequent but I would argue that it's more common than the floppy disk.
I chuckled when I read your post, because at TripAdvisor we have one in every meeting room. And they actually get used.
Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore
#88One which is not on here, and is my favorite, is the icon to start a PowerPoint presentation: portable projector screen. Sure, they still exist, but most people these days have never had to actually carry and/or set one up. Well, maybe I take that back... If you are using PowerPoint, perhaps you are old enough to remember using one... :-)
Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore
#89It's not just icons. Phrases are the same. I'll bet many people here have never heard a broken record, but still have heard the phrase "sounds like a broken record."
I think the phrase "broken record" is used more when referring to someone repeating themselves over and over again.
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Re: Old People Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore
#90I love how there's a spool of camera film in the photo for the "voice mail" icon. Sounds like someone's too young for those flat cameras!
That would be to illustrate the phrase "but it always looks like a container of 110 Film.".