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Icons That Don't Make Sense Anymore
theodp writes "The Floppy Disk Icon, observes Scott Hanselman, means 'save' for a whole generation of people who have never seen one. That, and other old people icons that don't make sense anymore — Radio Buttons, Clipboards, Bookmarks, Address Books and Calendars, Voicemail, Manila Folder, Handset Phone, Magnifying Glass and Binoculars, Envelopes, Wrenches and Gears, Microphones, Photography, Televisions, Carbon Copies and Blueprints — are the subject of Hanselman's post on icons that are near or past retirement age, whose continued use is likely to make them iconic glyphs whose origins are shrouded in mystery to many."
The "Save" icon can be replaced with a tiny pic of Jesus with his hands high in the air. For any unsaved file, replace it with a tiny pic of the Underlord.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
Sometimes you read stories about people who think you can swim under continents or that USA is the only country or Jesus spoke English or whatever other subject someone found to show how stupid people can be. The person who wrote the Icon article is so stupid he went and wrote an article on himself about stupid people.
Does this person think that a box with an arrow out of the bottom indicated a trap door up ahead? I certainly wouldn't be looking for a trapdoor for a way out of a building, no telling what you might fall into. Mind you, the entrance is even worse! Why is there no sign to the stairs so I can get on top of the building so I can drop down into it?
Ages ago, Seinfeld did a routine in which he ridiculed how airplanes have to fly a certain speed as if there are speed limits up there around airports or something... well yes you stupid moronic idiot, how can anyone be so fucking retarded as to think that airplanes lining up for approach one behind the other can fly whatever speed they want. Since he did this early on, I never caught the Seinfeld craze, to me he was always just a really stupid retard who made jokes for stupid people. Real humor is done by really smart people who point out the funny stuff in life, not how ignorant they are of the in ability for aircraft to fly through each other while landing.
Cars used to come with keys and these keys were inserted into the ignition and then turned to start the car and turned again to turn the car off. This was so common that everyone just assumed this was the way things are done. Cue some retarded engineer who thought he could do things differently, added a start button that then has to be hold for 5-30 seconds depending on how insane the engineer is. Cue people dying because they can't figure out in a panic how to turn the engine off. We use icons and standardized methods because people know them so they can use them without having to think.
Another famous example is for web developers, the humble shopping cart icon. Some designers think it is funny to mess with this and voila, people can't find it. Your business might have a basket like product that is oh so funny to use as a shopping cart but your customers don't make the connection because they don't do their shopping in a dog-sled. (Example from some UI design book).
And gosh, do you know how can tell a true idiot who tries to look clever by pointing out where he doesn't get how the world works? He totally fails to think through his own complaints and solutions.
The Floppy disk icon for saving. First off, I checked. Not a SINGLE application I use actually has such an icon. Not a one. Most use simple text in a menu and are designed for people who use CTRL-S. Some other idiot above wonders why you even need to save manually when you exit an application. BECAUSE YOU FREAKING WASTE OF SPACE, THE FUCKING APPLICATION CAN'T READ THE DISEASED ROTTING MASS YOU CALL A BRAIN. You might NOT want to save the waste of bits you call work. God knows nobody else does.
The brainiacs suggestion as an alternative? A cloud icon. WHOOO! Because what if I am not saving to the cloud? Anyway, from Amazon's robust performance I am not entirely convinced they are not saving their files to a big stack of floppies.
Next up, radio buttons... does he think they are icons? Apparently... how the fuck is a user dumb enough not to know single select buttons in physical form going to know these UI elements are called radio buttons? Or indeed care, such a person is to busy trying to convince rent-o-kill to come fix his mouse problem.
Clipboards... he shows exactly where almost everyone will still see these in daily use. He doesn't even bother coming up with an alternative, because no alternative would make sense. What next, a pair of scissors for cut is wrong to? WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU SUGGEST INSTEAD?
I will skip a few because my rage level is getting out of control.
The world's most advanced phones include an icon that looks like a phone handset that you haven't touched i
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