[Sigia-l] Rollover Question (Web 2.0)

[Todd Warfel]

On Oct 2, 2006, at 8:14 AM, David ((Heller)) Malouf wrote:

> And what I'm saying is that the notion of "intuitive" has very  
> severe limitations and thinking of Tool Tips as a plan B is  
> misleading.
>
> I can't imagine a single icon I would put on a screen that I  
> wouldn't want to add a tool tip for where I didn't have an attached  
> label, and I tried to express why/where you can't have labels on  
> every icon.

That's where there's a difference in approach and/or environment. In  
our work, we typically avoid icons and rely on labels and  
appropriately labeled action buttons. Whereas, in David's  
environment, I would think that icons play a significant part of the  
UI. David, please correct me if I'm wrong.

I won't say icons are a bad approach, sometimes they are absolutely  
appropriate. I'm not one to have black/white approaches to things - I  
lean towards relativity and balance.

There was a study done several years ago by a European firm if I  
recall correctly. The study was done internationally and studied a  
few hundred icons. They found that of the 250+ icons, only 10-12 had  
a universal understanding w/o labels. In short, the study suggested  
that if you use icons, you should accompany them by labels. So, the  
ideal situation is icon w/label. Unfortunately, we're often faced w/ 
less than ideal situations.


Cheers!

Todd R. Warfel
Partner, Design & Usability Specialist
Messagefirst | designing and usability consulting
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