Re: Graphics in line with text (little key graphics)

["Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>]

It is an unfortunate fact of life that users, on average, are becoming 
increasingly less literate, either because of a subquality education 
system, immigration or overseas product exports without localization.  
The old "press any key" joke is not much of a joke anymore in most 
technical support call centers, because it really happens.  For many
users, a picture of an Enter key and the words "Enter key" can be
very far apart on the comprehension scale.  Icon images of keyboard 
keys and onscreen buttons can go a long way for a user who has to 
struggle to understand both the printed text *and* the bubble help 
popup.

Gene Kim-Eng


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <amdohlman -at- uwalumni -dot- com>

> At my current job, we used to have a quick start guide and appendix that
> used this very convention, with little key pictures (that were even 3D,
> sorta). It looked okay, but really wasn't the best use of space. Worse,
> while the key icons might be cute, they don't serve any purpose. It's just
> a picture of a key; it doesn't serve to locate the key for users - if they
> don't know where the Ctrl key is on the keyboard, the key graphic isn't
> going to help them find it. They'll still have to look for it.



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