icons vs. buttons?

[Kathleen MacDowell]

In reading through this discussion, my thoughts were similar to Tracy's: is
there a distinction between icons and buttons? If so, make it clear,
otherwise don't use both terms in the same document. The latter is simple
best practice.

Personally, I'd limit the use of "icon" to a non-reactive representation,
just to simplify my life--there can be such a huge number of decisions
involved in phrasing and terminology that it's mind-boggling. But as someone
else pointed out, if there's a style guide, follow it. A topic for future
consideration: dealinng with style guides that are out of date or put
together on the fly :-)



On 8/1/07, Tracy Taylor <ipsque at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> I'm not having an issue differentiating icons vs. buttons, I'm wondering
> if there's any value in differentiating them to the people using the
> software. Does it make any difference to a user of a software product if
> they are clicking an icon or a button?  Do they really have a mental model
> of one versus another?  Or does using multiple terms for what to them is the
> same thing create a cognitive difficulty when learning the system?
>
> So, has anyone done any usability testing on this?  Thanks, Tracy
>
> Susan W Gallagher <susanwg at gmail.com> wrote: The word "icon" means "a
> usually pictorial representation" (m-w.com), and has meant so for more
> years than there have been computers. In software, icons are used in three
> different ways.
> 1. As stand-alone, interactive representations of software applications,
> documents, and the like on the desktop.
> 2. As non-interactive identifiers, such as the small icons you see in file
> explorer that tell you what kind of file you're looking at.
> 3. As labels on interactive command buttons and toolbar buttons
>
> Your UEP has the definitions correct, it's the use of icons for multiple
> purposes that was throwing you.
>
> HTH
> -Sue Gallagher
>
>
>
>
> On 7/31/07, Tracy Taylor <ipsque at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hiya - this may only be relevant to those of us who write about software.
>
> In my opinion, within most software applications one has buttons.  The
> toolbar in Word has buttons, not icons.  And icons open programs.
>
> However, I got this definition from my user experience professional:
> Button – an affordance  that leads to an action, which is surrounded
> (generally) by a border that looks  somewhat 3-D.
> Link – an affordance  that leads to a new page or site and is
> generally  text.
> Icon – a small picture  that represents (we hope) an action, some
> information, or an  idea
> Any thoughts, or generally agreed upon principles?  Thanks, Tracy
>
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-- 
Kathleen MacDowell
www.writefortheuser.com