TC 7 request: Show icons in menus

[djorge]

Nice

[Lefteous]

2StickyNomad

I just made a fake screenshot to demonstrate how iconized menus could look: Watch it

Awesome
If this won't convince Ghisler nothing else will do!

[SanskritFritz]

2StickyNomad
Ahh, beautiful!

[majkinetor]

Hej... that gray line on TC caption looks great.

[SanskritFritz]

... and that german - english mix is just fabelhaft!

[frenky]

... and that german - english mix is just fabelhaft!

[StickyNomad]

2SanskritFritz

... and that german - english mix is just fabelhaft!

Well, I'm kind of cosmopolitan

But seriously: initially, I took this screenshot from my german version to send it to Ghisler via email, and I simply was too lazy to edit the whole image when it came up to post it in this english thread...

But if it made some of you smile a bit, it's been quite a profitable laziness I think

[SQUIRE]

Human beings are much better equipped for recognizing images than abstract words.

Sorry, I beg to differ. Take a look at the welter of 'universal' icons on your car dashboard and stereo. Immediately intuitive? I don't think so. Icon clutter (particularly a plethora of obscure miniscule ones) can be equally counter-productive IMHO. Just another point of view.

[SanskritFritz]

2SQUIRE
I can only speak from my experience, but i have a hard time without icons. In menus without icons, i even recongnise the menu entries quickly by the position, length and shape of the text entry, definitely not by the text. Whenever i switch to another language in TC, i am lost and have to read all menu entries one by one to find the wanted entry.

[djorge]

Sorry, I beg to differ. Take a look at the welter of 'universal' icons on your car dashboard and stereo. Immediately intuitive?

Maybe the first time one must read the manual to look up what it means
Now imagine without icons at all

[Hacker]

SQUIRE,
I prefer "►" to "Play".

Roman

[SanskritFritz]

I prefer "►" to "Play".

Absolutely! It might not be obvious for the firstcomer, but as those symbols grow to be industry standards, they become a kind of hieroglyph for us with immeditate meaning.

[SQUIRE]

Isn't it wonderful how differently brains are wired? My mind tends to skip over symbols in favour of text and in Opera I have most of the icons removed in favour of a brief explanation. In TC it's the <DIR> that immediately signifies a directory to me, not the folder icon. Your point about switching languages is well taken, but isn't this because rarely can one be equally fluent and comfortable in other than one's own native language so that the brain tends to hesitate when changing gears? Symbols are also another form of 'language' requiring a switch in operating modes, don't you think? Driving through a foreign country, would you prefer a peculiar symbol or a short text like, say, 'Priorite a droit'?

I prefer "►" to "Play"

Er, actually 'Play' immediately meant more to me than the symbol. Maybe I need my brain rewired!

Maybe the first time one must read the manual to look up what it means
Now imagine without icons at all

No icons, just a word or two would be great! Having read all the manuals for the consumer equipment you own (digital cameras, VCR's, PDA's, etc) can you instantly without fail recall precisely what each symbol means without referring to the text?
The happy solution, of course, is to have both text AND icons optionally available, then neither side gets disadvantaged.

[SanskritFritz]

I agree with your last statement. I also agree, that not all commands have to be replaced by icons, only the most frequently used ones. I can remember mostly 20 symbols in an application, especially those that are application independent, like copy and paste. Everything else should be a text. IMHO.
So it have to be configurable.

[SQUIRE]

I also agree, that not all commands have to be replaced by icons, only the most frequently used ones

I wholeheartedly agree with this approach. I was concerned that TC's relatively clean interface would be obscured by a bewildering swarm of mini-icons like some right-click context menus I can think of. By all means have the icons, but allow us the option of exclusion according to preference.