Chapter: User Interface Design : Multimedia

Icons

Icons are most often used to represent objects and actions with which users can interact with or that they can manipulate

Icons

 

Icons are most often used to represent objects and actions with which users can interact with or that they can manipulate

 

Kinds of Icons

 

Icons fall into these categories by Marcus:

 

Icon. Something that looks like what it means.

Index. A sign that was caused by the thing to which it refers.

 

Symbol. A sign that may be completely arbitrary in appearance.

An expanded definition by Roger’s icon kinds are

 

Resemblance—An image that looks like what it means. a book, for example , to represent a dictionary

 

Symbolic—An abstract image representing something. A cracked glass, for example, can represent something fragile

 

Exemplar—An image illustrating an example or characteristic of something. a knife and fork has come to indicate a restaurant

 

Arbitrary—An image completely arbitrary in appearance whose meaning must be learned.

 

Analogy—An image physically or semantically associated with something. a wheelbarrow full of bricks for the move command

 

Characteristics of Icons

 

An icon possesses the technical qualities of syntactics, semantics, and pragmatics

 

Syntactics refers to an icon’s physical structure.

Semantics is the icon’s meaning.

 

Pragmatics is how the icons are physically produced and depicted.

 

Icon Usability

 

Provide icons that are:

o   Familiar.

o   Clear and Legible.

o   Simple.

o   Consistent.

o   Direct.

o   Efficient.

o   Discriminable.

Also consider the:

o   Context in which the icon is used.

o   Expectancies of users.

o   Complexity of task.

Choosing Icons

 

A Successful Icon

 

Looks different from all other icons.

Is obvious what it does or represents.

Is recognizable when no larger than 16 pixels square.

 

Looks as good in black and white as in color.

 

Size

 

Supply in all standard sizes.

o   16 X 16 pixels.

§  16- and 256-color versions.

o   32 X  32 pixels

 

§  16- and 256-color versions.

§  Effective: 24 X  24 or 26X  26in 32 X  32 icon.

o   48 X  48 pixels

 

§  16- and 256-color versions.

Use colors from the system palette.

Use an odd number of pixels along each side.

o   Provides center pixel around which to focus design.

 

Minimum sizes for easy selection:

o   With stylus or pen: 15 pixels square.

o   With mouse: 20 pixels square.

o   With finger: 40 pixels square.

Provide as large a hot zone as possible.

 


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