CompuServe Thread

#Default Icons Bad

2 messages in this thread
#4815From: J BaylessAug 6, 1988 11:05 PM
Identical icons are not necessary, these (identical) default icons would only be supplied for those files that don't already have on icon of their own. It might be madness that Delete, Copy, Date, etc. all have the same icons, but that is better than them having NO icons (which is the case now).
#4886From: Thomas HoladayAug 7, 1988 12:45 PM
If a logical-space object has no icon, the user can attach to it only through the CLI. The distance of "DELETE" from "COPY" in keyboard space is 1 + 116 + 11 + 113 = 241 keyboard units _minimum_ with the extra two keystrokes for the "T" and "E" in the blunder possibly adding another two thousand units. It is far better that the Delete and Copy programs be kept far apart by restricting access to CLI than to provide identical default icons, which represents the worst, the nadir, the exactly-what-you-do-not-want-under-any-circumstances case. Default Icons _must_ batter the user with the Campbell's Soup Aisle at the Hypermarket effect. Warhol unleashed such imagery in the sixties and sent an entire generation of intellectuals rushing to mind-numbing pharmaceuticals.