Re: icons vs. buttons?

[Janice Gelb <Janice -dot- Gelb -at- Sun -dot- COM>]

Tracy Taylor wrote:
>
> 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
> 

Caveats: I don't know if there is an industry standard
and I am *not* an interface professional. However, my
personal take on this from the usage I've seen in our
documentation and documentation from other products is
that the button is what initiates the action, and the
icon is the pretty picture that enables you to identify
the button. A link is active text that takes you to
another location.

    Click the OK button (indicated by a thumbs-up icon).

    Click the Probe Actions link for more information about
    the actions available to probes.

-- Janice

***********************************************************
Janice Gelb          | The only connection Sun has with
janice -dot- gelb -at- sun -dot- com  | this message is the return address
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or 
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007 
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.