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Always accompany search box with magnifying-glass icon After, what, twenty-five years of exposure to this particular symbolism - or did it use to bee binocular
by interfixus 10y ago
Always accompany search box with magnifying-glass icon
After, what, twenty-five years of exposure to this particular symbolism - or did it use to bee binoculars? - I still struggle to make the connection whenever I see it. Magnify what? Zoom where? It always takes me a second or two to get, many, many times a day.
My mental model of a search goes the other way: I wish to zoom out, get a bird's eye perspective.
The loupe iconograhy may be great and perfect. I may be the only human not to get it. Am I?
- deevious 10y agoSherlock Holmes, man, Sherlock Holmes. http://www.cinelegende.fr/img/2013/Boston/Sherlock-Holmes.jpg http://www.cinelegende.fr/img/2013/Boston/Sherlock-Holmes.jp...
- interfixus 10y agoI know. It just doesn't work for me.
- wingerlang 10y ago> Magnify what? Zoom where? The area you are currently looking at? If you use a magnifying glass to look for anything, you generally just magnify/zoom whatever is in front of you and search until you find something. > I may be the only human not to get it. Am I? Probably
- hueving 10y agoWhen I use a magnifying class, it's because I've already found something and want to look at it closer. When I lose my keys I don't whip out the magnifying glass and start scanning the floor on my knees.
- wingerlang 10y agoIf you're looking for something smaller you might.
- jspash 10y agoYou could see it like this: You've found the website and want to look closer at what it has to offer.
- afandian 10y agoI think it has something to do with the transition from skeuomorphic metaphor to iconographic symbol. As a skeuomorphism you might look at a magnifying glass symbol and say "that looks like a magnifying glass, which is a tool for making things bigger, therefore this thing makes things bigger". As that symbol beds in and becomes part of language, it loses its connection, and its meaning is derived entirely from context and usage. I haven't used any Microsoft software for a while, but from my memory the floppy disc icon outlived floppy disks by quite a while. You can argue that words shouldn't mean different things to what their etymology suggests, but that's the losing battle of a language prescriptivist, not a practical language user. I'm saddened when I see people use "utilize" instead of "use", or "everyday" instead of "every day" or whatever, but everyone knows what they mean. Like it or not, language changes. So the magnifying glass has lost its etymology to popular usage. That's my theory anyway.
- interfixus 10y agoAnd I think you are right. I am not really arguing for or against, just providing my own little anecdotal data point: That I haven't so far been able to internalize this particular piece of symbolism. The floppy disk icon I grasp immediately, even if it annoys me for its datedness.
- afandian 10y agoI don't think you don't have to internalize it necessarily. I'm going to continue to care about and use Standard English spelling and grammar, and it's ok to notice when someone uses something slightly off-standard, as long as it doesn't affect anyone else or interfere with good-faith conversation. I run a specialized search engine myself and I had no hesitation in using the icon, only because it's a well understood symbol.
- SkyMarshal 10y agoAny idea what a better search icon would be?
- afandian 10y ago
- aloisdg 10y agoMagnifying-glass icon is for `search`, because in the western culture we use one to search clues. Thank you Sherlock Holmes.
- sametmax 10y agoYep. And it's going to follow us everywhere like the floppy disk icon for save.
- Globz 10y agoI think of this symbol as a way to find a needle into an haystack. You have so much data that you a need to "zoom in" to a precise location in order to find what you really need.
- iamthepieman 10y agoI always use a text button labelled "go" or "search" or "find" depending on the specific application and what clicking that button will do. Sometimes if it's a very specific search box I add more to the button such as "find customers" or "search map" or "search for incidents" Of course I build custom business applications usually for domain experts who, if they don't already, are willing to learn a tool or process if it will help them do their job. This is, of course very different from sites where half a second of confusion can lead to a lost sale or closing the tab.
- kalleboo 10y agoAmong teens asked, seems like 70% think "search", 24% think "zoom" when they see that icon. https://youtu.be/kylikelQBqg?t=558 https://youtu.be/kylikelQBqg?t=558 Watch that whole presentation, it's pretty fun (and yes it covers the floppy disk icon)