11 ms·

Not when you first open the program, but for advanced users, absolutely.

wpm 2y ago
How and why would I become an advanced user of a program I can't figure out how to use because none of the buttons have labels? Pixelmator Pro shows you the names of the tool buttons, once, when you first launch the app. They disappear the moment you click a button. Nice. a whole 10 seconds to memorize all two dozen of them. And they chose not to use the system tooltip on hover, so I have to wait for some humungous pictorial tooltip to load in when all I want to know is the goddamn hotkey.
- echoangle 2y ago
  How does that matter for the point? You can make it a setting for the user or just always show both. I never said that programs should exclusively use icons. The initial claim was that text is strictly superior to icons, which means that icons have not a single thing they’re better at then text. That’s just plainly false.
layer8 2y ago
That’s rarely the case, in my experience, especially when there are a dozen monochrome icons in a row. They just aren’t distinct or memorable enough. You learn their position after a while, but confirming the correct item by their pictogram remains slower than just reading a word or two, because the words are universal, whereas the pictograms are typically specific to the application.
alexvitkov 2y ago
Keyboard shortcuts are a feature for advanced users, not pictures.
- andybak 2y ago
  For some definitions of "advanced". I use dozens of apps regularly enough to not be a beginner but not so much that I know their keyboard shortcuts. Icons have a role.
- echoangle 2y ago
  Good luck learning keyboard shortcuts for every feature of a CAD tool. I understand Boolean modifiers from symbols faster than I can read them, but I’m not going to memorize every shortcut for stuff like that.
  - alexvitkov 2y ago
    There's 3 boolean modifiers and they're used all the time, just learn the shortcuts.
    - echoangle 2y ago
      It was a simple example. Have you ever used CAD software? There are literally thousands of features, you have 0 chance of learning every shortcut

wpm 2y ago

How and why would I become an advanced user of a program I can't figure out how to use because none of the buttons have labels? Pixelmator Pro shows you the names of the tool buttons, once, when you first launch the app. They disappear the moment you click a button. Nice. a whole 10 seconds to memorize all two dozen of them. And they chose not to use the system tooltip on hover, so I have to wait for some humungous pictorial tooltip to load in when all I want to know is the goddamn hotkey.

echoangle 2y ago
How does that matter for the point? You can make it a setting for the user or just always show both. I never said that programs should exclusively use icons. The initial claim was that text is strictly superior to icons, which means that icons have not a single thing they’re better at then text. That’s just plainly false.

layer8 2y ago

That’s rarely the case, in my experience, especially when there are a dozen monochrome icons in a row. They just aren’t distinct or memorable enough. You learn their position after a while, but confirming the correct item by their pictogram remains slower than just reading a word or two, because the words are universal, whereas the pictograms are typically specific to the application.

alexvitkov 2y ago

Keyboard shortcuts are a feature for advanced users, not pictures.

andybak 2y ago
For some definitions of "advanced". I use dozens of apps regularly enough to not be a beginner but not so much that I know their keyboard shortcuts. Icons have a role.
echoangle 2y ago
Good luck learning keyboard shortcuts for every feature of a CAD tool. I understand Boolean modifiers from symbols faster than I can read them, but I’m not going to memorize every shortcut for stuff like that.
- alexvitkov 2y ago
  There's 3 boolean modifiers and they're used all the time, just learn the shortcuts.
  - echoangle 2y ago
    It was a simple example. Have you ever used CAD software? There are literally thousands of features, you have 0 chance of learning every shortcut