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> Hey, unless you can articulate a really good reason to add this, maybe our default posture should be no icons in menus? Challenge accepted. If a user (esp. o
by Timwi 10mo ago
> Hey, unless you can articulate a really good reason to add this, maybe our default posture should be no icons in menus?
Challenge accepted. If a user (esp. one whose cognition generally prefers visual media) uses a menu item frequently, they can remember its icon and that makes it easier to find in the future.
(Doesn't apply to me personally though because I'll instead remember the underlined letter and press it next time. My pet peeve in menus is not icons, but missing or clashing hotkeys.)
- mikepurvis 10mo agoAlmost 30 years ago MS Office 97 was putting toolbar icons in their menus, and I think it served the useful function of helping users discover when functionality was available another way.
- ndespres 10mo agoThose icons were well-designed for the newly computerized office employee of the day. The new school of icons are made by graphic designers for other graphic designers.
- abustamam 10mo agoI think icons aren't a bad idea, if they are visually distinct and make sense. For the longest time, the icon for "link" and "attachment" in Gmail looked almost identical. They changed it recently for attachment to look like a paperclip on a document which is much better. But before, I almost always clicked on one when I wanted the other (or hovered my mouse over it for longer than I'd care to admit).
- alextingle 10mo agoFlat, monochrome icons might look nice, but they are only useful if used sparingly. If you're going to use many icons, then they need to be visually distinctive. That means ditching the flat designs, and embracing colour again.
- wolpoli 10mo agoColor icons needs to done twice - once for light mode and again for dark mode. It is the reason for removing colors and shadings from all icons.
- alextingle 10mo agoSo in your opinion, monochrome icons are a sign of laziness, rather than an aesthetic choice. Got it.
- wolpoli 10mo agoI never said that. However, I think the entire industry ended up using monochrome icons due to aesthetic, and many practical reasons.
- eldaisfish 10mo agoThink about what was lost in the quest for dark mode versus the benefits. I would argue that menu icons are more useful than dark mode in several situations.
- immibis 10mo agoWe don't need light mode and dark mode if we just set our monitor brightness correctly. It seems some monitors now assume dark mode - only the very lowest brightness setting isn't blinding.
- eviks 10mo agoHow can you remember the underlined "i" when it's so tiny and also positioned in random places? These should be in their own column just like a checkmark or an icon (but yes, no single key navigation is way worse than bad icons)
- Timwi 10mo agoI like the idea of placing the hotkeys in a column of their own. Nevertheless, even if the underlined i is sometimes hard to notice, I only need to find it until I've memorized it.