[Sugar-devel] Just learned about Mistery Meat Navigation

[Carl Angiolillo]

> However, that is different than the icons you use everyday.

True. The time spent learning iconography is amortized while the pixel
costs of the label remain fixed so those text labels that were very helpful
at first end up consuming unnecessary real-estate as the kids become
experts. However, if the kids become frustrated by confusing buttons* they
might not bother becoming experts at all so it's worth keeping an eye on
during testing.

> on a touch screen ... there's no obvious way to get the text descriptions
to pop up.

The method Android uses is to long press on a button to display its label.
I doubt this qualifies as "obvious" judging by the fact that this was
slipped quietly into 4.0 and I've never observed anyone using it. Some
interfaces (like native OS X toolbars or MS Office products) allow text
labels to be turned on and off by the user. I've used time-delay fade-in
labels on touchscreens (which were supposed to help novices while not
impacting expert use) but they turned out to be too distracting and not
helpful in the case of buttons that remain visible all the time. The
simplest method might be to bite the bullet, spend the pixels, and add text
labels to buttons on touchscreen devices.

Carl

*...e.g., a sound icon shaped like the profile of an internal electronic
component or a stop icon shaped like an octagon even in Libya, Zimbabwe,
the Bahamas, or Japan.

On Tue, Mar 20, 2012 at 19:37, Bert Freudenberg <bert at freudenbergs.de>wrote:

>
> On 21.03.2012, at 00:16, C. Scott Ananian wrote:
>
> > On Tue, Mar 20, 2012 at 4:47 PM, Gonzalo Odiard <gonzalo at laptop.org>
> wrote:
> >> If you find non obvious icons, can report to try to improve.
> >> May be adults have problems with icons, but kids don't,
> >> just see a kid playing in any internet site.
> >
> > These icons become much more problematic on a touch screen, where
> there's no obvious way to get the text descriptions to pop up.
> >  --scott
>
> OTOH, on a web site, you just want to get results quickly, and then maybe
> never visit again. It's not worth learning what the icons mean, since they
> most likely are unique to that site. That's why using icons like in the
> video fails.
>
> However, that is different than the icons you use everyday. Those are
> worth learning. Of course, the learning must be made possible, and
> hopefully enjoyable. But the gut reaction of "I as an adult can't figure it
> out at first glance, so it must be bad" isn't quite appropriate.
>
> - Bert -
>
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