Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/26/83; site ihnss.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!genrad!mit-eddi!mit-vax!eagle!mhuxt!mhuxi!mhuxa!houxm!ihnp4!ihnss!warren
From: warren@ihnss.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.works
Subject: Re: ICONS: Passing Fad or New Found Wisd - (nf)
Message-ID: <1574@ihnss.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 28-Jun-83 08:25:27 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihnss.1574
Posted: Tue Jun 28 08:25:27 1983
Date-Received: Wed, 29-Jun-83 10:41:40 EDT
References: <2324@uiucdcs.UUCP>
Organization: BTL Naperville, Il.
Lines: 23

Several years ago, I first drove a Japanese car and noticed that all
of the controls were labled with "cutesey" symbols.  It did make a
certain amount of sense, and since then I have seen many cars with
the controls labled similarly, but it took some getting used to.  It
took training to recognize that the thing that looks to me like a
saftey pin with a dangling thread is really a smoking cigaret, and
the baseball bat standing on end with the thin horizontal lines
accross it tells me that my engine is overheating, or that the
shower head turns on my lights.  

I suspect that pictorial symbols will indeed come to computing. 
Most keyboards I know of lable the cursor keys with arrows, not with
words.  Yes, it would be nice if they chose symbols that people
could understand more easily than a lock for shift-lock, but I doubt
it matters much.  I doubt that many people would figure out what the
"caps" and "num" keys were likely to do on my hp 2621 without trying
them at least once.

-- 

	Warren Montgomery
	ihnss!warren
	IH x2494