This one what?<br><br>Nate<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 3/13/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Andreas Nilsson</b> <<a href="mailto:nisses.mail@home.se">nisses.mail@home.se</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Hi Nathan!<br>Do you have this one ready so I can take a peek at it somewhere?<br>- Andreas<br><br>Nathan Willis wrote:<br>> See, I think that's the important distinction -- the toolbox is from<br>> the "tool" element of the construction metaphor, not the danger/safety
<br>> element. Everybody at the construction site wears boots, too, but the<br>> image of a boot doesn't communicate what you want.<br>><br>> As far as the hammer itself goes, sure not everyone uses one all the
<br>> time, but then again I'm looking at the Edgy Applications menu right<br>> now and the "graphics" category is represented by a paintbrush, the<br>> "sound and video" category by a director's clapboard, and the office
<br>> category by a pen cup. Does every artist carry a paintbrush? Do<br>> *any* of the "sound* apps incorporate anything analogous to the<br>> director's clapboard? Do we all have pen cups in out offices -- and
<br>> if so, are they what we do our office work with? It's not necessary<br>> that the tool used in a category icon be universally required for all<br>> the tasks in that category -- and a good thing, too, since that would
<br>> be impossible. What it does have to do is communicate and be visually<br>> recognizable. My point was that the hard hat does neither of those<br>> things.<br>><br>> I personally don't think that hammers or toolboxes intrinsically
<br>> relate to programming at all; we may have gotten used to seeing the<br>> construction site metaphor associated with programming tools, but it's<br>> only because of repetition. I'd like to see some better metaphor
<br>> altogether; it's a task without a physical-world equivalent, but who<br>> knows how much we could come up with if we actually pounded at it<br>> intentionally. But I do think that of the construction items we've
<br>> brought up thus far, at least (claw) hammers have a distinctive visual<br>> outline, and that's an improvement.<br>><br>> Nate<br>><br>> On 3/10/07, *Rodney Dawes* <<a href="mailto:dobey@novell.com">
dobey@novell.com</a><br>> <mailto:<a href="mailto:dobey@novell.com">dobey@novell.com</a>>> wrote:<br>><br>> Perhaps it could use some touch-ups, sure. But I think the<br>> metaphor does<br>> in fact make sense. It is a category icon, not an tool, process, or
<br>> product icon. All persons on a construction site, must wear hard hats.<br>> They don't all have to carry or use hammers, nails, screwdrivers,<br>> fishing wire, or many of the other things used in the construction
<br>> of a<br>> building.<br>><br>> Perhaps a toolbox would be a somewhat better metaphor though.<br>> Given that<br>> it contains tools for building software.<br>><br>> -- dobey
<br>><br>><br>> On Fri, 2007-03-09 at 13:47 -0600, Nathan Willis wrote:<br>> > As long as we're talking about coding metaphors, I have to give my<br>> > thumbs-down to the yellow hard hat metaphor -- it, too, is entirely
<br>> > indistinct at small sizes, and even at larger sizes it lacks the<br>> > "distinct shape" Rodney mentioned, as well as detail and<br>> contrast. Is<br>> > it a lemon? A tennis ball? A gumdrop? And even if it is
<br>> recognized<br>> > eventually as a hard hat, it doesn't communicate. Hard hats are<br>> > safety gear, not tools, not process, not product. At the very<br>> least,<br>> > if you are going with the "construction work" metaphor, a hammer is
<br>> > more visually distinctive and more appropriate.<br>> ><br>> > Just wanted to get that off my chest.<br>> ><br>> > Nate<br>><br>><br>_______________________________________________
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</a><br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>nathan.p.willis<br><a href="mailto:nwillis@glyphography.com">nwillis@glyphography.com</a><br>aim/ym/gtalk:n8willis<br><a href="http://blog.glyphography.com">blog.glyphography.com
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