[Tango-artists] Session icons

[sascha brossmann]

On 12/6/05, Manu Cornet <Manu.Cornet at gmail.com> wrote:
> None of the methods worked, unfortunately (xwd gets everything but
> the dialog window, Xephyr and Xnest don't get the dialog contents
> and theme right, and I don't use glade). So I just took my camera :)
> The webpage is rather poor (so are the pictures), but here it is :

Maybe slightly OT, but a short word about the dialog, as i think that
there are some problems with it: The question asked has a yes/no
answer: it is asking *confirmation* for an action which is potentially
dangerous (if it wasn't, there would be no need for confirmation, this
applies e.g. to putting the system to sleep). OTOH, the choices
provided do something completely different, i.e. *select* an action
(which might even have very different effects to what was initially
requested by the user). This leads to confusion by surprise,
complicating matters. A solution is to get all that stuff *out* of the
dialog. There should be initially different menu items for

- logging out (i.e. ending the session without further impact on the
  system)
- sleep
- hibernate
  (both of which *don't* end the session, but change the system's
  state -- without any danger implied -> no confirmation needed!)
- restart
- shutdown
  (both ending the session *and* altering the system's state).

All of those preferrably divided into three groups (btw, 'log out'
should be the last item in the menu: it is the most important of the
upmentioned items to the average user, but normally gets only used
once per session). Thus the user's selection of an *action* lies one
step before the dialog and does not get mixed in with *confirmation*.
BTW, rather than asking if to save the current session, it should be
saved by default and an option provided, to *not* use the saved
session when logging in. This would make consistence the default: The
last time i looked, normal real world behaviour was that objects etc.
stay as they are if you leave a place and return to it later. Wouldn't
you be slightly surprised if your regular desk would be magically
rearranged each time without your _explicit_ request? ;-)

Concerning the icons: you might want to slightly open the door to the
outside on the right which would visually include a hint for an action
(i.e. leaving), whereas the door in itself is a static object (no
action implied). OTOH why not go further and reduce the mix of
iconographic elements like the door and symbolic signs like the rest?
sketches(!) for both attached.

I would prefer anyway, if we could visually differentiate between
actions (controls) and objects (data) by using a symbolic
representation for the first, and an iconographic one for the latter.
While the symbolic appearance (cf. navigation systems pictograms, map
symbols, etc.) might not look entirely cute and sexy to some people,
it is widely used and recognised. Another (maybe additional)
possibility might be the consistent idiomatic use of different types
of icon silhouettes, e.g. round => action, rectangular => document,
free form => application, etc. The drawback of using different
silhouttes is that it leaves less space for the actual depiction,
especially in case of actions (whose icons normally are rendered at a
smaller size).

best,


sascha brossmann
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