Re: Are computer icons on-topic?

--- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, "Nicholas Bodley" <nbodley@...> wrote:

> On Mon, 14 Feb 2005 09:46:04 -0800, Doug Ewell <dewell@...> wrote:
>
> > Lots of things convey meaning, and of course drawings were an

early

> > predecessor of writing. But I think they fail to be true writing
> > systems to the extent that they cannot convey *arbitrary*

meaning.

> [...]
> > "Computer icons" are no different from any other small pictures

in this

> > regard. An octagonal red stop sign or circle-with-diagonal-

slash, or

> > for that matter a drawing of a human hand with the index (or

middle!)

> > finger raised, does not become fundamentally different because it
> > appears on a computer screen.
> >
> > Writing is 21st-century writing.
>
> Good! Thank you. Ask, and ye shall receive.
>
> > [...] animated icons. These were annoying beyond your wildest
> > imagination; think of your Program Manager windows being overrun

by

> > dozens of tiny frenetic pop-up ads and you've got the idea.
>
> I have suggested, only partly in jest, that some very-animated ads

run the

> risk of triggering epileptic seizures, surely no joking matter.

Not a joking matter.

I once

> suggested to the Opera Software people that it would be nice to be

able to

> use a click-and-drag filled rectangle (as in a computer drawing

program)

> to cover a particularly-annoying ad.

Very useful idea. It could be installed on the individual
workstation and float over the browser, in the same way that the
screenreader toolbar does. No kidding - it could be a box that could
be resized and reshaped as well, or split into multiple boxes on a
right click. Or it could be on another website and then you navigate
to the website you want and with both open at once you could
manipulate your own animated icon shield over top of the website
whose content you wish to read in undistracted peace. It's a
brilliant idea actually.

It's possible that such things as aniamted ads are already counter
to the w3 accessibility standards. They do seem to be on the
decrease. I have seen guidelines for designing websites for
dyslexics and the vision impaired that mention not to use animated
icons.

Suzanne