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Our office recently updated to a new version of the Office Suite, and it still has an icon in the upper-left corner to perform the 'Save' function. Floppy drives have not been in use for years, and many children would not recognize a 3.5 inch floppy disk on sight. Programs have used this icon for years, because we have yet to find a suitable replacement. The CD/DVD can no longer represent saving, because they have come and gone. Even moving to the more abstract Piggy Bank icon would not work, because they are seldom used in the modern age. A USB Key icon may represent saving in some form, but the may not be around much longer if another medium gains favor. Does this mean that the venerable 3.5 inch Floppy will represent saving information to future generations, or should it be replaced by a different symbol?
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Tuesday December 20 2016, @10:38AM
What is this obsession with making computers "useable" by pre-school children?
Its a euphemism for making adults able to understand what their pre-school children are doing with the computer.
There is nothing wrong with using WORDS in menus.
Which is generally what happens: words on menus, with icons as "short cuts" for use on toolbars etc. where screen space is at a premium.
If you really need to learn a whole new set of symbols to communicate, why not use Kanji? at least it has been tried and tested - and half the world's population can already understand it.
...while the other half of us, who weren't exposed to Kanji from an early age, struggle to tell many of the characters apart, let alone attach meaning to them.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Tuesday December 20 2016, @11:37PM
Kanji, with subtly different meanings in different languages.