[Phpwm] Icons

[Phil Beynon]

> Hi,
>
> > But a lot of the ones I have been looking at simply don't seem
> to be very
> > intuitive compared with just having a text link, in that to get anything
> > half decent looking they either have to be big or have a bit of text
> > alongside them anyway to say what they are going to do.
>
> Not true; you could make use of the 'title' attribute. For example:
>
> <img src='public/images/delete.png' alt='Delete' title='Delete' />
>
> That way, when the user hovers their mouse pointer over the image, a
> tool-tip will pop up and display the text set in the title.

Yup, I realise that :-)

> An alternative would be to have a key/legend, which shows the user which
> icons relate to which sections/actions/etc.
>
> If you're having to resort to large images, look for icons designed by
> other artists. Good looking yet small icons do exist.

Sure, the main problem to solve isn't the obvious delete / edit type icons,
its things like "go up a level to search or select a different manager"
within the CMS - I can't for the life of me think what would be intuitive
for that as a function link!

> > The fact they might
> > look pretty compared with a text link seems to be the only
> point in their
> > favour.
>
> It depends on the design of the site. You can get some small images
> (16x16 or 32x32) which not only look nice but save space. A 16x16 image
> of a red 'X' takes up less space than the word 'Delete'.
>
> > Just wondered what other people do for this sort of thing -
> Keep it a bit
> > utilitarian but highly functional or prettify it and slow it
> all down a bit?
>
> Slow it down? We don't all have 300 baud modems these days. As long as
> you keep image use to a sane level, no-one will notice the images
> downloading.

I realise that, it does present a slightly higher server loading technically
speaking, but yes with broadband its going to be pretty much unnoticeable.

> Small icons are great - I use them wherever I can. They take up less
> space and make everything look nicer. It's surprising how much nicer
> pages and pages of text look if you just replace a few links with
> images.

Absolutely, as long as what's used isn't a compromise that makes it
graphical just for the sake of "modernity" in the look and feel.

I've a few early versions of the CMS manager out in the wild - I might take
an email straw poll of my users to see what they would prefer to use, market
research and all that.....

Phil