RE: International Internet Icons

> From: paul.a.brandt@us.pwcglobal.com
> 
> For example, instead of
> spelling the word "Home" (in English) you would show an icon 
> of a house.  I
> am attempting to develop a user interface that is more global and  
> less English-focused. 

Yikes!

This brings back horrible memories of corporate managers at varying
levels trying to advise me about how to control localization costs. They
would make comments like "Geez, it's so expensive! Couldn't we just use
icons instead of words???" 

They were of course right; it would certainly save money to replace
words with icons. Unfortunately, the result would guarantee that people
all over the world would not understand how to use the interface.
Including those in the US.

Might be better off leaving the darned things in English. You'd probably
end up with a higher level of overall user satisfaction.

My two cents.

Suzanne Topping
BizWonk Inc.
(Solutions for a Global E-conomy)

stopping@bizwonk.com

Received on Monday, 2 April 2001 09:49:09 UTC