Today's applications - either for the Web or standalone - are starting to
focus more and more on the user interface. The time when you had to write
lines and lines of commands or go through several menus to execute a certain
task has passed. Developers have now implemented simple wizards, with on-screen
help near each important element of the application, which will make even
the most complicated task look like a walk in the park. And the easiest and
most efficient way to create user-friendly interfaces is to add self-explanatory
icons. These small images that take a couple dozens of pixels will most of
the times have more meaning than a full paragraph of text. It's more comfortable
and efficient to insert an icon than it is to write some text explaining a
certain function.<br>
Icons are very important to the user-interface. People want to use an application's
features to the maximum, and don't like to it when they can't find how to complete
a specific task. This is why developers should always create shortcuts to the
main tasks that can be accomplished using their application. These shortcut
items must catch the user's attention, so adding icons will do the trick in
most of the cases. The icons must be related to that certain task, so, for example,
a disk icon would be a great visual enhancement for a "Save" button,
as a printer icon would fit perfectly inside a "Print" button. A good
set of icons in the interface will greatly improve the communication between
the user and the application. Icons are colorful and, in most cases, larger
than the description text of the application feature they relate to; this way,
they are a lot easier to be spotted.<br>
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Most of today's applications use icons, even though pretty much all developers
don't bother to implement custom designed icons into their applications. Actually,
settling with the operating system's default stock icons is not such a bad thing
as some people might think. Computer users might sometimes have some problems
adapting to new applications, especially if they have different interfaces than
the applications already installed on the users' computers. What happens if you
want to save and you're looking for a disk icon, but you can't find it because
the developer decided to use a star icon? If so, there will be a poor communication
between the user and the application, because the interface's icons are different
from the ones the user is used to. Application developers should not fall into
this trap just because they like some other icons and they don't want to use
the same old default system icons, because it would do more bad than good. The
default system icons are preferred because most applications use them, so users
will learn to use your application a lot faster. The functions and commands will
be easier to understand, because users will be able to faster identify the iconic
symbols.<br>
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If a developer wants to give their application a distinct look, they should
use professional, custom-made icons, especially designed for their application.
Today, such services are affordable, and you will be able to tell the designer
how you want the icons to look like. In most cases, you shouldn't go with a completely
different look than the system's icons (for the reasons described above), but
you should try to give them a unique, personal touch; the application will stand
out from the crowd and will look a lot better than the other ones, thus attracting
more users. Changing colors, for example, is the easiest way to get new, yet
similar icons.<br>
<br>
To have a good communication between the user and the application, developers
must predict all the possible problems that the interface could cause its users.
Are the buttons too small? Are they too big? Can the toolbars be moved around
the screen? How about the menus, can users add new items to them? Also, can
they replace the icons and other graphics with some of their own? How about
users with special needs?<br>
<br>
Unfortunately, there are a lot of developers that disregard such problems,
and create rigid interfaces, which cannot be changed by the users to better
suit them. A simple answer to this problem is to create multiple skins, with
different colors and different icons. The application should have a "standard"
skin to start with, and then a few different skins, for example a minimalistic
skin with only a few main buttons and large icons, or an "expanded" skin
with many toolbars and buttons, each with their own small icon. Also, a skin
with high contrast colors and icons will be very appreciated by the users with
eye problems. Apart from all these, developers should also allow users to create
their own custom skin and use different icons.<br>
<br>
There are multiple benefits from using icons in an application interface.
No matter whether an application uses the operating system's default icons
or has custom-made icons designed especially for it, there must be some form
of graphics in it, otherwise people might find it harder to use. This may happen
because most of today's application use icons to ease the learning of the application.
Because most applications use similar icons in certain tasks - for example a
printer icon for printing or a disk button for saving files - it's a lot faster
for users to click on those buttons, therefore they will remember it next time
they use that application, or any other application for that matter. Even if
later on advanced users will choose to use shortcut keys on the keyboard instead
of clicking with the mouse on buttons in the toolbars, it's really important
that for starters they will use the toolbar, so icons will be very important
in the communication with the application.<br>
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