[H]omer <spam@xxxxxxx> espoused:
> Mark Kent wrote:
>
>> We could use Egyptian Hieroglyphs, except that few people understand
>> them any more. Icons are no more inherently meaningful than any
>> other abstraction, so have to be learnt.
>
> Some people are just technophobic that way. My dear-old mother still has
> difficulty with the remote on her combo VCR/DVD/HDD box. She'll call me
> in the middle of the night to ask which button is "play". I assume that
> the video navigation buttons use internationally recognised symbols that
> everyone instinctively understands, but when you're 78 years old and
> have alzheimer's, I guess it's not so easy.
It's never easy, the symbols are not necessarily clear. The strange
triangle thing was originally used on cassette and tape machines and was
supposed to indicate the direction of tape travel, bi-directional
machines (like in cars) being able to do both directions.
The symbols are useless because you need to know that tape moves from
the left-hand reel to the right-hand-reel when looked at from the top of
the machine with the tape head at the bottom...; a very large number of
cassette tape machines were "upside down", or in the case of car
cassette machines, sideways-on (ease of loading the cassette whilst
driving).
Consequently, the |> or <| sign just means play one way or t'other.
Unless, of course, there's a red dot or circle, or the symbol is shown
in reverse contrast, or recessed (etc.) in which case it could mean
record.
The double-arrows were supposed to show the tape moving more quickly,
but again, many cassette machines were capable of "review" as well as
"rewind", depending on whether the machine was playing at the time or
not, so the symbol was modal.
So, |>|> could mean fast rewind, fast forward, review or preview,
depending on which way up the cassette loads, and whether the machine
was previously in play/record or stop.
>
> Judging by what I've read in this thread, it seems to be a common
> affliction ;)
Quite unsurprising. Trying to invent a kind of "visual esperanto" was
not the smartest of things to do.
>
>> Looking them up in manuals is easy, just have a picture in a manual!
>
> Oddly enough, many people find manuals equally intimidating.
That's because they're written by the same people who designed the
symbols...
>
> I ended up writing a step-by-step diagram for using the combo-box. It
> does help, but my mother still spends a few minutes each time searching
> the remote ... like a novice scanning the control panel in a nuclear
> power plant, and with just as much trepidation.
>
I wrote a step by step guide for Mrs Mark to use a countdown timer with an
electrical appliance. When she remembers to read it, she gets it right.
I've written numerous guides for grandparents and others over the years,
some of which are useful, some not.
It would probably be better to have symbols written out in English for
English speakers, but then internationalisation becomes an even greater
issue in a highly competitive market.
--
| mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
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