The Semiotics of Start, Stop, Play
On our site, not yet on the live site, we have a slide show to cycle different promotions (made in Flash).
I wrestled with Chris a bit on what the icons on the little buttons should look like (he finds it funny how much I argue about tiny little UI elements).
I didn’t like that there were the double arrow buttons on the right hand corner considering that this was a slideshow, not a movie. The double arrows, to me, means “go faster”, whereas in this context, he intended it to mean, “go to the next slide”. I suggested just a single arrow, but Chris validly rebutted that this symbol was already in use for the notion of “start/pause”. It is being used in the middle of the three right hand buttons.
In UI, you have to be careful about using well-known symbols, as humans develop connotations in their minds about what these symbols mean. Even if the user can make the desired action happen with your misused symbols, there will be a subconscious feeling of disconnect in the user’s mind.
After thinking about this, here’s my list of how start/stop/play symbols should be used.
I am very busy.
March 27th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Comment from my friend mat:
you’re wrong.
>>| is the ‘next track’ symbol. i think it’s the closest map to the ‘next slide’ semantic
>> doesn’t really mean anything, except in parts of the world where it has meaning on road signs as a ‘road tends this way’ marker
but that’s just my opinion
March 29th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
>> is fast forward (first looked at a tape player then my DVD player).
The iPhone uses > for next photo.
I have always had these symbols in mind when thinking of a sideshow:
|< >|
Start Prev Pause Next End
March 29th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
My post was garbled by the text
cleaner.
|< Start
Next
>| End
March 30th, 2008 at 7:45 am
\> Next
>| End
\< Previuos
||Pause
|<Start