I HATE the lack of protocol icons

[Sean Egan]

On 6/12/07, Etan Reisner <pidgin at unreliablesource.net> wrote:
> I very much see the 'green circle' == 'traffic light' metaphor, the
> problem is that a traffic light doesn't say 'available' it says 'go' or
> 'drive' (or 'stop' if you are walking across that street).

Dude, it's an icon. It's 16 pixels square. "Go" is the closest you're
gonna get to available. Even if you had more space, unless you have a
little picture of your friend holding up a sign pointing to himself
that says "I'm here!" you're not likely to find a good image to
represent the state of being available. Or any other state.

> And yes, to be perfectly consistent I would have to say I don't like the
> 'do not disturb' icon, but that icon bothers me much less for whatever
> reason. And I have absolutely no problems replacing that icon as well, it
> just doesn't annoy me nearly as much as the green circle.

Perhaps because you don't see it as often. The Available icon is, by
far, the most common icon. That's why I like it being as neutral as
possible.

And, I'm not keeping score, but it sounds like you don't like *any* of
the icons, do you? ;)

> My point was not that it needs to change because it is useless to
> color-blind people but rather that we seem to have intentionally removed
> the ability to use shape as a distinguishing feature and I do not
> understand why.

I don't know how intentional it is. However, I, for one, have
expressed that I like having all the icons circular.

For the most part, I've just trusted Hylke, even on the icons I don't
like. But he's certainly been good at responding to our concerns. I'll
continue to trust him to have more or less the last word on icons... a
position which certainly few would envy of late ;)

-s.