>>>>> "Alan" == Alan Kay <Alan.Kay at disney.com> writes:

Alan>       This is partly why we keep the kids programming stuff looking
Alan> like language. The idea is that, even though a 10 year olds' main
Alan> payoff may be to draw and drive the car (Doing and Images), our
Alan> "Montessori game" is to entice them into doing the dynamic parts using
Alan> symbolic language, because that is where the big powers ultimately
Alan> reside. Etc. Etc.

Just be very careful when you do this.  About 20% of the population
(including me, although I'm an extreme case) is much more sound-driven
or kinesthetic-driven than picture-driven.

In particular, an *icon* means nothing to me until I can *name* it
audibly.  I can't recall it, I can't recognize it ... until I
sound-out the name of it again, and then I get access to all the
semantics and learning I've had about that *name*, but never the icon
directly.

When all those little icons started popping up on GUIs in the early
90s, I started freaking out, because I had to keep figuring out what
to name each one, and then I'd forget the names.  The better programs
let me also turn on a single word below each icon, so I could ignore
the icon and just read the word, but the bad ones were just simply a
pain.

Thank goodness we have "tooltips" now, although most tooltips take far
too *long* to pop up.  Even Squeak's for the halo.  Although I have
nothing to complain about Squeak... I'm sure in a few minutes I could
figure out how to make them pop up quicker... I've just been too lazy
to do that. :)

So please, remember, not *all* the world believes an icon communicates
more than a word.  I'd prefer the word, because my brain is seemingly
hopelessly wired that way.  Please don't force us to try to undo 39
years of wiring. :)

In fact, I should experiment with the halos... I suspect I'd have a
better time if each halo bubble was one or two letters ("M" or "MN"
tells me more than a little icon of a menu, for example).

If you want to conduct an interesting study, watch me try to parse
icons without tooltips some time.  I have to stare at each icon for
about 3 or 4 *seconds* before a word comes to mind.  But in the
fraction of second immediately following that, I get the whole of the
experience, since the word drives me, not the picture.

-- 
Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095
<merlyn at stonehenge.com> <URL:http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/>
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