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Comment by interfixus | Hacker News Reader

Always accompany search box with magnifying-glass icon

After, what, twenty-five years of exposure to this particular symbolism - or did it use to bee binoculars? - I still struggle to make the connection whenever I see it. Magnify what? Zoom where? It always takes me a second or two to get, many, many times a day.

My mental model of a search goes the other way: I wish to zoom out, get a bird's eye perspective.

The loupe iconograhy may be great and perfect. I may be the only human not to get it. Am I?

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I think it has something to do with the transition from skeuomorphic metaphor to iconographic symbol.

As a skeuomorphism you might look at a magnifying glass symbol and say "that looks like a magnifying glass, which is a tool for making things bigger, therefore this thing makes things bigger".

As that symbol beds in and becomes part of language, it loses its connection, and its meaning is derived entirely from context and usage. I haven't used any Microsoft software for a while, but from my memory the floppy disc icon outlived floppy disks by quite a while.

You can argue that words shouldn't mean different things to what their etymology suggests, but that's the losing battle of a language prescriptivist, not a practical language user. I'm saddened when I see people use "utilize" instead of "use", or "everyday" instead of "every day" or whatever, but everyone knows what they mean. Like it or not, language changes.

So the magnifying glass has lost its etymology to popular usage. That's my theory anyway.

And I think you are right.

I am not really arguing for or against, just providing my own little anecdotal data point: That I haven't so far been able to internalize this particular piece of symbolism. The floppy disk icon I grasp immediately, even if it annoys me for its datedness.

I don't think you don't have to internalize it necessarily. I'm going to continue to care about and use Standard English spelling and grammar, and it's ok to notice when someone uses something slightly off-standard, as long as it doesn't affect anyone else or interfere with good-faith conversation.

I run a specialized search engine myself and I had no hesitation in using the icon, only because it's a well understood symbol.

Any idea what a better search icon would be?

Binoculars were used decades ago. Not sure if they're still used. Ditto a little funnel for filtering.

Definitely agree that binoculars are less conspicuous, the magnifying glass can also mean zoom. But, I think users are (for better or worse) used to the magnifying glass.

I always thought the magnifying glass for search made sense as it was like a detective looking for clues.

It is shown in the famous Cluedo board game [1] (aka "Clue" in the USA). It's typically associated with forensics when looking for fingerprints.

[1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/61/Cluedo_1956_S...

Sherlock Holmes, man, Sherlock Holmes. http://www.cinelegende.fr/img/2013/Boston/Sherlock-Holmes.jp...

I know. It just doesn't work for me.

Magnifying-glass icon is for `search`, because in the western culture we use one to search clues. Thank you Sherlock Holmes.

Yep. And it's going to follow us everywhere like the floppy disk icon for save.

I always use a text button labelled "go" or "search" or "find" depending on the specific application and what clicking that button will do. Sometimes if it's a very specific search box I add more to the button such as "find customers" or "search map" or "search for incidents"

Of course I build custom business applications usually for domain experts who, if they don't already, are willing to learn a tool or process if it will help them do their job. This is, of course very different from sites where half a second of confusion can lead to a lost sale or closing the tab.

> Magnify what? Zoom where?

The area you are currently looking at? If you use a magnifying glass to look for anything, you generally just magnify/zoom whatever is in front of you and search until you find something.

> I may be the only human not to get it. Am I?

Probably

When I use a magnifying class, it's because I've already found something and want to look at it closer. When I lose my keys I don't whip out the magnifying glass and start scanning the floor on my knees.

If you're looking for something smaller you might.

You could see it like this:

You've found the website and want to look closer at what it has to offer.

Among teens asked, seems like 70% think "search", 24% think "zoom" when they see that icon. https://youtu.be/kylikelQBqg?t=558

Watch that whole presentation, it's pretty fun (and yes it covers the floppy disk icon)

I think of this symbol as a way to find a needle into an haystack. You have so much data that you a need to "zoom in" to a precise location in order to find what you really need.

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