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Comment by arpit | Hacker News Reader

The problem with text instead of icons is that

a)Its needs translation per language and b)it takes longer to parse/process.

The weather information in iOS7's "Today" notification is an example (http://applenapps.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/ios_7_6_not...). It takes much longer to read the exact weather information than just seeing a weather icon and getting it (IMHO).

In this article's case, it seems he use something that wasn't "iconic" as an icon.

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No, it does not take longer to process, in general. If there is a small, well-known set of icons (e.g. traffic signs), then yes, it's easier. Same is true for weather symbols - sun and clouds are well-known.

However, I find really amusing when I (as somebody who considers himself a really experienced user and gadget-fan) can't decide what the icons mean on my smartphone, then I start getting suspicious.

If you haven't seen something many times, then icons are harder to parse, simply because you don't know what they mean.

Icons sometimes need translation too. For example, the "filter" icon only works in English because most other languages don't call funnels "filter". It would be better to show a sieve than a funnel.

The filter one is an older convention, common in database applications. I guess it can work from a purely abstract perspective - something narrowing down, implying that you want to narrow down what's in front of you... but still, it is confusing to a new user. It feels like a search magnifying glass would convey the concept better, and simply bundle the filter UI into the search UI if an application offers both features.

Which shows you how terrible all of these absteActions are. Search is a magnifying glass? Would that instead be zoom? Oh wait that is already the case in all photo editing apps, except they usually add a plus or minus.

Convention is just an excuse for repeating bad behavior without question.

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