Icon for Presentation; Icon for Document

q

In Zotero 1.0.10, the same icon seems to be used to a generic document and a presentation. I'd like to have a separate icon for presentations (e.g. a set of slides).

In the "Related" tab, neither documents nor presentations have an icon in front of the title. I would like to see icons there, too. For all the other types I have in my library (journal articles, books, etc.) the icons show as expected.

Perhaps this is already implemented in Zotero 2, but I just wanted to make sure, as the icons do help to differentiate quickly between similar items.

q

This is still the case in Zotero 2.0b7.6. Any chance for this to be implemented?

q

One year on. Is this just too low on the agenda for the time being?

Also, I'd like to have specific icons for all kinds of items, e.g. presentations and documents (makes it much easier picking the right one).

dstillman

Find an icon:

http://www.famfamfam.com/lab/icons/silk/previews/index_abc.png

adamsmith

chart_pie would be great for presentation I think

q

Items currently using blank documents:

Bill, Case, Statute, Hearings <> probably could do something with "page_red" and "page_green"
Encyclopedia Articles <> perhaps "page_white_text_width"
Dictionary Entry <> perhaps "page_white_width"
Presentation <> "page_white_powerpoint" seems suited
Instant Message <> "comment" is an option
Patent <> "page_white_key" maybe

Moreover:

Report and Thesis have the same icon <> perhaps can use "report_user" for theses
Blog and Magazine Article have the same icon <> probably could use "layout_content" to differentiate magazines
Video and Film have the same icon, no idea...
Forum Post and Webpage have the same icon <> perhaps "user_comment" for forum posts

Just a few ideas...

q

Is anything happening in this area?

ajlyon

I like these suggestions. Maybe we can make this happen for 2.1, as a little polish improvement?

Gracile

These suggestions are a good starting point! As a lawyer, I need to have different icons for legal items. I like Famfamfam Silk icons but this seems difficult to find adequate icon for certain types of items.

Is it possible to use other icons than Famfamfam (as in the prefs pane actually)?
Browsing the web, I've found "Fugue Icons" by Yusuke Kamiyamane which are very interesting. They are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

I made a attempt, combining q's proposals and mine. I'm not entirely satisfied ("bill" is too common; "hearing" is a play on words) but the general result is good.

Images:
All icons.
New icons (Items which have the "document" icon at the moment).
Modified icons (to avoid any redundancy).

(Case, dictionaryEntry, encyclopediaArticle, Hearing and Report are from the Fugue collection.)

What's your opinion on this?

ajlyon

I like it! I think the Fugue collection should be fine; the license is certainly compatible.

adamsmith

fantastic - I'd love to see this happen, I think the two icon sets go well together, too.

Gracile

I can send a pull request if the devs think that it is acceptable (on the master branch).

dstillman

These work for me. Faolan noted that "Hearing" might not work in all languages, but it's pretty cute.

A pull request would be great, and it can be against 3.0. Thanks for putting these together.

Rintze

For hearings, maybe the quill icon would work better internationally?

Rintze

And perhaps for Audio Recording, use the microphone icon? iPods with scroll wheels are on their way out :)

aurimas

Maybe I don't understand the bill icon, but to me the current manuscript icon (scroll-like document) seems more like a bill/law.

Though I see how that could be confusing if it's switched at this point.

dstillman

I'm OK with switching the current manuscript icon to bill. To replace it, I don't really like famfamfam's pencil icon, but one of fugue's pencil icons could work (including potentially one we combined ourselves). notebook--pencil is distinct, but probably not quite right (and we might want that for something else down the line).

Agreed on audio recording.

I don't love the quill for hearing. (A gavel would be better.)

aurimas

A couple more thoughts:

document-globe for web page

script-text for bill

graduation-hat for thesis

cassette-label for audio recording (though I guess if scroll wheel ipods are considered "on their way out" this might be too ancient for the younger audience. I think it's more universal though)

microphone for radio broadcast

users for interview

mail-at-sign for email to distinguish it more from letter

media-player-cast for podcast, which makes the ipod a little larger

I personally don't like how close blog post and magazine are, so I would suggest blog icon for blog.

Couldn't find anything great for presentation. Pie chart is not a bad idea, but I think not all presentations (like something that does not involve charts) associate with a pie chart. I was looking for a person standing next to a screen, but maybe that's too busy anyway.

For item type "document," if Zotero decides to make document a generic type, I think Fugue's document icon combined with a red "?" may be appropriate, since "document" would be something we default to when we can't determine type.

There are some other great icons in that set that may be useful for some item types in the future, like data sets, etc.

Anyway, just my ideas on the matter.

dstillman

document-globe for web page

A globe could work, but I'm not sure about having a different page size (which would be the case for any Fugue page icons). Also, I'd prefer globe-small-green, whereas that seems to use globe-small-blue, which looks too much like a big blue dot. We could overlay globe-small-green on the existing famfamfam blue page.

script-text for bill

I think famfamfam's script icon is clearer.

cassette-label for audio recording

microphone for radio broadcast

We're definitely not doing a cassette. A microphone is better for audio recording. Radio should be about broadcasting, as it is now.

users for interview

We can't use something like that for an item type. We already use a similar icon for groups, and we could easily need it for other things.

Couldn't find anything great for presentation.

projection-screen-presentation?

For item type "document," if Zotero decides to make document a generic type, I think Fugue's document icon combined with a red "?" may be appropriate, since "document" would be something we default to when we can't determine type.

Too ugly. A blank page seems fine to me.

aurimas

A globe could work, but I'm not sure about having a different page size (which would be the case for any Fugue page icons). Also, I'd prefer globe-small-green, whereas that seems to use globe-small-blue, which looks too much like a big blue dot. We could overlay globe-small-green on the existing famfamfam blue page.

Oh yeah. I just looked over Fugue's icons. Forgot to consider famfamfam.

Famfamfam's page_white_world seems to be what you have in mind.

We're definitely not doing a cassette. A microphone is better for audio recording. Radio should be about broadcasting, as it is now.

The only reason I brought that up is because Fugue's microphone looked more like a radio microphone. Maybe sound from famfamfam for audio recording

We can't use something like that for an item type. We already use a similar icon for groups, and we could easily need it for other things.

I'm not sure I understand why this is an issue if they are used in completely different contexts.

projection-screen-presentation?

Not sure how I missed that. I think it would work quite well.

dstillman

Famfamfam's page_white_world seems to be what you have in mind

Ah, perfect.

The only reason I brought that up is because Fugue's microphone looked more like a radio microphone. Maybe sound from famfamfam for audio recording

That's fair. I don't think famfamfam's sound is a very good icon, though. Fugue's sound-volume is better. There's also Fugue's balloon-sound. Maybe other possibilities?

I'm not sure I understand why this is an issue if they are used in completely different contexts.

Well, things that are in completely different contexts now aren't guaranteed to always be. There are all sorts of reasons that people might need to be represented in the middle pane (or other places in the UI). A generic icon of people is too valuable to use for something that's not representing actual people. An interview is more specific a concept.

And even if they remained completely separate, I'd say using the same icon for completely different things in two places in the UI is inelegant at best and confusing at worst, and there's just not really any need to do it.

I'm pretty content with our current interview icon.

fbennett

I've been skipping over this thread. This is marvellous, Gracile.

In addition to Statute for legislation, we will at some point be wanting to add Regulation (or Order) for enabling regulations and Ministry orders. A couple of inconclusive thoughts:

Since the two types are often related, might they be distinguished by a different colour seal on the suggested Statute icon?

Alternatively would it be better to show a sharp distinction, with something like Fugue's "bank" for statutes, and put a marker on Fugue's "drawer-pencil" for regulations?

Gracile

I think we shouldn't change existing icons without good reasons (confusion between two existing icons, obvious clarity of the suggested one).

Summary:

Accepted (consensus of this discussion):
-bill: script.png (famfamfam) (was used for manuscript)
-presentation: projet-screen-presentation.png (fugue)
-webpage: page_white_world.png (famfamfam)

To be decided:
-manuscript: pencil.png (fugue) or notebook--pencil.png (fugue)?
-hearing: "a gavel?" (Dan) => There is auction-hammer-gavel.png (fugue) or ear-listen.png that I've used.

-audioRecording: microphone.png (fugue) or speaker-volume.png (fugue) or balloon-sound.png (fugue).
In my opinion, microphone.png is the best (and it focuses on the equipment to record like for videoRecording which uses a webcam). I don't like speaker-volume.png

No one has commented aurimas' suggestions on:
-thesis: graduation-hat.png (fugue): I like this suggestion (I thought about it but did not want to change too many icons). If we adopt it, should we change report as I did (see above)?
-email: mail-at-sign.png (fugue): why not?
-blog: blog-icon.png (fugue): why not?
-podcast: media-player-cast.png (fugue): Don't see the improvement.

Alternatively would it be better to show a sharp distinction, with something like Fugue's "bank" for statutes, and put a marker on Fugue's "drawer-pencil" for regulations?

What's your opinion? I don't have a strong one on this. And what do you mean by "put a marker"? Anyway, "bank" (fugue) is possible for Statutes indeed.

aurimas

-thesis: graduation-hat.png (fugue): I like this suggestion (I thought about it but did not want to change too many icons). If we adopt it, should we change report as I did (see above)?

Just something to consider: we can overlay the graduation hat over the current thesis or report icons.

-podcast: media-player-cast.png (fugue): Don't see the improvement.

My initial reasoning was to help better distinguish podcast from radio broadcast, but looking at the media-player-cast icon, I don't think the "cast" part is pronounced enough. If someone wants to tinker around with the icon, maybe making the ipod darker would make it more visible.

fbennett

Alternatively would it be better to show a sharp distinction, with something like Fugue's "bank" for statutes ...

What's your opinion?

I do like "bank" for Statute, myself.

.. and put a marker on Fugue's "drawer-pencil" for regulations?

And what do you mean by "put a marker"

Only to reserve it for use on Regulation items, since the type doesn't exist yet.

Gracile

aurimas:

My initial reasoning was to help better distinguish podcast from radio broadcast, but looking at the media-player-cast icon, I don't think the "cast" part is pronounced enough.

Good point. I've modified the colour of the airwaves into blue to distinguish podcast from radioBroadcast. (See below)

Frank:

"drawer-pencil" for regulations?

OK, but it looks like the library icon, doesn't it?

Second version:
-All icons.
-New icons (Items which have the "document" icon at the moment).
-Modified icons (to avoid any redundancy).


[FYI, "manuscript" is ticket--pencil.png (fugue)]

Rintze

Maybe this should go into a separate thread, but I was also wondering if we couldn't come up with a better icon for the Locate menu in the right column of the Zotero pane. I find the current green arrow easy to miss and very nondescript. Maybe the "direction" icon, or otherwise one of the "navigation" icons from fugue would work better?

fbennett

@Gracile: re drawer-pencil for Regulations.

Yes, I don't like that much at all either. Finding an abstraction for administrative orders is surprisingly hard. I thought of something with a seal icon (Fugue has one), but that seems a pretty long stretch as well.

aurimas

-hearing: "a gavel?" (Dan) => There is auction-hammer-gavel.png (fugue) or ear-listen.png that I've used.

FWIW, I like Dan's idea of using auction-hammer-gavel from fugue.

Finding an abstraction for administrative orders is surprisingly hard. I thought of something with a seal icon (Fugue has one), but that seems a pretty long stretch as well.

Are you referring to document-stamp in fugue? I think that might work. It doesn't shout regulation, but once you know that it's supposed to mean regulation, I think it works.

fbennett

Another thought on regulations: "bank" from Fugue with a superimposed lightning bolt.

It might be a bit cartoonish for the conservatively-minded, but it would express the idea that regulations serve to implement statutory law.

DWL-SDCA

Has anyone considered contacting Yusuke Kamiyamane, the fugue icon designer? Although his webpage says that he isn't available for custom icon work, he is clearly interested in how his icons are used. I'm in the midst of reworking the design of my database web pages and contacted him to ask if he could provide me with examples of how other sites have acknowledged his icons. I also mentioned the discussion on this forum. He has replied to my emails.