MCCRUISE

[Andrew Shadow]

I even made some P-Touch labels for the supplied switchpod

You should send that picture to McCruise and suggest that they make their switches that way- with both text and pictograms. I think that it is an improvement over their version.

dropped the text for cryptic symbols

I VERY much despise pictograms that have no text included! Cryptic symbols is a much better description of them.
The McCruise only has three buttons, so not a problem. Most electronics have so many pictograms that no one knows what most of them are indicating. The pictogram works well for quick identification of buttons that are both common and commonly used, but not so well beyond that.

Previously most things were either labeled in English, or had a pictogram with an English descriptor as well. Regardless of what a person's Mother tongue is, at a minimum everyone who has rudimentary English reading skills can figure them out. Now, with pictograms only, nobody can figure them out including those people who read English. Everything now comes with a multi-lingual legend deciphering what the pictograms mean. If a legend is needed in multiple languages, this indicates that no matter what language people speak they are unintelligible, but also proves that the pictogram paradigm doesn't work once more than a few are being employed.

 

[Sadlsor]

I VERY much despise pictograms that have no text included! Cryptic symbols is a much better description of them.

That's exactly how my hopelessly techno-phobe wife feels in this modern age.
The left-arrow (reverse / rewind), double-left arrow (reverse but faster, or previous scene), two parallel vertical lines (pause), the right-arrow (play) and double-right arrow (skip to next scene, or fast-forward) have buffaloed Roz since I met her. (I think she simply refuses to learn this.)
Even if not necessarily "intuitive" (although I think they are, basically), we learn these symbols through simple repetition.
These are ubiquitous, found on iPads, VCR remote controls (she remembers big, big cassettes), our DirecTV remote, our DVR player, the DVR remote, the TV remote, her fricking car radio she's driven for over 120,000 miles (!), music on her Android phone (she's on her 4th or 5th), YouTube video player controls, computer keyboards, and Lord-only-knows-what-else I've forgotten here, but she just doesn't won't get it.
And I thought I was stubborn...

 

[Andrew Shadow]

That's exactly how my hopelessly techno-phobe wife feels in this modern age.
The left-arrow (reverse / rewind), double-left arrow (reverse but faster, or previous scene), two parallel vertical lines (pause), the right-arrow (play) and double-right arrow (skip to next scene, or fast-forward) have buffaloed Roz since I met her. (I think she simply refuses to learn this.)
Even if not necessarily "intuitive" (although I think they are, basically), we learn these symbols through simple repetition.
These are ubiquitous, found on iPads, VCR remote controls (she remembers big, big cassettes), our DirecTV remote, our DVR player, the DVR remote, the TV remote, her fricking car radio she's driven for over 120,000 miles (!), music on her Android phone (she's on her 4th or 5th), YouTube video player controls, computer keyboards, and Lord-only-knows-what-else I've forgotten here, but she just doesn't won't get it.
And I thought I was stubborn...

That is why I wrote The pictogram works well for quick identification of buttons that are both common and commonly used, but not so well beyond that.

I had a digital camera that had a full page legend for the pictograms. There must have been at least 75 of them. I don't care how much a person uses that camera, you will never use most of those icons, so when you do need one of them you will never remember what at least 65 of them mean. I had to make a cheat sheet to carry with me, which kind of defeats the point of pictograms.

 

[Larry Fine]

That's how I feel about smart phones.

 

[STRider]

You should send that picture to McCruise and suggest that they make their switches that way- with both text and pictograms. I think that it is an improvement over their version.

I doubt that will get very far @Andrew Shadow . Those labels are EXACT replicas of the buttons on the previous generation of their switchpod.