Now, I don’t mean text on the icon (see #37, Never Use Text on Icons)—I mean a text label near the icon, not just an icon on a button on its own.
Small, nondescript buttons, with obscure mystery icons on them, are next to useless and consistently perform terribly in user tests.
Figure 38.1: Which is easier to understand?
Let’s go back to the original purpose of an icon—to provide a quick visual shorthand by which the user can instantly recognize a control, and to provide a target for the user to click or tap. The icon isn’t meant to describe a button the first time that the user sees it—the user will need a ...
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