Comments on: Language icon

By: pekinggoose

pekinggoose — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:42:29 +0000

I agree with Sven, this looks like a common diskette icon (Google images for ‘diskette icon’ and set Options, Size to Icon). The Language Icons site says: “Why this glyph? : Because it is not related to any other idea or symbol, it does not signify something else, it is exlusive (sic) for selecting language.” This is not true for me. My immediate reaction to this icon is that it will open a pop-up dialogue to Save. Compare to the Save icon in Microsoft Word.

By: Dr. Armitage

Dr. Armitage — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:03:23 +0000

Seems quite useful to me! Say for example that you are on a site that is by default in a language that you do not understand. While you may not recognize the Russian phrase for “Change Language” in its native Cyrillic script, if this icon were used you would not need to understand in order to switch to your language. Some web designers may be reluctant to place a bulky drop-down language select menu smack in the middle of their page, while a neat, concise icon could do the job and only take up a fraction of the space. Plus the icon designers were kind enough to allow multiple variants of the icon so that one can choose an icon that does not clash with the rest of the page. Little conveniences like this may not seem that useful at first, but they are more than worth the effort in the long run.

By: Christian

Christian — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:45:23 +0000

I think it does make sense. It makes it easier to find the language selection. You just have to get used to the icon. I actually like the design as it is simple, distinctive, unique, and abstract. The problem with the phrase “select your language” or something similar is that you have to know the language it’s written in. The icon, however, is universal. I like the idea a lot. Go for it, Forvo! :-)

By: spl0uf

spl0uf — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:10:37 +0000

Seems pretty useless. Either that, or I’m too dumb to see a point.
http://languageicon.org/examples.php
I don’t understand how this little square can possibly be more helpful than a plain old “select your language:”, or flags.

By: john

john — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:00:33 +0000

looks like a warehouse

By: Sven Siegmund

Sven Siegmund — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 16:47:18 +0000

No, I wouldn’t dare to click it. It looks like a diskette and that somehow does not make sense on a web page, except I would like to save it.