New standard icon for data loss?

[Alex Faaborg]

Yesterday I was thinking about the standard 3 dialog box icons that
every platform has, and thinking that the big problem with them is
that dataloss (the most extreme of problems) is currently only
captured by the second level:

1 - information: "thought you might like to know"

2 - warning: "possible bad things in the future, or something didn't
really work, not the computer's fault"

3 - error: "computer's fault, broken"

what about a new icon for Firefox that looks like error but contains a
simple trash can design, and we use this every time we are trying to
communicate "computer about to delete user's data." Having the same
visual treatment for a 404 and dataloss doesn't seem right.

-Alex

[Jennifer Boriss]

Makes sense - particularly when the standard warning icon is becoming increasingly linked to harmful web content, and dismissing it associate with "yes yes, I know the risks." A trashcan or similar there's no mistaking.

I'm trying to think of all the places such an icon would display, if there was one. Here's a very partial list:

- Remove a language
- Clear Recent History
- Delete Cookies
- Delete Saved Password
- Weave replace-data-on-computer
- Weave replace-data-on-cloud
- Uninstall an add-on

[Alexander Limi]

I agree, a standard icon would be great — the danger with the trash can icon
is that people have gotten used to be able to recover things from it.

Unless we support undo, we should probably see if there's a better
abstraction we can use.

--
Alexander Limi · Firefox User Experience · http://limi.net

[Alex Faaborg]

iconic shredder?

[Neil Lee]

Le 02-12-09 à 15:48, Alexander Limi a écrit :

> I agree, a standard icon would be great — the danger with the trash can icon
> is that people have gotten used to be able to recover things from it.
>
> Unless we support undo, we should probably see if there's a better
> abstraction we can use.

A puff of smoke?

Neil

[Damon Sicore]

I sorta like the idea of re-using the acid warning sign, but replace the hand with a stack of disks and/or a computer.

http://www.shingleberrysigns.com/design_icon/warning%208%20acid%20corrosive.gif

+

http://www.blipfestival.org/2008/info/8bitpeoples_computer_logo_black.png

:)

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[Alexander Limi]

What are these disks you speak of? ;)

--
Alexander Limi · Firefox User Experience · http://limi.net

[Damon Sicore]

On Dec 2, 2009, at 3:34 PM, Alexander Limi wrote:

> What are these disks you speak of? ;)

http://www.anvari.org/db/fun/Computer/5MB_Hard_Disk_in_1956.jpg

[Asa Dotzler]

On 12/2/2009 12:48 PM, Alexander Limi wrote:
> I agree, a standard icon would be great — the danger with the trash can icon
> is that people have gotten used to be able to recover things from it.
>
> Unless we support undo, we should probably see if there's a better
> abstraction we can use.
>

Perhaps any of the "explosive" "corrosive" or "flamable" lab safety
icons f.e. http://www.fmenge.co.za/images/warningtn.gif

Or perhaps a paper shredder icon like
http://www.guidebookgallery.org/pics/features/icons/shredder.png
(problem here is that it might suggest "security" which may not be the
case since not all of these dataloss situations are actually securely
deleted.

- A