Bugzilla – Bug 11684
Revert "help" button to string-free "?" logo
Last modified: 2009-09-08 09:30:15 UTC
(cue heads exploding...) After review, debate, seeing both versions etc., we are using the "?" icon for the help button. Noah has checked the button graphic into svn, but we'll also need to remove the "Help" string (and localized variations) from the button. This does not impact the "More" button on help screens, which should still be a blank button containing the text string. Thanks for your patience, this is the final recommended solution for the "help" button.
wow... okay.
Created attachment 5061 [details] Ref artwork - "?" help icon
i don't mind the specific decision here, but at this point I would have to imagine that there was some big problem. what was it?
The "?" for help, as it was originally designed, was the best choice. While text is usually better than an icon as a descriptor (in a world with no constraints at least :), there are certain icons that are basically universally recognized and understood, at least in a software UI context - ? for help is one. (music notes and arrows are pretty good too). The problem started when we (I) realized we needed some sort of second, distinct "help" button after the "more help" feature. Noah and messed with some icon options, such as ?+, then Dean had the (very good) idea of simply using text here. However, that fix somehow creeped into also changing the help button. I think we simply reacted too fast and made a snap decision. Since then I've had several days to play with the UI and react to the look of it, and the "help" text is just too heavy-handed, especially when considering that it appears in front of every user for several screens in a row, whether or not they click on it. To make a long story short, we fixed something that wasn't broken, and we should change it back while we still can :-). The "more" text is still the right solution for its button, IMO.
*** Bug 11583 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
button changed to ? help icon, r5222