InfoQube IM - Community

Submitted by jan_rifkinson on 2009/06/10 09:17

In outlines, I have found that graphic representations, i.e. icons, sometimes helps focusing one's attention.

I see that I can add an icon to the beginning of a text field

I could probably create an icon 'text' column & add one there

but I started wondering about an icon field property

Does anyone have any thoughts about the use of icons - pro or con?

Or ideas about the best approach to icon use?

Thanks.

Jan Rifkinson

Ridgefield CT USA

Comments

I use icons a lot in IQ.

Bear in mind though that because an IQ item can have several function/identity (be task, a contact, a reference, a note...) it can become complicated to manage icons.

Maybe would it be possible ( in the future) for the grids to have an influence on which icon appear (pierre ?) (ie : context dependant icon.) in a specific set.

That said, here's one example of how I deal with icons.

I have 2 text fields/columns for icons:

1- Icon_statut (indicate the status of an item, its state : done, waiting for, etc.)

2- Icon_type (indicates the type of an item : task, contact, etc.)

Now, all you have to is to use the autoassignment text box in the field management window, and enter some autoassigment rules for some fields.

Let's say you want all your contacts to have a little icons beside them to help identify them ; you can add this line to your "contact" field (or whatever field you use as a source for your address book contacts.

A:Icon_Type="<img>crazy hair</img>" | E:Icon_Type=

For my tasks I have :

A:Icon_Type="<img>pin</img>" | E:Icon_Type=

Then i also have an auto assigment rule related to the "done" field, which will work in conjunction with the "Icon_Statut" field mentioned earlier.

A:Icon_Statut="<img>cross</img>" | E:Icon_Statut=

What this does is that it puts a nice little red cross in the "icon_statut" field when something is mark as done...

Note that my addressbook grid, like most of my grids, has two sources : one source identifying the main type of item found in the grid, and another one identifying all items found in the grid, regardless of their nature (contact, note, etc.) ; I've explained all this in another post somewhere and it's very convenient... especially to manage icons efficiently... anyhow.)

(BTW, of this example is clear enough, anybody is allowed to add it to the manual ... It'll need to be reworked a bit though.)

Armando, thanks for taking the time to explain your use of icons; very helpful to my thinking.

do you have any thoughts about having an icon value in in field property via a drop down menu?

Jan Rifkinson

Ridgefield CT USA

HP Blackbird Vista Ultimate SP-1

Thanks.

>do you have any thoughts about having an icon value in in field property via a drop down menu?

I think it could be helpful but not sure how it could be that useful for what I've explained.

It could easily be done with the pop-up list option in the field management window. Add a list of icons in there. Something like :

"<img>crazy hair</img>" | "<img>pin</img>"

The only problem is that you won't see icons, but text in the drop down menu, I believe.

I'll try to explain what I was thinking.... probably won't use the right words but anyway...

Ex: Contacts List

Contact = Jan (dog walker)

++ conv w Jan 04:51 pm 06/10/09

++ appt w Jan 06/12/09

Contact = Armando (boat builder)

++ conv w Armanod 06:51 pm 06/12/09

++ appt w Armando 06/15/09

If in item properties, General tab, user saw:

icon option w drop down box to select

dog icon for Jan

boat icon for Armando

From my perspective, the use of icons would be selective, i.e. if user added icons for all items it would be a mish mash.

so it could be used to attach to special branches of an outline or to grids

Added starter (& I hate to bring up another program here) in UltraRecall user could assign a shortcut to an icon (favorite) to hoist or focus on a branch in the outline

Like I said, you can already pretty much achieve if you follow the (somewhat abbreviated) "procedure" I described.

here's my book entry about icon use methodology. (with 2 screenshots !)

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