Editing Icon (computing) (section)

== Types ==

=== Standardized electrical device symbols ===

[[File:USB icon.png|thumb|A standardized icon for a USB connection]]
[[File:Power_icon_(the_Noun_Project_35084).svg|thumb|upright|The standard [[Power symbol|power icon]]]]
A series of recurring computer icons are taken from the broader field of standardized symbols used across a wide range of electrical equipment. Examples of these are the [[power symbol]] and the USB icon, which are found on a wide variety of electronic devices. The standardization of electronic icons is an important safety-feature on all types of electronics, enabling a user to more easily navigate an unfamiliar system. As a subset of electronic devices, computer systems and mobile devices use many of the same icons; they are corporated into the design of both the computer hardware and on the software. On the hardware, these icons identify the functionality of specific buttons and plugs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://saadraja.co/7-tips-for-ui-design/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206074605/http://saadraja.co/7-tips-for-ui-design/|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 6, 2017|title=Saad Raja - 7 tips for UI design|website=saadraja.co|language=en-US|access-date=2017-12-05}}</ref> In the software, they provide a link into the customizable settings.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://eetd.lbl.gov/Controls/publications/switch5.pdf |title=''Power Switch Labeling for Medical and Other Devices'', 10 May 2011 |access-date=1 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927151016/http://eetd.lbl.gov/Controls/publications/switch5.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

System warning icons also belong to the broader area of ISO standard warning signs. These warning icons, first designed to regulate automobile traffic in the early 1900s, have become standardized and widely understood by users without the necessity of further verbal explanations. In designing software operating systems, different companies have incorporated and defined these standard symbols as part of their graphical user interface. For example, the Microsoft MSDN<ref>{{cite web|url=https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/uxguide/vis-std-icons|title=Standard Icons - Windows applications|last=windows-sdk-content|website=docs.microsoft.com|date=9 February 2021 }}</ref> defines the standard icon use of error, warning, information and question mark icons as part of their software development guidelines.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511277.aspx|title=''MSDN Standard Icons'', 10 May 2011}}</ref>

Different organizations are actively involved in standardizing these icons, as well as providing guidelines for their creation and use. The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has defined "Graphical symbols for use on equipment", published as IEC 417, a document which displays IEC standardized icons. Another organization invested in the promotion of effective icon usage is the ICT (information and communications technologies), which has published guidelines for the creation and use of icons.<ref name="ICT Pictograms, Icons and Symbols "/> Many of these icons are available on the Internet, either to purchase or as freeware to incorporate into new software.

=== Metaphorical icons ===
An icon is a ''[[signifier]]'' pointing to the ''[[signified]]''. Easily comprehendible icons will make use of familiar visual metaphors directly connected to the ''signified'': actions the icon initiate or the content that would be revealed. [[Metaphors]], [[metonymy]] and [[synecdoche]] are used to encode the meaning in an icon system.

The ''signified'' can have multiple natures: virtual objects such as [[Computer file|file]]s and [[Application software|applications]], actions within a system or an application (e.g. snap a picture, delete, rewind, connect/disconnect etc...), action in the physical world (e.g. print, eject DVD, change volume or brightness etc...) as well as physical objects (e.g. [[Computer monitor|monitor]], [[compact disk]], [[Computer mouse|mouse]], [[printer (computing)|printer]] etc...).

=== The Desktop metaphor ===

A subgroup of the more visually rich icons is based on objects lifted from a 1970 physical office space and desktop environment. It includes the basic icons used for a file, file folder, trashcan, inbox, together with the spatial real estate of the screen, i.e. the electronic desktop. This model originally enabled users, familiar with common office practices and functions, to intuitively navigate the computer desktop and system.  (Desktop Metaphor, pg 2).  The icons stand for objects or functions accessible on the system and enable the user to do tasks common to an office space. These desktop computer icons developed over several decades; data files in the 1950s, the hierarchical storage system (i.e. the file folder and filing cabinet) in the 1960s, and finally the [[desktop metaphor]] itself (including the trashcan) in the 1970s.<ref name="Beyond the Desktop Metaphor">Victor Kaptelinin and Mary Czerwinski (2007).  "Introduction: The Desktop Metaphor and New Uses of Technology ", pg 2 ff. in "Beyond the Desktop Metaphor: Designing Integrated Digital Work Environments". MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.</ref>

[[David Canfield Smith|Dr. David Canfield Smith]] associated the term "icon" with computing in his landmark 1975 PhD thesis "Pygmalion: A Creative Programming Environment".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://worrydream.com/refs/Smith%20-%20Pygmalion.pdf|title=Pygmalion: A Creative Programming Environment|website=worrydream.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://scs.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=9d5772a9-08ed-493a-a472-6d67cbd44dc0|title=Lecture 6 Guest Lecture (David Canfield Smith)|via=scs.hosted.panopto.com}}</ref> In his work, Dr. Smith envisioned a scenario in which "visual entities", called icons, could execute lines of programming code, and save the operation for later re-execution.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://acypher.com/wwid/Chapters/01Pygmalion.html|title=Pygmalion|website=acypher.com}}</ref> Dr. Smith later served as one of the principal designers of the [[Xerox Star]], which became the first commercially available personal computing system based on the desktop metaphor when it was released in 1981. "The icons on [the desktop] are visible concrete embodiments of the corresponding physical objects."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://guidebookgallery.org/articles/designingthestaruserinterface|title=GUIdebook > Articles > "Designing the Star User Interface"|website=guidebookgallery.org}}</ref> The desktop and icons displayed in this first desktop model are easily recognizable by users several decades later, and display the main components of the desktop metaphor GUI.

This model of the desktop metaphor has been adopted by most personal computing systems in the last decades of the 20th century; it remains popular as a "simple intuitive navigation by single user on single system."<ref name="Beyond the Desktop Metaphor"/> It is only at the beginning of the 21st century that personal computing is evolving a new metaphor based on Internet connectivity and teams of users, [[cloud computing]].  In this new model, data and tools are no longer stored on the single system, instead they are stored someplace else, "in the cloud". The cloud metaphor is replacing the desktop model; it remains to be seen how many of the common desktop icons (file, file folder, trashcan, inbox, filing cabinet) find a place in this new metaphor.

=== Brand icons for commercial software ===
A further type of computer icon is more related to the [[brand]] identity of the software programs available on the computer system. These brand icons are bundled with their product and installed on a system with the software. They function in the same way as the hyperlink icons described above, representing functionality accessible on the system and providing links to either a software program or data file. Over and beyond this, they act as a company identifier and advertiser for the software or company.<ref>Rudolph Arnheim (1969).  "Pictures, Symbols and Signs", pg 144 ff. in Handa, ''Visual Rhetoric in a Digital World''. Bedford / St. Martins, Boston.</ref>

Because these company and program [[logo]]s represent the company and product itself, much attention is given to their design, done frequently by commercial artists. To regulate the use of these brand icons, they are [[trademark]] registered and are considered part of the company's intellectual property.

In closed systems such as [[iOS]] and [[Android (operating system)|Android]], the use of icons is to a degree regulated or guided 
<ref>{{cite web|url=https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/ios/icons-and-images/custom-icons/|title=Custom Icons - Icons and Images - iOS - Human Interface Guidelines - Apple Developer|website=developer.apple.com}}</ref> to create a sense of consistency in the [[User interface|UI]].

=== Overlay icons ===

On some GUI systems (e.g. Windows), on an icon which represents an object (e.g. a file) a certain additional subsystem can add a smaller secondary icon, laid over the primary icon and usually positioned in one of its corners, to indicate the status of the object which is represented with the primary icon. For instance, the subsystem for locking files can add a "padlock" overlay icon on an icon which represents a file in order to indicate that the file is locked.