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Submission details

46 +59/-13 votes

Icon inconsistency

Submitted by doubleforte on August 12, 2008 to Icons

Tthe folder icon in iTunes is different that the folder icon in the rest of the OS. Different form, different color, always looks like it's open. Looks like it never escaped from OS 9. What's up with that? And another thing while I'm thinking about it...the "browse" eyeball icon in iTunes is the same icon as QuickLook in the Finder. What's up with that?

If the icons look the same, they should do the same thing. Suggest changing their appearance. Also, update the iTunes folders to look like the system folders. (Windows has an "open" folder state and a "closed" folder state...something to think about...

Low

Low

Not fixed

Discussion (6 comments)

Grey_Podder wrote on August 12, 2008, 8:10pm

+1
Suggest changing this to "iTunes inconsistent with other apps/Mac OS X". Also compare the scroll bars in iTunes vs. OS X, the idiosyncratic use of the Green/Plus button, etc.

polycat33 wrote on August 12, 2008, 10:40pm

I agree about the scroll bars in iTunes not matching... something should defiitely be done about that.

Aayush wrote on August 13, 2008, 8:26pm

The scrollbars on my system (in all applications) are the ones iTunes uses. There’s a hack for it. Google it up.

Grey_Podder wrote on August 14, 2008, 10:39pm

@Aayush
I think it would be far better for iTunes to conform to the look of OS X than for the user to hack the OS to fall in line with a single app.

zog wrote on August 20, 2008, 8:46pm

IMHO the two examples given are representative of two different ideas and don't support the same change request.

The folder one is quirky, but something that perhaps should be updated if only to shed the "branding" of previous OS incarnations.

The eyeball icon, on the other hand, is an example of using the same icon to perform two different functions. A key mitigating factor, though, is that the two buttons occur in completely different *contexts*. In one context, the symbol means one thing; in another context, the symbol means something else.

Now, I agree, using two different symbols would make their different functions more explicit. But I see nothing wrong with reusing a symbol to mean something else as long as the other meaning occurs in another context.

We use context to change meaning all the time. The word "fire" refers to one thing in front of a warm hearth, but something very different when used on a battlefield.

treecarr wrote on September 29, 2008, 4:22am

This is fixed in iTunes 8.

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