[certus]

I'm working on creating a set of icons for database operations. Would welcome any feedback.

[wheedwacker]

you can't tell what select and alter are supposed to be without looking at the text. otherwise, its pretty nice

[certus]

That's one of the problems I encountered in trying to create what I consider a "consistent" set of icons. There are no standard abstract symbols for select and alter and I personally think the magnifying glass for search sucks. I felt that alter could be represented by the yellow diamond as it is commonly used as a symbol to indicate changes in road direction or road construction in North America. I ported this metaphor to select by reorienting it and using blue which is often found in information road signage.

I am hoping that if I use the select and alter symbols consistently they would be suitable and fit in with create and drop.

[ropeyjoe]

Bit bland to be honest mate

Yellow diamond to represent "alter" is somewhat arbitrary in my humble opinion, not very intuitive, despite your road-marking connection.

Would users generally associate road signage with databse operations? I dont really think so. Magnifying glass for a search might suck to you, but it will instantly be recognizable to a user, and that is reason enough to keep it.

When folks are administering their database, they wont really be bothered about subtle (even cryptic?) designs, they'll only want that for the front end. I think they'll be more bothered about using buttons that they can guess what they'll do quickly without too much thought.

Sorry, just my opinion

Ropey Joe

[certus]

Thanks for your reply ropey.

I admit my icons are not web 2.0 style so not too flashy. However I have had a chance to run the icon sets by quite a few database specialists and they have expressed that they like the icons alot. They tend to agree that the magnifying glass is too concrete for select. They also like the yellow diamond for alter, but most applications will not need an alter command.