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The software for a modern computer
fills the screen with moving, blinking, and colorful text and symbols
meant to tease and entice the viewers. Like the barkers on a carnival
fairway, they call out: "Pick me." "I'm the best." "Check me out first."
All this activity is a feast for the eyes. From there comes the name of
Eye Candy.
By a majority, software applications
use "windows" type programs with a generous selection of symbols - icons
- to navigate the computer programs. This is especially true in using
browser software to surf the Internet. One almost does not have to type
a letter of the alphabet; just point your mouse at an icon, click, and
go to the next topic or Internet site. And, without even thinking about
it, we also use symbols to navigate through our public and private lives.
The first civilizations used
pictographic symbols which became the Western alphabet. Today's societies
still rely on symbols to convey messages to the population in general.
Icons are here to stay: little images that have become an enduring symbol.
They represent a business, a concept, and even give instructions. They
are so unconsciously familiar that, in most instances, a word need not
be mentioned to recognize the company they represent or understand the
meaning of the symbol. |