Ask HN: Why is the save icon still represented by a floppy disk?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3195154

by tamersalama • 15 years ago

7 6 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I was teaching my daughter how to save her work, when I realized that she wouldn't know what a floppy disk is.

What'd be a better representation of a save operation?

suivix• 15 years ago

I think the save operation is going obsolete anyways.

jeffool• 15 years ago

Hmmm. Saving a document is just making a record of the changes. With that in mind, some ideas:

   -record/disc (as the round image is generally universal, even inside floppies)
   -page (as in a document, as in to record something)
   -a red circle (talk about universal, just grey it out when no changes are detected)

Or create a new symbol, say, two arrows overlapping, one pointing down, the other right. (Here and forward. And yes, I know not everyone uses those directions to mean those things, but I like the red circle more anyway.)

patio11• 15 years ago

What'd be a better representation of a save operation?

Since explicitly saving a document very rarely creates value for users and introduces several ways for them to fail with their tasks ("What is this file system metaphor of which you speak?", "I forgot to save this and then closed my browser. Is that bad?", "I just clobbered the old file I was working with. Is that bad?"), I'm a fan of just doing away with it entirely.

I have occasionally gotten emails from people asking where the Save button is in my web applications. Many of my users seem to expect things to work like Gmail/Facebook though: you do your thing, and then your thing stays done, even without having to call your nephew who is good with computers to make sure the thing on the disk does not get eaten by a virus on your Googles.

maushu• 15 years ago

Do you warn your users that their work is saved?

Maybe that lack of information in the interface is what is making them email you about it.

nhebb• 15 years ago

I like it because it's an iconic icon (tautology intended). It embeds a little bit of computing history right there in a 16x16 image.

johnqfake• 15 years ago

I don't know of anything better that I can think of. I also don't necessarily think a replacement is needed. Long after floppies are consigned to myth & legend, the icon can live on. I see road signs featuring steam trains but I've never seen a steam train, I see rotary phone images and I have only hazy memories of using one in the 80's. The purpose becomes its meaning and its origins are pretty irrelevant.

Ask HN: Why is the save icon still represented by a floppy disk?

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