tecznotes

I just got through posting this to an entry on Radar about the general incomprehensibility of XML/RSS icons on web pages:

The one thing all those buttons have in common is white text on an orange background, which is becoming something of an international symbol for a feed independent of format. RSS Equalizer and RSS Content Builder.com even use this convention in their product logos. It won't be long before this pattern enters the global consciousness, "the thing that decided decaf coffeepots should be orange."

Why not jump-start the process and ditch the letters altogether? A symbol such as this small image has a number of advantages over the RSS and XML buttons:

• Orange and contains three enclosed elements. This echoes the older buttons for those familiar with them.
• Visually distinctive, but still wordlike and usable within a text stream or verbal explanation.
• Designed to be small.
• Independent of language or character set.
• Three bullets look like an ellipsis and imply repetition and continuation.