Microsoft Corp. set off a storm of comments and feedback—both glowing and damning—this weekend when officials requested feedback on a proposed RSS icon redesign for the Internet Explorer 7.0 tool bar.
Read details here about MSN's move into RSS.
"Instead there's a variety of mostly orange rectangles with the words 'XML,' 'RSS,' 'ATOM,' 'FEED,' or 'Subscribe.' … Our goal is to make sure that the icon is something that is understandable by all of our users: novice, advanced, developer, business, international, etc."
The Microsoft RSS team suggested five possible new buttons, sparking a debate across the Internet.
"The choice of what icon to use is challenging because it should be universally symbolic, but today there is no single icon that represents feed," according to a posting on the RSS Team blog site.
They wanted to represent the key aspects of RSS feeds (newness, activity, subscription and continual information); build on the most consistent and identifiable element, namely, the orange rectangle; and avoid the use of text in order to work well with a global audience.
The team said it set out to create an icon which encompassed three principles.
While most were lambasted for aesthetical reasons, Web commentors seemed to key in on the fifth, which debuted as part of IE7's Beta 1 release this summer.
Details about the planned RSS icon redesign emerged on the Microsoft RSS Team's Weblog on Saturday.
All five options featured white non-text images on an orange rectangular background.
Some commentors complimented the fifth design suggestion for its close resemblance to the Firefox RSS icon, a commonality which could encourage standardization.
Read the full story on Microsoft Watch: The Big Tussle Over a Tiny Orange Box
Previous article: 08 November 2006
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