Archive for the ‘Icons’ Category

New Icons to Choose From

Monday, October 1st, 2007

We added nearly 100 new icons today to Stickymap, which means that you’ll have more choices when creating markers.  Thanks to all the graphics artists that contributed to this update!  New icons include: 
– Chain stores and chain restaurants
– Villages, towns, and cities.
– Amusement Park Icons
– New Transportation Options

Some icons have been updated, so we’d also like to get your input on that.

Time to Start Thinking About New Icons

Thursday, August 2nd, 2007

Yes, the time has come to start thinking about what new icons we want available on Stickymap.  We’re going to look at a few factors in determining which are a priority.  First, we’ll take a look at the thumb tacks, which are generally used when no other option is available.  If there are a lot of tacks for a certain type of place, then I feel that’s a good indicator that a new icon is necessary.  We’ll also be looking at which icons can bolster the value of our Community Group Tool, the details of which we have not yet released.  And finally, we’ll be taking input from our testers and most importantly our users to find out what new options people would like to see.  In addition, we’re going to be upgrade some of our older (and lower-quality images) so if you have that kind of request, we’d like to hear about it as well.

Feel free to use this blog post for your input, or to email us directly.

Max

New Icon Selector

Friday, June 22nd, 2007

Today, we released the new icon selector on Stickymap.com. Instead of having to look through the tree structure, there’s a single general search to find the icon you are looking for. Hopefully, this framework will m ake it easier for you to find the icon that you want.

The new selector appears in four places: the sifter, marker creation, changing marker “settings”, and editing a marker’s description. Changing the icon can be done through either the marker’s settings or through changing it’s description. This is because we used to have it all done on one page (the change description page). There should probably be a single, easy to access place to change the icon of a marker.

If you are a user, let us know what you think of the new icon controller. Do you find it easier to use? How do you think we can improve it? Shortly, we’re going to take a look at marker creation, and try to make that easier to use. The new icon selector is just one step in this initiative.

Max

Choosing Your Icons

Wednesday, June 20th, 2007

There are over 150 different icon images to choose from in Stickymap. When users create a marker, or use the sifter, they are asked to choose one specific icon. In order to find the icon that they are looking for, the users have to struggle through categories and sub-categories in order to find the one they want. This is a tedious process, and even when a user has a particular icon in mind, it’s not always clear which category to look under.

That’s why we’re working on a new way to search icons – the 21st century way. No longer will users have to click and unclick categories, unsure of what they’ll find. The new icon selector will be simple: users will just type in what they’re looking for in a search box, and the relevent choices will pop up. Users can use their own logic; they won’t be confined to ours.

This hasn’t been easy to implement, but so far it’s going more smoothly than expected. If you are a stickymap user, how can we make selecting an icon even easier for you? Let us know – and look out for this new interface feature in the near future.

Max