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What Does Icon Mean?

In a user interface, an icon is a small graphic representing a symbol that has meaning for the user. These symbols can relate to user commands, error messages, menu navigation or other types of communications. What icons have in common is that they present meaning to users through a small picture, rather than through a word or phrase.

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Techopedia Explains Icon

Icons are built into many modern types of user interfaces. They are commonly seen on a personal computer’s operating system screens, and on the screens of smartphones and mobile devices. Over time, the user community has learned to recognize certain common icons such as home icons, previous or next arrows, menu lines and warning signs, and these cues function effectively as a way for developers to communicate with the end users of the system.

Part of the evolution of icons today involves responsive design. Developers and engineers look at how to present icons differently on a smartphone or small device screen, to help smartphone and mobile device users find more comfortable ways to navigate the Internet, use an operating system or implement computing tasks.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret é uma premiada redatora e professora conhecida por sua habilidade de explicar assuntos técnicos complexos para um público empresarial não técnico. Nos últimos vinte anos, suas definições de TI foram publicadas pela Que em uma enciclopédia de termos tecnológicos e citadas em artigos do New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine e Discovery Magazine. Ela ingressou na Techopedia em 2011. A ideia de Margaret de um dia divertido é ajudar os profissionais de TI e de negócios a aprenderem a falar os idiomas altamente especializados uns dos outros.