Admin Bar Update Icon Inconsistency

[TJNowell]

The update icon at the moment is 2 arrows in a circle in the admin bar ( aka the refresh icon ). In Network Admin it's a pair of tools.

I'd suggest we change these to the same icon rather than have 2 inconsistent icons. I'd also suggest we use a single arrow as the new icon, a refresh/recycle icon isn't as clearcut as it could be ( and what if a caching plugin implements a refresh button to the admin bar? ).

We could follow Google by using an arrow pointing upwards, or we could follow Apples convention with a downwards pointing arrow in a circle

[TJNowell]

Chrome update icon

[TJNowell]

iOS Update

[Ipstenu]

As of 3.9, I see the circle refresh for Network Admin

So it looks like that half of the problem is now resolved. The question of should we use a better icon that refresh is interesting, though. A 'refresh' isn't really indicative of 'I'm gonna update your plugins and themes now!'

[wgroenewold]

Download icon (arrow in box)

[wgroenewold]

Is there a reason why we don't use the icon for download (arrow down in box) or a variation on that when there are updates available and another icon (like a checkmark or a when all the updates are done? That way there would be an extra incentive to do updates.

We could do something like arrow down in a shape if updates are available, animating dot when checking in a shape and checkmark when everything is up to date.

[wgroenewold]

Update icon states

[wgroenewold]

Retought it a little. Added a small mockup of the idea. Not sure about the animated icon though.

[melchoyce]

Is this still an issue on multisite? I agree the icons should be inconsistent, but I don’t think we need an updated icon — especially if we haven’t gotten more comments on this thread from folks who do find it confusing, or from forum threads. However, if anyone wanted to run some usability tests at some meetups or WordCamps, that could help bring in some data. :)

[joyously]

This is why I don't like icons! They all can be misinterpreted so easily.
A down arrow to me means download. An up arrow would be upload. Arrows in a circle to me mean recycle.

[Ipstenu]

We're currently internally consistent, so I think that's okay unless we want to revisit as "Do we need new icons?"

[melchoyce]

In that case, I'm going to close as maybelater, and if someone wants to take on testing out new icons, feel free to reopen.