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> Like using stars to represent favorites, typography to emphasisze/deemphasize things, the color red for warnings/errors, the color green for go/submit/ready,

Screw the dyslexic and colourblind, I guess.

> using descriptive naming in buttons and having self-documenting labels.

Screw the non(-native)-English speaking in this case.

And even in the case that you're a native speaker, this is really hard to do well. You should try. Most fail.

I agree you should do these things, and many of your other suggestions (within reason) if only to give your users a better chance at understanding your software, but they cannot replace a solid grounding in the real world. We should have both.

What's clearer? [Call] or [(telephone receiver emoji) Call]?

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> Screw the dyslexic and colourblind, I guess.

You can also use checkmark/cross icons for success/failure. And What does this have to do with dyslexia?

> What's clearer? [Call] or [(telephone receiver emoji) Call]?

We’re arguing about flat vs. skeuomorphic design, so more like:

What's clearer? [(simple phone icon) Call] or [(photorealistic drawing of a telephone receiver) Call]?

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> You can also use checkmark/cross icons for success/failure. And What does this have to do with dyslexia?

Your comment on typography.

> What's clearer? [(simple phone icon) Call] or [(photorealistic drawing of a telephone receiver) Call]?

The latter.

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> Your comment on typography.

That wasn’t my comment, and GP was presumably referring to things like headings being larger, not some subtle differences that dyslexic people would miss.

> The latter.

Why?

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> That wasn’t my comment

Sorry about that.

> and GP was presumably referring to things like headings being larger, not some subtle differences that dyslexic people would miss.

I was imagining bold or italics, both of which are easily missed by people who are dyslectic, or using different type faces, which can trip them up. Headings can help, if the text and spacing is suitably big, but I'm not sure what situations that can help much with in typical usage. I'm having a hard time thinking of examples where I would do that beyond what's already common.

> Why?

Easier to recognise as what it's supposed to be and easier to distinguish from other icons. More distinct traits in icons help you recognise something for what it is more quickly.

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