Save icon: Still a floppy disk?

43,398

Solution 1

The floppy disk icon has become the standard for saving files. It's a highly recognizable icon and there's no reason to change that. Consistency between applications is a wonderful thing.

I suspect that over time the icon will grow more stylized and less like an actual floppy disk once people start forgetting what they look like (or never knew). The icon nowadays represents the concept of saving more than it represents floppy disks anyway.

Solution 2

As others have said, keep the floppy icon and don't worry. Where I live, this is the warning sign for train crossing:

A warning sign for train crossing

There haven't been any steam locomotives for 50 years or so, but everyone still knows that this is the symbol for trains. And in the same way, 50 years from now, when your files are stored on Google servers in orbit, everyone will know that the floppy is the symbol for saving your data.

Solution 3

Consider the fact that you're using the term "floppy" when in fact the 3.5" disks were not floppy at all. It was just a term that carried over from 5.25" disks because everyone got used to it. The "disk button is save" concept is also what everyone is used to. Stick with it.

Solution 4

Chapter 17: "Rethinking Files and Save" of About Face covers this. Alan Cooper is well-known as a usability expert and his writings are influential. His argument is essentially that when we force the user to think about the implementation, we get ourselves into trouble. Here's a brief excerpt:

In the world of digital technology, the place where implementation-model thinking most strikingly rears its ugly head is the management of files and the concept of "save." If you have ever tried to teach your mother how to use a computer, you will know that difficult doesn't really do the problem justice. Things start out all right: You start up the word processor and type a couple sentences. She's with you all the way -- it's like writing on paper. But when you click the Close button, up pops a dialog box asking "Do you want to save changes?" You and Mom hit a wall together. She looks at you and asks, "What does this mean? Is everything okay?"

This problem is caused by software that forces people to think like computers by unnecessarily making them confront the internal mechanisms of data storage. This isn't just a problem for your mother; even sophisticated computer users can easily become confused or make mistakes. People spend thousands of dollars on hard- ware and software just to confront impertinent questions like "Do you really want me to save this document that you've been working on all afternoon?" and must remember to use to the Save As... command when what they really want to do is work on a copy of the document.

It's worth thinking about ways to simplify or eliminate the "save" metaphor.

Here on Stack Overflow we can "Post an Answer" or "Add Comment" or "Ask your Question" for example. Each time we really are "saving" to the database, but the metaphor is slightly different each time. Posting, adding, asking. I think of software like iTunes which I believe does not have the concept of "saving to disk" for the music. You simply add music to it and it's saved. Depending on the type of tasks your software carries out, there may be different metaphors which are more apt than save.

I should mention that I've not really answered your question, I myself have used the floppy icon, or a big button that just says "Save" on it in my web applications. For the time being we're stuck with it for many cases, but it gets more and more ridiculous as floppy drives die out. But then, we also say we "dial" phones, when dial-interface phones have not been in popular use for decades.

Solution 5

Use an icon containing two characters:

:w

View more solutions

43,398

Travis

Data Scientist & Web Developer. I have a passion for discovering and working with cutting-edge technology. I enjoy collaborating with others to solve problems.

Updated on October 29, 2020

Comments

Travis over 3 years

I'm working on a project where the user is able to save their work (most likely to the HDD but also possibly any other media, including floppy disks). Sure, the popular File > Save option is there but what about a toolbar button?

By far the most popular icon is the floppy disk. However, the chances the user will write to the floppy are pretty slim. Still, I think the floppy is more representational than literal.

In the end, I'll probably stick with the floppy disk icon to keep the convention most users are familiar with but... anybody have any ideas on how to update this old icon?
- Jhonny D. Cano -Leftware- about 15 years
  
  I agree it would be wonderful to start searching for new standard icons for this functionality
- marc_s about 15 years
  
  What do you want to use? A USB stick? :-) The disk is just sooo recognizable.....
- Peter Boughton about 15 years
  
  I've seen USB sticks used in some apps. They're ugly.
- Jared about 15 years
  
  Same reason we use words like "folders" "Windows" and more...start out simple so the 'dumb users' can understand, and it sticks :)
- GalacticCowboy about 15 years
  
  Use a picture of Jesus. Because everybody knows that Jesus saves...
- Josh Stodola about 15 years
  
  Icons and logos serve a serious purpose. Neither should be modified without undeniable justification.
- darjab about 15 years
  
  It's there. It works. It works flawlessly, even. Why do you want to change it ?
- oligan almost 15 years
  
  Floppy disks are also used in Fedora as a symbol of legacy technology.
- Layynezz over 14 years
  
  It's going to be around for a while. People still use a diagonally arranged keyboard layout that was designed for mechanical typewriters
- Ycros over 13 years
  
  Jesus saves, but Buddha does incremental backups.
- Cédric Guillemette over 13 years
  
  ui.stackexchange.com/questions/3117/…
- TRiG over 11 years
  
  It's a skeuomorph, like the click-whirr noise of a digital camera.
- IdidntKnewIt about 9 years
  
  Maybe, you need to see this: imgur.com/jHS1Vrb
Pesto about 15 years

It's a fair point, though. Sure, users presently recognize the floppy disk, but are we headed to an era where people click on the square thing to save, but have no idea what it is?
Welbog about 15 years

@Pesto: Why not? You already click a fox that somehow knows how to browse the Internet. You click a printer icon when you need to create PDF. E-mail has a little picture of an envelope, usually. Icons are just icons.
derobert about 15 years

3.5" disks were indeed floppy, they were just protected inside a hard plastic shell. Open one up. This contrasts with hard disks where the platters actually are hard, even once you open it up.
Michael about 15 years

When users see that icon, they don't think "Floppy disk", they think "Save". It's a symbol for that now, it's been burned into the computer using concscience for the past twenty years. I doubt we could come up with a new that is just as obvious now.
Peter Boughton about 15 years

They were floppy if you removed them from the hard protective shell. Also, I suspect the naming was more of a contrast against 'hard' disks, without being able to use 'soft' since that might be confused with software/virtual disks.
Pesto about 15 years

@Welbog: Yeah, but people in the future will still know what an envelope or a fox is. While they know presently what the save icon represesnts and why, there will come a time when they don't. Someday, 50 years from now, there will be people writing into some "The Answer Man" column with the question "What's the deal with that little square that means save?"
Welbog about 15 years

@Pesto: Do you honestly think kids these days are asking this question today? They have never had a need for floppy disks. They just know this icon means "save" and probably don't care why, because it doesn't matter why.
Pesto about 15 years

@Welbog: I'm not advocating a change. I'm just pointing out that, while presently just outdated, it'll eventually be something completely unknown to users.
rookie about 15 years

"Floppy" doesn't strike me as the kind of term that would be applied by someone trying to be technical. Seems like something a layman would have called a 5.25" disk. Besides, the actual disks hardly had the rigidity to be called "floppy"... "limp" would be more appropriate.
GalacticCowboy about 15 years

Mine is a mailbox, complete with flag that pops up when I have messages... :) And my phone is 3 years old...
rookie about 15 years

Maybe someone will change it to look like a thumb drive.
user1601201 about 15 years

why would a CD icon be used for "save"? You can's save onto a CD!!
user1601201 about 15 years

looks like a model from the 1830's!!
Raquel about 15 years

"limp" "disk"... oh the humor
Raquel about 15 years

better still... make sure to use the ASCII art form
Raquel about 15 years

I agree about the CD. It doesn't even make sense because most optical disks are either Read-Only or Write-Once.
Jim C about 15 years

Pesto, are you sure people will recognize an envelope or a fox for that matter? How many people recognize a slide rule? or a drafting square? If you showed picture of a fox, a wolf, and wolverine to a bunch of city kids how many could pick out the fox? It is not that they are dumb, they just have not seen them. Icons will change, become more abstract, and yes people will forget what they stand for. Now where is old rotory dial corded analog telephone.
kingchris about 15 years

I am sure they provided much amusment for comedians when they first came out. Guy palms a new style floppy. Walks up to the office blond and asks innocently "Where may I insert my stiffy ?"
Mike Robinson about 15 years

However it is an excuse for users. It's considered a "learned behavior" - a response that intuitively makes no sense but cannot be changed since all users were raised with it. Another example would be car keys. It's not obvious or intuitive that they go under the steering wheel, but try moving them and see how your customers react.
gillonba about 15 years

Mine is an envelope with sound waves superimposed on top of it
gillonba about 15 years

One important difference is that some people still say vinyl is better. When was last time you hear anyone say they missed using their stiffy?
Travis about 15 years

I like this answer because it's one of the only ones that actually proposes what we might use IF we didn't use the floppy disk. However, I'm not sure the idea of a CD would make much sense. Even the thought of saving data to a CD makes me turn away from the app as a user.
GalacticCowboy about 15 years

@Mike - totally true. I spent an entire day stabbing the side of the steering column in a borrowed Monte Carlo, because they decided to put it on the dash...
rmeador about 15 years

@rotard: lol. I hope that was intentional.
Eddie about 15 years

I say we go for a papyrus scroll, or a stone with chisel...
Peter Perháč about 15 years

this looks obscene ;P
jrcs3 about 15 years

@MasterPeter It didn't to me until you mentioned it.
Tom Anderson about 15 years

Even when there were steam trains, they never had wheels like that - they had little ones at the front, big ones in the middle, and more little ones at the back! 4-4-0 and all that!
DisgruntledGoat about 15 years

Wow, thinking about it now, having to "save" work all the time is silly. When you write on paper you're saving as you write! ;) No reason why it can't be done automatically and seamlessly in software.
Ostemar about 15 years

I tried this on my 9 and 13 year old nephews. I asked what does this button mean? "Save" they both answered immediately. Then I asked what the image looks like? They had no idea - not even a suggestion (which is fair since they haven't ever seen a disk). So I guess the meaning has overriden the image itself in the icon so we're stuck with it.
John Kugelman about 15 years

So THAT'S what that icon is! A tape roller. I could never figure that out. bonk
Kevin Newman about 15 years

Not sure about other countries, but in South Africa most people called the 3.5" disks "stiffies"!
Mathieu Pagé about 15 years

@twic steam locomotives definitely had theses kind of wheels, at least thoses in North America did.
Raquel about 15 years

VIM (command): (write)w... why is that so hard to recognize :)
Raquel about 15 years

That's funny. I have found users with little to no experience with office find it very easy to use and find new features. (I will admit I hated it when I first saw it, but having used it for 2 years I find it to be a great interface)
Raquel about 15 years

So we know where the file is and can find it later.
Gabriel Hurley about 15 years

oh yes... VIM commands have never confused anyone...
asia jacobs about 15 years

I understand the concept of naming and organizing files in folders, but that should be separate from "save." A file should be not have to be "manually" saved and it can remain "unnamed."
Marjolein about 15 years

For written documents an auto-save is perfectly awesome to have on, but when I'm editing images I never want it to auto-save. I want to save it as a new file and only save when I want it to.
asia jacobs about 15 years

Well, photoshop keeps a history of every change already and you can go back to any time. So how is that not already working pretty much as auto-save?
darjab about 15 years

@Matthew Whited - recognizable to wide audience, I mean.
oligan almost 15 years

Didn't the word "bug" exist even before that moth incident?
alexwho314 almost 15 years

Whilst you are correct, it would be fair to point out that children are taught about steam trains (Thomas the tank engine for my two) where as they are not taught computer history.
Alex almost 15 years

Yes, but not in the context of programming
Edd almost 15 years

Now to me that shows a download, or transfer of a file from one location to another, not storing a file in it's original location.
スーパーファミコン almost 15 years

Well what do we do as the world moves away from hard drives and towards solid state drives, that may or may not be in a metallic enclosure? You run into the same problem.
スーパーファミコン almost 15 years

I think it's a great testament to Office 2007's usability that my Mom is able to get into a word document and feel empowered to do things she thought were impossible.
Martin Beckett almost 15 years

And this is the standard symbol for an electronic speed camera freefoto.com/images/904/02/…
Roberto Bonvallet almost 15 years

Some web applications like Gmail got it right by saving automatically and keeping version history. Network latency is higher than disk latency, so there is no excuse for desktop applications not doing the same.
Roberto Bonvallet almost 15 years

Yeah, everyone knows what a hard drive looks like. I bet most people don't know that such a thing even exists.
Roberto Bonvallet almost 15 years

Having to save explicitly is so 20th century.
peterchen over 14 years

Most user us save as undo / delayed branch mechanism.
Ronald Pottol over 14 years

It started with 8" floppies, which are even floppier, and all of them are floppier than a removable disk pack.
user1568901 over 14 years

Oh geez, showing my age here... I have a reel tape unit at home!
user1568901 over 14 years

I do lots of (mostly?) "one-off" items that I don't want saved and cluttering up my workspace.
kjarsenal over 14 years

So you want to replace the floppy disk—an icon representing a storage technology used in the 1980s—with a cylinder, an icon that represents the giant IBM storage drives used in the 1950s?
MiffTheFox over 14 years

I'm assuming that C-s C-x won't fit. ;)
JasonSmith over 14 years

@Marpe @Welbog, that is why I suspected that Chinese is the superior human language. Our brains naturally map abstract symbols to meanings anyway. Who cares what it used to look like 1,000 years ago?
D'Arcy Rittich over 14 years

@DisgruntledGoat: and a typewriter is like a laptop computer with a built-in printer!
joek1975 over 14 years

Users know that the disk icon is to save. I guess it all depends on how much training that you want to perform later.
andriy over 14 years

The one on the sign is clearly an 0-8-0 train. Have a look: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0-8-0
Jonta about 14 years

Who cares whether the users know what a 3,5" floppydisk was anyway? The important thing is that they know it means "save", just like Marpe showed.
GreenMatt almost 14 years

A friend of mine coined the term 'flimsy' for 3.5" disks.
Peter almost 14 years

Open Office?? I've been using Open Office on Ubuntu lately and it actually confused me for a second when I didn't see the standard floppy disc save icon. Being a computer savy individual I managed to figure out that the giant arrow pointing to a hard drive meant save, but it makes me wonder why they changed it to begin with.
CMircea almost 14 years

@Michael: A CD, DVD, or even a USB flash drive could be a replacement for the icon, but I agree, nothing wrong with it. Consistency is good.
Rich almost 14 years

@Patricker: And that begs the question of how many users know what a hard drive looks like.
Rich almost 14 years

One of the reasons I love OneNote since I can just type or draw away and I don't have to care about saving. Side note: Others have made the same point, including at least Jef and Aza Raskin, iirc.
airportyh over 13 years

In the future, say 50-100 years, the concept of save would probably be obsolete because everything auto-saves and is synced to the cloud. The average end user may not ever need to explicitly click a button to save.
jhocking about 13 years

I would assume the reason early word processing programs required you to hit Save was because of limited disk space. After that saving carried on because people don't think about the reasons.
Justin Morgan almost 13 years

I have only ever heard the word "stiffy" being used to refer to one thing. And it had nothing to do with saving files.
Justin Morgan almost 13 years

If you saw that icon on its own, with no explanation, would you know what it meant? I sure wouldn't.
Seva Alekseyev almost 13 years

In much less than 50 years, "save" won't be a distinct operation anymore. Everything will become persistent the moment you type it. On smartphones, autosave on quit is already the prevailing model.
oberthelot over 12 years

This is a very good comment. That is where the future of application is taking us slowly. But even though it is easy to implement on text documents for instance, it becomes really hard and not trivial to implement on artistic software for example, photoshop, animation software, movie editing, etc
oberthelot over 12 years

I work in animation. I need to be able to sketch stuff and determine when I save the work....Having to do thousands of undo in order to find the previous revision that was working is not a desired workflow ;) Hence the need to 'Save"
TRiG over 12 years

In secondary school, a teacher told us to "click on the little picture of a television" to save. I think I burst out laughing.
NotMe about 12 years

+1 for everything but the "orbit" part. In 50 years, the servers won't be in orbit because it's still too risky and you have an even greater heat issue. Buried in Antarctica is much more likely.
Rena about 12 years

Sure, we can use a USB stick or SD card... then in another few years, we'll be asking why we still use those obsolete things in our icons. (And I think a USB stick would be harder to recognize than a floppy disk at 16x16 pixels, especially since they come in all shapes and sizes and colours...)
naugtur about 12 years

This is awesome - an icon that represents a verb or a relation instead of a noun. This is the way to go. It is easy to remember and just says "put something in". In what? the circle represents "the whole". It's more readable than stackoverflow.com/questions/1019573/… I wanted to recommend.
Richard Gadsden about 12 years

@jhocking Not so much limited disk space as limited disk performance. When you hit save in the old floppy days, you'd hear the disk make puffing noises for anything up to a minute.
monojohnny about 11 years

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inkblot ?
Stein G. Strindhaug about 10 years

I think every textbox should accept these commands :wq
user3688978 about 10 years

Another HTTP Error 404.0 - Not Found image
user3688978 about 10 years

404 — Image/Icon not found.
VonC about 10 years

@user3688978 Thank you. I have restored the picture.
Medinoc almost 10 years

3.5" disks, while not ''that'' floppy, were clearly floppier than 3" disks (but greatly outlasted them anyway).
Trade-Ideas Philip almost 9 years

When you quit it shouldn't ask if you want save, yes or no. It should ask ":wq" or ":q!"
nafg almost 9 years

I think it was mostly the experienced users that hated it
Alex C almost 9 years

It means flush your work down the toilet right?
Dave_cz about 8 years

Truth is that explaining how save icon looks to a person that never seen a floppy disk before can be very problematic. It is always a good idea to have a standard text menu saying clear "Save" & ofc a CTRL+S for shortcut lovers. We are sure to hear hilarious descriptions of how save icon looks like in the future.
Константин Ван almost 8 years

Google gave us the solution. Now you guys know the Google's download icon: a flat line under an arrow, and the arrow is pointing to the line!