A floppy disk is fine, just like Photoshop uses terms like dodge and burn, references to obsolete dark room methods, like cutting and “pasting” were literally how some layout projects worked.
Referencing the last physical incarnation of saving a file seems fitting!
CD wasn’t even the last physical media that was adopted widely. Technically I think that may be thumbdrives for now, but there were some tape and disc shaped, but high density for the time (like 20MB to 100MB for the disk shaped one, and 1GB to 2GB tapes.) and named something I don’t remember, media options that were created in the late '90s early '00s before thumbdrives became a thing.
Web app > data is in temp > save commits it to disk
Offline app > data is in temp > save commits it to disk
does “temp” meaning RAM, user directory, remote cloud directory, browser temp files, WordPress backend db and “disk” meaning hard drive or one-drive or Google drive or the permanent remote cloud directory, or production db significantly alter the concept of the function?
Might be controversial, but I think “no.” I don’t think there is a difference between me “saving”, for example, a web page in WordPress as the final version, and me “saving” the offline wire frame design to my hard drive, and me “saving” a PDF of the web page to my downloads folder.
Tell that to anyone needing a large amount of storage that is instantly available; the newest HDDs with 30TB storage hit the central European market this July. Remarkably, the best value offering is a 28TB HDD @ 14,25€ / TB.
It’s just the download button, truly. They already associate that icon with saving files from the web. The down arrow pointing to a rectangle or laptop icon in word or similar app wouldn’t be too ambiguous…
Or, truly, the floppy will just become a nebulous, originless heiroglyph meaning “keep this information for later and let me put it somewhere to find it again,” and some Gen. Beta child will get curious and learn about ye olde days of magnetic media from Wikipedia.
I once saw a usb thumb drive as an icon. Guess it didn’t take off.
It might be the best actually since they’re still around and, never say never, may not go anywhere. Though a USBA icon will confuse the USBC crowd soon enough.
What even is a good alternative save icon these days?! This is the only save icon I know.
Edit: lmao I’ve gotten so many replies! I love y’all.
A download icon?
And for larger files, maybe add more arrows and make a biblically accurate download icon? /j
I think one GTK/GNOME icon set had downward arrow pointing to a hard disk. Seemed clear enough to me.
Set it in stone.
…maybe something more basic like this:
Back then the version control really was v2 Final Final. The good ol days.
We still do that level of version control. But we used to, too
Sorry for the convenience
A floppy disk is fine, just like Photoshop uses terms like dodge and burn, references to obsolete dark room methods, like cutting and “pasting” were literally how some layout projects worked.
Referencing the last physical incarnation of saving a file seems fitting!
Pretty harsh to the compact disc don’t you think?
You don’t save to a CD, you burn it
CD wasn’t even the last physical media that was adopted widely. Technically I think that may be thumbdrives for now, but there were some tape and disc shaped, but high density for the time (like 20MB to 100MB for the disk shaped one, and 1GB to 2GB tapes.) and named something I don’t remember, media options that were created in the late '90s early '00s before thumbdrives became a thing.
What about MicroSD? Still being put on game consoles and smartphones to this day.
True that. I tend to lump them in with thumbdrives.
Zip drive?
Zip disk/zip drive? wiki link
That’s the disk one!
Maybe a hard drive or SSD. At least the hard drive cross-section is somewhat unique.
Up arrow to a cloud, or down arrow to a platter (which, ironically, is also out-of-date)
Up arrow to Lakitu.
You just described upload and download, not save.
is there a difference between download and save?
You’re viewing information held in temp memory and are committing it to a hard drive or more permanent cloud drive for later retrieval.
Yes there is a difference. If you already have the information on your drive you don’t download every time you make an edit.
I think you’ve misunderstood my point:
Web app > data is in temp > save commits it to disk
Offline app > data is in temp > save commits it to disk
does “temp” meaning RAM, user directory, remote cloud directory, browser temp files, WordPress backend db and “disk” meaning hard drive or one-drive or Google drive or the permanent remote cloud directory, or production db significantly alter the concept of the function?
Might be controversial, but I think “no.” I don’t think there is a difference between me “saving”, for example, a web page in WordPress as the final version, and me “saving” the offline wire frame design to my hard drive, and me “saving” a PDF of the web page to my downloads folder.
No, download would be a down arrow from a cloud. “Saving” on a modern system typically implies a local cache paired with a cloud backend.
nice try Microsoft
Vomits
Tell that to anyone needing a large amount of storage that is instantly available; the newest HDDs with 30TB storage hit the central European market this July. Remarkably, the best value offering is a 28TB HDD @ 14,25€ / TB.
Hard to disk drives are still around but you might want to make it look generically like a generic that could also be an SSD just as easy
Congratulations on the drugs, I guess
That or posting on mobile while sleep deprived as fuck. Rereading a post made in bed the night prior is always a humbling experience.
Hey they tried! 😂
The difficult part would be depicting a SSD. It’s just a rectangle.
The chip icon, you know the one next to the other chip icon.
Maybe put a folder inside the rectangle?
A folder depiction almost always means open or load from directory
And a cloud inside the folder. And a floppy disk inside the cloud.
It’s just the download button, truly. They already associate that icon with saving files from the web. The down arrow pointing to a rectangle or laptop icon in word or similar app wouldn’t be too ambiguous…
Or, truly, the floppy will just become a nebulous, originless heiroglyph meaning “keep this information for later and let me put it somewhere to find it again,” and some Gen. Beta child will get curious and learn about ye olde days of magnetic media from Wikipedia.
This:
Or a Christian cross (“Jesus saves”)
Realistically the icon could br anything, even the green check emoji: ✅
But if we want to retain the thematic reference to a disk- icon-ify an m.2 2230 or similar and literally just swap em. lol
Image for reference:
Maybe a life preserver ring won’t become out of date? 🛟
That’s ‘Help’, not ‘Save’
This is Help
deleted by creator
cool, now we got a reference older than the 3.5 inch floppy
Well ackshually this picture spells “NUJV”
Maybe their spelling is what they need help with 🤔
Yeah but that’s awfully anglo-centric. Saving life has nothing to do with saving a file in other languages.
It’s time we upgrade the icon to Zip drives, or maybe Sony memory sticks.
I miss those icons bro.
☁️ is a (rather terrible) way to indicate cloud saving.
Yeah it’s old and loses relevance, but we can go older and it circles back to recognizable again
✍️
Or just say the vending machine is because it’s a store and you are storing the data when you save
I once saw a usb thumb drive as an icon. Guess it didn’t take off.
It might be the best actually since they’re still around and, never say never, may not go anywhere. Though a USBA icon will confuse the USBC crowd soon enough.
A frog from Mother 3
I’ve seen an SD card used before.
A princess in a tower guarded by a dragon, with a knight holding a sword getting ready to swing at the dragon.
Man, if only it dispensed actual drinks. But yeah, it used to dispense your whole digital life on 1.44MB. Good times.
parchment & quill 📜🪶
SD card?
I could see this one working. It has the little signature cut off corner.
A disc is also been used for some.
Would need to have some sort of drive icon - maybe? - that is unlikely to ever be forgotten… with a down arrow embedded inside.
Hmmm.
That’s a download button, an up arrow on the disk is an upload
The save icon is too established to be changed. It can be simplified and become a glyph no one understands the meaning of, but it’s cemented
An SSD. But not an M.2 because that might be confused for RAM.
A blank rectangle wouldn’t be confusing at all though.
My ssd is literally a 1tb small keychain… There’s too much variation.
What is your ssd? That sounds awesome.
Loading circle then checkmark next to filename