[aGHz]

The strength of icons lies in recognition, not recollection, so your experiment doesn't prove anything. Essentially, I have no idea off the top of my head what the <arcane image processing tool> icon looks like in Photoshop, but put me in front of an open Photoshop and I'll recognize it in a split second.

A lot of this has to do with placement, yes, but I'm sure even without that, you can scan a mass of icons much more easily than a mass of text.

[Chris_Newton]

My comments aren’t based on a quick thought experiment alone. There’s a substantial body of empirical data showing that icons aren’t always as good a UI choice as their popularity might suggest. For example, see:

http://uxmyths.com/post/715009009/myth-icons-enhance-usabili...