Icons: how much is "enough"?

[denise]

Since icons are one of the more popular things we offer, a major driver of paid accounts, and something that people often request ("more icons" is one of the most frequent suggestions), I'm curious as to what people would consider "enough" icon slots. I'm setting the low end of this poll at 250, which is the most available (premium paid/seed accounts) in any account offered now; please answer the point at which you'd feel you had 'enough' icon slots, however you define that:

Poll #1847

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 856

View Respondents

How many icon slots would be enough to suit you?

View Answers

Up to 250
477 (55.7%)

251-300
77 (9.0%)

301-350
14 (1.6%)

351-400
13 (1.5%)

401-450
2 (0.2%)

451-500
168 (19.6%)

501-600
28 (3.3%)

601-700
3 (0.4%)

701-800
2 (0.2%)

801-900
0 (0.0%)

901-1000
48 (5.6%)

1001-1200
8 (0.9%)

1201-1400
0 (0.0%)

1401-1600
0 (0.0%)

1601-1800
0 (0.0%)

1801-2000
2 (0.2%)

2001-2200
0 (0.0%)

2201-2400
0 (0.0%)

2401-2600
1 (0.1%)

2601-2800
0 (0.0%)

2801-3000
0 (0.0%)

3001-3500
2 (0.2%)

3501-4000
0 (0.0%)

4001-4500
0 (0.0%)

4501-5000
1 (0.1%)

5001-5500
0 (0.0%)

5501-6000
0 (0.0%)

6001-6500
0 (0.0%)

6501-7000
0 (0.0%)

7001-7500
0 (0.0%)

7501-8000
0 (0.0%)

8001-10,000
0 (0.0%)

More than 10,000
10 (1.2%)

Comments

[zarhooie]

I am assuming that I will continue to make single-occasion icons, and that I will probably not delete them if I've got enough space. I expect Dreamwidth to be around for a good long while, so I think that 500 would last me for a while.

However, I do think that there will *need* to be a better icon mangement system in place. The one that exists now is kudgy at 150 icons and I doubt it will get any better.

[florahart]

IAWTC in entirety.

[cesy]

I'm pretty satisfied with what I have at the moment, as I currently have all the ones I use with any frequency. However, in my dream world I'd be able to have them all available, rather than saved on an external drive on my home computer to upload later. Then I'd be able to pick at the time of posting, rather than thinking "Oh, I wish I had an icon for this" and just using my default instead. And I have well over 1,000 at home.

Edit: That would also mean that I'd probably need a better bulk uploader, or a way to copy the credit details and icon from someone else along with a way to download, backup and then later reimport all my icons along with their credit and description details.

[denise]

When we do image hosting, one of the things I really want is the ability to make certain galleries 'icon galleries', so that you can then swap collections of icons in and out at a touch.

[rho]

Personally, I'm of the opinion that anything past 1 is overkill. :)

[dorothy1901]

Maybe, but I adore overkill. *g*

[annotated_em]

I'm not actually a high-octane icon user; I have, oh, 125 icons or so, and only add icons very slowly.

However, I'm also in this for the long haul, and figure that as I continue along, I'll keep adding new icons to celebrate the fandoms I get into. So I chose a limit that I think will keep me happily in icons and some change for the rest of my journaling life. :)

[dancing_serpent]

However, I'm also in this for the long haul, and figure that as I continue along, I'll keep adding new icons to celebrate the fandoms I get into.

Yes, this. That's the reason why I picked a rather high number.

[serene]

I rarely use more than a couple dozen, and I think the most I had on my LJ account when it was a paid account was something like 50. (I'm not one of the people who always wants more icons.)

[princessofgeeks]

this.

[dancing_serpent]

On Insanejournal I'm currently using about 350 of my 500 icon slots, but I did vote for a higher number. I love having "free space" - kind of as a reserve for all those instances where I fall in love with another fandom and suddenly feel the urge to upload 20 to 50 icons at once. Does happen to me quite often.

Had to restrict myself quite a bit when I started on DW. *g*

[melannen]

In terms of icons I actually use/remember I have uploaded, fifteen is more than I can keep track of.

When I have more than that, it's either special-purpose icons, or I'm using it as an image host for icon-sharing posts. With a better icon system, where I can pick a limited number to appear on the drop-down or something, I might use that more, though.

[the_shoshanna]

When I started on LJ, I couldn't imagine ever using more than three or four icons. Now I have a hundred, and I have no freaking idea how that happened. But I still can't imagine wanting more than, um, 100 150 200 250.

+ a zillion to the "better icon management," though. When I had a couple dozen, paging through a huge list was fine, but I'm already beginning to forget what I've got and what a given icon's keywords are. ("Dammit, I know I had one that had, um, somebody frowning. Or something. Wagging their finger? Did I call it "Naughty"? I think it was Frank McPike. Or possibly Rodney McKay. Maybe I called it "no, no, no." Damn.")

[christycorr]

When I started on LJ, I couldn't imagine ever using more than three or four icons. Now I have a hundred, and I have no freaking idea how that happened. But I still can't imagine wanting more than, um, 100 150 200 250.

Yeeeah. Honestly? I'll probably use as many icon slots as I have, no matter how many you give us. :D

[christycorr]

Some kind of icon sorting system, like zarhooie mentioned, would be very interesting. And a very happy 'yay!' to the icon gallery thing you mentioned.

I know of people who use 'fandom: icon title,' but I don't like my old entries and comments to lose their icons, so I often upload icons with similar texts/themes just so I can reuse the caption. Maybe some kind of icon keyword archive?

[denise]

FYI, you can now choose to rename icons (change the name, but keep all their past uses). We added that with the last code push :)

[rainbow]

the better icon management system would be amazingly wonderful. that way i could use more with less confusion! (i'd lovelovelove a way to drag and drop them into groupings [and maybe subgroupings, but i have no idea if that's possible, so i could sort all the seasonal/holiday icons together, then allthe halloween/samhain ones, for instance)

i can't imagine using up all my slots, but i went with 1,000 as i might feel differently in 5 years, or want to add lots of new ones but not delete the old ones.

[sofiaviolet]

More than ten THOUSAND???? o_O

I am using about half my allotment right now (seed account). Exactly 125 icons. I am pretty good about using my icons on posts, but I almost never change my icon when I comment.

I did hit the limit pretty often on LJ, when it was 15 or 30 icons. Once they introduced the add-on, I was content. Once the icon limit gets into the 100+ range, I stop worrying.

Now that I have 250 icons, I am starting to treat the /icons page a little like a button-covered jacket or bag. I will upload icons I don't really intend to use because they're cool, or representative of my interests or aesthetic.

[denise]

I wanted the top limit to be something that would make most people go "omg!" so people wouldn't just pick it becasue it was the top limit *g*

[harpers_child]

at my most icon happy i had about 20. that's two-zero, twenty. currently i have 14 uploaded and i'm considering culling one because it's very similar to another one. do people actually use hundreds of icons at a time?

[pne]

I wonder this, too.

I used to think 10 or so was fine, though now that I have essentially-unlimited slots, I do have over 100 I think... but I regularly use only about a couple dozen. (In fact, when I look at my allpics page, I regularly go, "Oh right, you had uploaded that one once, hadn't you".)

So I wonder whether people treat their allpics page as a kind of mini-gallery, rather than as a repository of icons to actually use for posts and entries.

[baggyeyes]

I haven't answered yet, because I have no clue what to choose. Over at IJ, I have 300, and haven't filled or used it all. LJ, I forget how many. I think 250 is fine. But, I'm sure I'll get hit with an icon orgy and suddenly 250 isn't enough. >.

[trobadora]

I think it depends on how long-term we're planning? I figure I'm happy if I can upload about 15-20 new icons per year without having to delete old ones.

[haruka]

I have the option of 5000 icons on my IJ account, but once I had loaded over 2000, I found them too hard to wade through so I took them down to about 1000. I think I'd even be good with 500, though, so that's the option I chose.

[havocthecat]

How do you have the option of 5000 icons? Yikes.

[swaldman]

I don't use icons. Guess I'm odd that way ;-)

[annalee]

Are there statistics available on how many icons we're using now?

It would be interesting to see how many accounts are maxed out on slots right now, broken down by account type.

Not that more icons would be bad if only a small percentage of users were going to take advantage--I imagine it would be huge to those users who'd actually use it--I'm just really nosy and interested in seeing how the current limits are working out for people in practice.

[denise]

I don't actually have that information! I should get Mark to see if he can pull it.

[sara]

I felt very decadent this year when I topped twenty, but then I remember thinking, "Whoo, six icons! Now I can have one for pretty much every emotion I experience!"

[weaverbird]

As others have said above, I plan to be around for the long haul and would love the space for single-occasion icons and for new fandoms and enthusiasms, without deleting the old. I also vote for a better management system; groups sounds lovely!

[ninasis]

I honestly can't see how anyone would need more than 250 userpics, unless they're involved in a role playing game of some sort. Heck, even 250 can get overwhelming to me and I have a hard time keeping mine organized, remembering what they are, cycling thru them, etc.

[sophie]

Part of the problem with keeping them organised is due to the system, really; it probably wasn't intended for use originally with large numbers of icons, and I doubt it's been updated much. I know that's something we want to do, though.

[inarticulate]

Anywhere from 250-300 (I voted a little high), I feel, would feel like a lot and a very tempting number. Anything more than that, and I start imagining all the things that've gone wrong with incredible numbers of icons being offered in the past rather than all the things I could do with those slots.

[jassanja]

There was a "study" once (3 or so years ago) that people who have the full LJ limit uploaded only use about 20 of them regularly

I guess the drive for "more icons" is a hunter & collector thing, rather then something people really "need"

[falena]

I find that my current limit of 75 icons is more than enough - when I had 100+ on LJ, I actually felt guilty that I was not using all my icon space or not making the most of the icons I *did* have uploaded. I'm extremely weird, I know!

I have a core group of icons (30-40) that I've had for a long time and that are the ones I use the most (the keyword rename feature is amazing because now it allows me to play with that core group much more easily).

The rest is just 'surplus icons' that change very often and would not feel too bad about losing, for whatever reason.

This being said, I feel like any number between 250 and 400 should be enough for most people, but frankly I don't care that much.

What I'd love to see is a better icon management system. And the icon galleries-for-swapping system denise was mentioning uphtread would be amazing too!

[matgb]

I find that my current limit of 75 icons is more than enough

What account type is that?

(The paid limit went up to 100 a month or so ago)

[to_love_a_rose]

I have two paid accounts and have filled all of my icon slots in neither of them. I do like having the room there for adding more if I'm so inclined. Still, I can't see myself ever needing more than 250 icons at the very most.

[sorchasilver]

I currently have 200 icon slots at LJ, and I get uncomfortable whenever I get near the limit and have to delete a few. I can't see myself using more than 500, though I love the IDEA of having 1000 slots and might be willing to pay for that just to see!