Symbolstix

Symbolstix Online review

SymbolStix Online is a web-based symbol search engine for non-commercial use only. You type in a word into the search box, and a selection of Symbolstix pictures are displayed in your browser for you to choose from. You can copy the image as a jpeg onto your computer and use them in any program on your computer that accepts pictures. Symbolstix is constantly updated with current symbols, and it is even possible to suggest symbols which would be useful.

Symbolstix was originally developed for an American internet weekly newspaper for children with special needs, but now can be found in ipad/smartphone apps, schools, and speech and language therapy resources worldwide.

What we love about Symbolstix:

• In our experience, Symbolstix has outstanding customer service
• The images are clear and easy to understand
• The symbol set is large. There are over 12000 symbols to choose from
• The symbols are available online, therefore very easy to access
• The images are excellent quality
• The way concepts are conveyed are well thought out
• The search function also finds synonyms, so you do not have to search every possible word it could be saved as
• The images never fail to put a smile on people’s faces
• At under £45 for a years subscription, it is is excellent value for money!

What we would still like to see improved:

• While you can resize any jpeg image to fit into your documents / presentations etc, it is not possible to edit the images in Symbolstix in any way, eg. change the colour of a person’s t-shirt so that they can be differentiated as a different person
• The symbol set is still missing some of the finer concepts. e.g. at the time of writing this article, we couldn’t find a symbol for ‘to be listened to’
• Symbolstix is currently more popular in America, therefore many British concepts are missing from the symbol set.

Symbolstix has not been around as long as other symbol sets, for example Boardmaker, therefore for those who have been using Boardmaker symbols for a long time and work well with them should stick to what they know.

Disclaimer: All views and opinions above are my own (24th September 2012).