Because when I have a very verbose blog on my hands, one overflowing with content and blogrolls and adsense ads and links and content and and and (take Dan Gillmore‘s for example)… my fingers automatically hit ctrl + f, “rss”, enter. Retry, “feed.” You can’t search text with images, everybody, so if you’re gonna use a chicklet or icon or any other type of image, please be kind and rock that text, too, ok? First lesson in usability is never replace what should be text with non-text, which is why it goes without saying that icons should serve as pointers and identifiers, not as sources of information themselves, as they too often are.