Due to the absence of a standard usage for individual icons, text labels are necessary to communicate meaning and reduce ambiguity in an icon-based design.
They are road signs for your daily rituals — the instantly recognized symbols and icons you press, click and ogle countless times a day when you interact with your computer. But how much do you know about their origins?
Developing Windows 8 – Using AppBarCommand Icons outside the AppBar « Matt Duffield
One of the things I really like about developing Windows 8 applications is the ability to use the built in icons provided by the Segoe UI Symbol font.
IcoMoon provides a package of vector icons, along with a free HTML5 app for making custom icon fonts or SVG sprites. Browse among thousands of pixel perfect icons or import your own vectors.
Using IcoMoon you can easily search and download vector icons or generate fonts (icon fonts). This tool can also be used for icon set management. It can generate icon fonts, SVGs, PDFs, PNGs and sprites.