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Re: Let's talk about sorting arrows

 

On 2/21/14 1:53 AM, Thorsten Wilms wrote:
On 02/21/2014 12:39 AM, Sam Hulick wrote:
Check out this collage of just a few different applications (both native
and web) that show that an arrow pointing up means sort in ascending
order, and an arrow pointing down means sort in a descending order.

No matter which direction, it remains guesswork if A--Z maps to newer--older and to smaller--larger or if any pair has to be switched around.

I will attach a mockup (that is old as the theme looks) with a possible solution for A--Z and smaller--larger. Also at:
http://xtupload.com/image.php?id=C440_53071F51

Back then I couldn't think of a clear solution for newer--older. A more recent date could be seen to be a *larger* value, or bars could represent the timespan from now back to the date.

Green could stand for newer and brown for older, but that might be seen as a rather loud solution.




I don't think A-Z is guesswork. Other operating systems and several apps have already laid out the fact that an arrow pointing up is ascending order, an arrow pointing down is descending order.

Ascending: 0-9, 1PM to 2PM, A-Z
Descending: 9-0, 2PM to 1PM, Z-A

Again, I'd argue that this is standard and fairly universal. And I think Unity should stick with arrows, as people know what they mean. While putting a tiny "A-Z" in the header bar might make sense, the bars may be confusing for some.

-S

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