unity-design team mailing list archive

[Thorsten Wilms <t_w_@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On 02/21/2014 11:08 AM, Sam Hulick wrote:
> 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.

The fact that you talk about the indicators as arrows already 
demonstrates part of the problem. An arrow shows direction, but how does 
it relate to the reading/writing direction implied by the list, and what 
comes first? Small or large, newer or older?

The other interpretation of the indicators is that of triangles, with a 
tip that stands for the start of the sorting alphabet and for small.

Even if you start from the terms ascending and descending, it's not 
obvious what that means for dates (time-since-then vs numerical value).

I think this is somewhat representative of what an incredible strong 
consensus ;) can be found about the issue:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/338166/which-direction-should-the-arrows-point-in-a-sorted-table

As little as it might be worth, my personal experience of over 20 years 
of often intensive computer use: In the heat of the moment, I still 
can't remember how triangles or arrows relate to sorting order and 
always scan the list to see what it is, right now.


--
Thorsten Wilms

thorwil's design for free software:
http://thorwil.wordpress.com/