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The evolution of the On/Off power switch symbol (2008)

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Re: The evolution of the On/Off power switch symbol (2008)

#3

Post by quietbritishjim »

No, the one-inside-a-circle symbol does not indicate a toggle between off and on, as this article "surmises".

Instead, it indicates stands by. This is off, but not fully off as a circle would suggest. It's nearly on. The symbol is great for that.

On a push button it means activate stand by or come back out of it (i.e., turn back on fully). Still fair enough.

Unfortunately, this knowledge has watered down over time. I've seen that symbol used more than once for a button that only turns on a device (never back to stand by). That's pretty much the opposite of its original meaning.

Re: The evolution of the On/Off power switch symbol (2008)

#4

Post by eviks »

quietbritishjim wrote: post #3

No, the one-inside-a-circle symbol does not indicate a toggle between off and on, as this article "surmises". Instead, it indicates stands by . This is off, but not fully off as a circle would suggest. It's nearly on. The symbol is great for that. On a push button it means activate stand by or come back out of it (i.e., turn back on fully). Still fair enough. Unfortunately, this knowledge has watered down over time.…

Indeed, and even in 2008 when this article was written Wikipedia had this explanation

> IEC 5009, the standby symbol (line partially within a broken circle), indicates a sleep mode or low power state. The switch does not fully disconnect the device from its power supply.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Power_symbol&oldi...

Re: The evolution of the On/Off power switch symbol (2008)

#5

Post by FrankSansC »

quietbritishjim wrote: post #3

No, the one-inside-a-circle symbol does not indicate a toggle between off and on, as this article "surmises". Instead, it indicates stands by . This is off, but not fully off as a circle would suggest. It's nearly on. The symbol is great for that. On a push button it means activate stand by or come back out of it (i.e., turn back on fully). Still fair enough. Unfortunately, this knowledge has watered down over time.…

Exactly, there's even standards[0] for this.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_symbol#Standards

Re: The evolution of the On/Off power switch symbol (2008)

#6

Post by JohnFen »

quietbritishjim wrote: post #3

No, the one-inside-a-circle symbol does not indicate a toggle between off and on, as this article "surmises". Instead, it indicates stands by . This is off, but not fully off as a circle would suggest. It's nearly on. The symbol is great for that. On a push button it means activate stand by or come back out of it (i.e., turn back on fully). Still fair enough. Unfortunately, this knowledge has watered down over time.…

Interesting. I remember when that symbol was first getting used, but I don't remember anyone ever explaining that until you just did now. To me, it always meant "on/off" (counting "standby" as "off"). I thought it was just an artistic way of taking the "1" and "0" that was often used on power toggle switches and combining them into a single symbol for a single pushbutton (the "1" is inside the stylized "0").

Re: The evolution of the On/Off power switch symbol (2008)

#7

Post by CharlesW »

quietbritishjim wrote: post #3

No, the one-inside-a-circle symbol does not indicate a toggle between off and on, as this article "surmises". Instead, it indicates stands by . This is off, but not fully off as a circle would suggest. It's nearly on. The symbol is great for that. On a push button it means activate stand by or come back out of it (i.e., turn back on fully). Still fair enough. Unfortunately, this knowledge has watered down over time.…

> No, the one-inside-a-circle symbol does not indicate a toggle between off and on, as this article "surmises".

According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_symbol#Standards, "one inside a circle", IEC 60417-5010, is a fully-on/fully-off toggle. The "one breaking a circle" symbol, IEC 60417-5009, is a fully-on/standby toggle.

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