The 1/0 thing confused me for a while because 0 looks like a circuit (on), and 1 doesn't (0ff). I was also taking electrical engineering classes at the time, and the 1/0 true/false thing was already halfway arbitrary because of active-low pins, and even in software land, "return 0" could mean either true or false depending on the context.
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)
#12No, 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.
This makes ⏻ even more appropriate as a fashionable T-shirt design, since I too only toggle between an on and sleep state, and never* fully power off.
Re: The evolution of the On/Off power switch symbol (2008)
#13No, 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.
Interesting! Per your Wikipedia link… there was an early ‘00s proposal for a dedicated sleep symbol: line through a crescent moon. Same proposal would have defined line-through-circle as the generic power symbol. Though, this was superseded with standard for using only a crescent moon to indicate standby.
“Standby symbol ambiguity
Because the exact meaning of the standby symbol on a given device may be unclear until the control is tried, it has been proposed that a separate sleep symbol, a crescent moon, instead be used to indicate a low power state. Proponents include the California Energy Commission and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Under this proposal, the older standby symbol would be redefined as a generic "power" indication, in cases where the difference between it and the other power symbols would not present a safety concern. This alternative symbolism was published as IEEE standard 1621 on December 8, 2004.”
Edit: formatting, verbosity.
Re: The evolution of the On/Off power switch symbol (2008)
#14The one I REALLY HATE is the paper orientation icon on printer paper trays. Ones like these:
https://static.thenounproject.com/png/4256363-200.png
Do the lines on the paper mean
"insert the side that already has writing face up, and the side that is blank face down"
OR
"these lines represent what will happen after you print but they're just being represented here for your imagination purposes even though they aren't there yet so you should really put the blank side up even though we are drawing lines on the up side"
Re: The evolution of the On/Off power switch symbol (2008)
#15The 1/0 thing confused me for a while because 0 looks like a circuit (on), and 1 doesn't (0ff). I was also taking electrical engineering classes at the time, and the 1/0 true/false thing was already halfway arbitrary because of active-low pins, and even in software land, "return 0" could mean either true or false depending on the context.
That confused me as well, I never made the connection to 0 and 1 until someone told me
Re: The evolution of the On/Off power switch symbol (2008)
#16We should probably add a (2008) to the submission title on this.
Re: The evolution of the On/Off power switch symbol (2008)
#17The 1/0 thing confused me for a while because 0 looks like a circuit (on), and 1 doesn't (0ff). I was also taking electrical engineering classes at the time, and the 1/0 true/false thing was already halfway arbitrary because of active-low pins, and even in software land, "return 0" could mean either true or false depending on the context.
I agree that I/O has always been confusing and non-intuitive. O stands for "On"? For "Off"? I means eyes-shut? O means eyes open?
The new symbols aren't any better but the UX of "push this button to turn on or off" combined with obvious lights/etc when something is on has mostly made the semantic meaning of the symbols obsolete to 99% of consumers.
Re: The evolution of the On/Off power switch symbol (2008)
#18There are other, sometimes contradictory conventions.
In the USA, a standard wall switch is moved "up" for on and "down" for off whereas in Europe it's the opposite. Always wondered how that came to be.
Re: The evolution of the On/Off power switch symbol (2008)
#19The 1/0 thing confused me for a while because 0 looks like a circuit (on), and 1 doesn't (0ff). I was also taking electrical engineering classes at the time, and the 1/0 true/false thing was already halfway arbitrary because of active-low pins, and even in software land, "return 0" could mean either true or false depending on the context.
I always assumed it was an abstract representation of a rotary switch like:
Re: The evolution of the On/Off power switch symbol (2008)
#20The 1/0 thing confused me for a while because 0 looks like a circuit (on), and 1 doesn't (0ff). I was also taking electrical engineering classes at the time, and the 1/0 true/false thing was already halfway arbitrary because of active-low pins, and even in software land, "return 0" could mean either true or false depending on the context.
Also, a perfect circle would almost never strike me as a zero.