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Re: X to close

#71

Post by hackuser »

literalusername wrote: post #36

In this early demo (Codename: Chicago), the minimize and maximize buttons have been redesigned, but the close button remains the same, and to the left as before. I wonder where the author got the idea that the [-] button at the top-left was a close icon. It was the "Control Box", a menu icon. AFAIK it's still there, just invisible -- hit alt+space to open it. Disclaimer: I'm currently unable to test that.

> It was the "Control Box", a menu icon. AFAIK it's still there, just invisible -- hit alt+space to open it.

Still there in Windows 7. It's visible in some applications (e.g., PowerShell) but not others; ALT+SPACE seems to open it consistently whether it's visible or not.

My hazy memory is that the control box was retained for accessibility and for the many users trained to use it on Windows 3.1.

Re: X to close

#72

Post by ekianjo »

Bahamut wrote: post #69
ekianjo wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think there is much relevance in the Japanese argument. One funny detail is that Sony actually inverted in their games the meaning of Round and X for western markets -> making X act as "validate" and Round as "Back/Cancel", the exact opposite of what they do in Japan. As for "X being a true icon", I don't know. For me, it could stand as well as an abbreviation for "eXit" -> X. The AmigaOS Workbench used (and…

Was this true in all of their games? I know early PlayStation games did use O for confirm and X for cancel - even a few years into its lifetime, this was the case as Final Fantasy VII is an obvious example.

Are you talking about the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VII or the western version ? I have the Japanese version at home, I can check quickly if needed.

Re: X to close

#73

Post by seszett »

itazula wrote: post #65

Wow, I had always thought the "X" was like an elevator close button. Sort of like a greater-than sign and a less-than sign put together: ><.

That's interesting... is the latin alphabet your native script?

Re: X to close

#76

Post by glurgh »

ahy1 wrote: post #60
glurgh wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was looking at the wrong end of the window, to boot. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_TOS#mediaviewer/File:ST_D... Looks pretty X-like. It seems GEM itself was licensed from Digital Research but their GEM didn't use X. Edit: Fixed DEC to DR, as pointed out by reply comment below.

I doubt DEC had anything to do with GEM. It was a product of Digital Research (same company that gave us CP/M, MP/M and DR-DOS)

They didn't, I just brainfarted. You know, http://vt100.net/dec/alpha_era_logo_small.png and all that.

Re: X to close

#77

Post by insky »

jzzskijj wrote: post #61

Too bad, that popular Windows applications like Skype and Spotify have gone against this and made "X to minimize". And their making of Alt+F4 also to minimize drives me nuts.

Not to mention web sites that use a graphical icon in the background instead of a textual one or lack a fallback X on pop up windows. I'm forever groping around trying to shut these overlays in the dark.

Re: X to close

#78

Post by grimman »

jzzskijj wrote: post #61

Too bad, that popular Windows applications like Skype and Spotify have gone against this and made "X to minimize". And their making of Alt+F4 also to minimize drives me nuts.

Far from exclusive to them though, and it seems to be (/have been?) a very common thing for IM clients to do. I can live with it as long as the devs put in the appropriate options for the behavior you want, but I'm not happy about it.

Re: X to close

#79

Post by ANTSANTS »

anon4 wrote: post #64
Guvante wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd be curious to know what caused that convention to change in the west. The XBox controller has a swapped A/B pair and uses A confirm B cancel.

The XBox controller is a clone of the Dreamcast controller. If you go back even further to the Megadrive, it had 6 buttons (on advanced controllers) with two rows of buttons - xyz and ABC arrayed from left to right. When the Playstation 1 was released, the two consoles consumers could have been familiar with in the west were Super Nintendo and Sega Megadrive. SNES had the familiar ABXY, but mirrored with AX on the ri…

>SNES had the familiar ABXY, but mirrored with AX on the right.

Those of us that grew up with Nintendo consoles would say that B on the left of A is the natural order of things ;)

>Meaning, one console used the bottom button for yes and the one on its right for no (Megadrive)

Actually, almost every Megadrive game I've played lets you use both A and C for accept in menus, so you could use whichever orientation you were more comfortable with.

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