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X to Close - The origins of the use of [x] in UI design.

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  X to Close - The origins of the use of [x] in UI design. Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2014-08-13 16:24 +0000
    Re: X to Close - The origins of the use of [x] in UI design. polygonum <rmoudndgers@vrod.co.uk> - 2014-08-13 19:47 +0100
      Re: X to Close - The origins of the use of [x] in UI design. Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2014-08-13 19:23 +0000
        Re: X to Close - The origins of the use of [x] in UI design. polygonum <rmoudndgers@vrod.co.uk> - 2014-08-13 20:54 +0100
    Re: X to Close - The origins of the use of [x] in UI design. David Hume <David.Hume@example.com> - 2014-08-14 10:07 +0100

#4298 — X to Close - The origins of the use of [x] in UI design.

https://medium.com/solve-for-x/x-to-close-417936dfc0dc

  "X's are everywhere in user interface (UI) design. A powerful symbol,
   [x] is capable of closing windows and popups, toolbars and tabs and
   anything else that might otherwise be cluttering up your screen. 
   Twitter X"

  "Clicking on [x] to close a feature has become an instinctual part of
   using a computer and a standard in web and software design. Although
   it may seem like the ubiquitous [x] has always been a part of
   Graphical User Interfaces (GUI), a quick jaunt through the history
   of GUIs reveals that this actually isn't the case."

   ...

And, from the current top comment on hacker news for this story
(https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8171340): 

  Another old example.

  WordStar: Used "X" to Exit to system in its main menu
  (https://www.flickr.com/photos/markgregory/6946218793/?rb=1) - I do
  not know the revision shown in the screen shot.

  According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordStar)
  WordStar was released in 1978. Which moves the date back to at least
  1978 to use X for exit.

  However, there is possibly a very simple explanation that the blog
  posting overlooked. In text menu's, such as WordStar's, which were
  quite common for a lot of software from that era, using the word
  "Exit" to mean "leave this program/application" was also common. When
  one goes looking for a single character memonic for "Exit" to build
  in as a keystroke to activate the "Exit" command from the menu, one
  has four choices: [e] [x] [i] [t]

  Since [x] is an uncommon letter, while e, i, t, are more common, and
  therefore more likely to be used for triggering other commands in the
  menu(s), choosing [x] to mean exit meant that the same character
  could likely be used as a universal "leave this menu" command key
  across all the menus.

  Which would then lead to the common _F_ile->E_x_it command
  accelerators in drop down style menus (whether in a GUI or in a text
  menuing system). [x] was unlikely to have been used for the keyboard
  accelerator for other entries in the "file" menu, so picking e[x]it
  was a safe choice.

  It is not a far reach from _F_ile->E_x_it using [x] as its
  accelerator key to labeling the title bar button that performs the
  same function with an X as well, to take advantage of whatever
  familiarity users might have with the drop down menu accelerators

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#4302

On 13/08/2014 17:24, Rich wrote:
>    Since [x] is an uncommon letter, while e, i, t, are more common, and
>    therefore more likely to be used for triggering other commands in the
>    menu(s), choosing [x] to mean exit meant that the same character
>    could likely be used as a universal "leave this menu" command key
>    across all the menus.

On the ICL VME operating system, the command language, SCL, allowed 
commands to be written in full or in a shortform to save typing. For 
most commands, the shoftforms were very simple - Assign_File = AF, 
List_File = LF, Create_User_Object = CRUO. But for commands which got 
rid of things, the X was used as in Delete_File = XF.

X still always makes me think of deletion or removal.

-- 
Rod

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#4303

polygonum <rmoudndgers@vrod.co.uk> wrote:
> On 13/08/2014 17:24, Rich wrote:
> >    Since [x] is an uncommon letter, while e, i, t, are more common,
> >    and therefore more likely to be used for triggering other
> >    commands in the menu(s), choosing [x] to mean exit meant that
> >    the same character could likely be used as a universal "leave
> >    this menu" command key across all the menus.

> On the ICL VME operating system, the command language, SCL, allowed
> commands to be written in full or in a shortform to save typing. For
> most commands, the shoftforms were very simple - Assign_File = AF,
> List_File = LF, Create_User_Object = CRUO. But for commands which got
> rid of things, the X was used as in Delete_File = XF.

> X still always makes me think of deletion or removal.

What is the date range for ICL VME?

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#4304

On 13/08/2014 20:23, Rich wrote:
> What is the date range for ICL VME?

Mid-70s onwards.

-- 
Rod

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#4367

Rich <rich@example.invalid> writes:

> https://medium.com/solve-for-x/x-to-close-417936dfc0dc
>

Isn't this an overcomplication? If you write something on a piece of
paper, and then decide it is wrong, you cross it out, i.e. put a big X
on top of it. I think that predates computers.

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