[dheera]

The 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"

[TeMPOraL]

Oh, printers, inexhaustible source of fun.

My approach for over a decade now has been, before any "manual duplex" printing, to start by marking the top page in the tray with a little arrow pointing upwards, drawn with pencil or pen, in the bottom right corner of the page. I'd then print one page (and/or print a test page), and check the position of the arrow, to learn how the particular printer behaves.

To date, I've probably seen every possible orientation of the arrow on the output. Some printers do insane things to paper.

[Turing_Machine]

Likewise the indication (if any) on a sheet-fed scanner tray that tells you whether to put the paper in face up or face down.

I've taken to just writing instructions to myself on that type of thing with a sharpie, using actual text, and/or an actual diagram. It works well with the usual beige plastic. If it's black, I usually put it on a small piece of paper and tape it somewhere it won't interfere with the operation.

Not everything has to be an icon. IMO, bad icons are far worse than no icons.

[SoftTalker]

> bad icons are far worse than no icons

Yes. Cars used to have words like "OIL" or "TEMP" or "BRAKE" or "SEAT BELT" in the dashboad warning lights. That switched to icons, probably as a cost-savings so they could use the same parts worldwide. But at a cost in clarity.

Now that most new car dashboards have programmable LCD displays or at least a message area, better/more descriptive fault descriptions have returned.

[dheera]

They also picked really bad designs for the icons. The flat tire warning looks like a boiling cauldron. Even I could have designed a 10X better icon.

[Ancapistani]

I’ve always thought it looked… well, obscene.

[floxy]

>"insert the side that already has writing face up, and the side that is blank face down"

More odd that it would be on a printer, but for a scanner, it is telling you that it will scan the side that is face up. For a printer, I'd be willing to be that icon is telling you that it is going to print on the face-up side.

[dheera]

on that note Google Meet is also confusing in a similar way

https://i.imgur.com/H66aXTU.png

The "phone down hang up" button means press to get what is pictured

The "crossed out mic" button means press to get the opposite of what is pictured

[Dwedit]

I think it's pretty clear, the fold indicates what should be the top side of the page, and the lines indicate it wants printed side up.

[dheera]

> what it wants printed

That's the part that isn't clear. How do I know that the lines don't indicate "what is already printed" and the blank side indicates "the blank canvas that it wants as input"?

[aendruk]

If you put the printed side up, the next print will be superimposed and make gibberish.