I recall outliner programs such as ThinkTank (by Dave Winer?) as being among the first to use the +/- notation for expand and collapse. This was in the mid to late 1980's.
- murli On Tue, Mar 18, 2008 at 7:57 PM, Chauncey Wilson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > There are several pictorial histories of GUIs that have examples of > interface objects that go back as far as the Xerox Alto > > http://toastytech.com/guis/ > http://www.guidebookgallery.org/icons > > The object with the + sign is often associated with a treeview object > so you might try searching on that. I looked in my Windows 3.1 guide > and in that book, there is no treeview, but hierarchical folders for > file operations (no +). One trick that many people, even after many > years don't know (or aren't aware of) is that the plus sign in Windows > often allows you to open things up without changing the selection > focus (different tree view widget may allow different types of > interactions). > > Since the plus is possible in character cell applications, you might > want to look at some of the early office products. > > You might also want to search for examples of "file managers". > Wikipedia has a good list of file managers that might use the plus > sign. > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_manager > > Chauncey > > On Tue, Mar 18, 2008 at 9:47 AM, Charles Hannon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > I am interested in the history of (+). I am tracking the "evolution" of > this > > interaction idiom (and others) and the ways in which user mental models > have > > to adapt to such changes. > > je > > I think (+) first meant "expand" as opposed to (-) which meant > "collapse." > > In iTunes it means "Add Playlist" and this has been copied (very > crudely) in > > the Sony Reader eBook Library application. In the original iPhone/iPod > Touch > > Safari interface it meant "Add Bookmark" but after the January 2008 > upgrade > > it has been generalized to mean "Add Something." > > > > I am not a long-time Mac user so I wonder if (+) has always been part of > the > > Apple lexicon, or if it is new. Also, has anyone on this list seen (or > > created) different implementations/meanings of (+) in other products? > > > > Charlie > > > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
