More observations on time-axis orientation in different desktop and web applications:

• [1][2] Browser has a long tradition of associating left to back and right to next. Since the first graphical UI browser Mosaic, this convention has been one of the golden standards of all browser implementations.
• [3] financial charts, business reports, scientific research results and many time-based charts use left-to-right to show time progress. The latest data is always appended to the right.
• [4][5] Music player, video player, media player…etc also associate right-pointing triangle to play, as well as doubling the triangle to indicate fast-forward.
• [6] Time Machine in Macintosh OS X. This one is a little interesting as they use a 3D model or Z-axis to show the dimension of time. I think this design is just to take advantage of the powerful 3D rendering engine in OSX rather than necessity.

This post is related to my original observation to Flickr’s new UI change, which flipped the Older/Newer orientation of the thumbnail row from their previous design. See the post Flickr New Interface, Time-axis Orientation.

Related posts:

1. Time-axis Orientation (Part 3)
2. Flickr New Interface, Time-axis Orientation
3. North Is Not Always Pointing Up – Orientation of Train Station Maps in Japan

About Calvin C

Hello there, I’m Calvin Chun-yu Chan. Grew up in Hong Kong, studied and worked in Canada as web engineer+designer, now designing mobile apps in Tokyo. On my blog I would like to share my opinions on design, usability, culture and creativity. Follow me on: Twitter @calvincchan Google+ Profile

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