Topic on Talk:XTools

Unintuitive cross or X sign

5
Summary by MusikAnimal

A tooltip and alt text has been added to the icons, and they've been updated to use the standard OOUI design.

Pakwesi (talkcontribs)

"Is administrator?:" shows a X-like symbol. I am puzzled what it means. For US people it might say "no" but for europeans it could mean "yes" like crossing a selection box. Would you please replace it by something equally understandable by everyone like simply "yes" or "no"?

MusikAnimal (talkcontribs)

It is (or was) the standard positive / negative symbols used on Meta as well as here and many other wikis (see Template:Cross (Q7317837) and Template:Tick (Q6154014)), but it should be changed to the new OOUI icons such as with . A red cross I thought was pretty obviously "no" across the globe, as opposed to a green check. German Wikipedia seems to have the system to some degree (see w:de:Vorlage:Häkchen). But, as requested, we can certainly also add "Yes" or "No" text.

Pakwesi (talkcontribs)

The w:de:Vorlage:Häkchen is a page in German language but it is misleading. Its contents is taken from the US. I will add the problem on the talk-page there.

I can tell you that in real life, e.g. in companies in Germany the crossed box is used for selection (meaning yes) whereas leaving the box empty means no.

Another example in Voting: You cross the box to vote for someone and you leave it empty for others. At least in Germany it works like this:

MusikAnimal (talkcontribs)

Oh I understand! The usage of X as you describe is a thing other places too, including the US :) The next version of XTools will have a tooltip that says "yes" / "no". This should be released very soon, if not this week then next.

MusikAnimal (talkcontribs)

I should also mention this design in XTools came from German volunteer w:de:Benutzer:Hedonil, the former maintainer of XTools. But you having any bit of confusion is enough for us to clarify what the icons mean, so consider it done :)