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Subject:Re: Intuitive? From:Iain Harrison <iharrison -at- SCT -dot- CO -dot- UK> Date:Tue, 4 Feb 1997 11:30:17 GMT
>>
Cold is on the right and hot on the left;
<<
IME, that is true about 45% of the time. 45% of the time it is the
other way around, and in the remaining 10% there is no hot in either
tap.
>>
the handle on a toilet is on the right;
<<
It depends on which way you are facing, and which way the pipes run.
Normally, the handle is on the opposite side to where the feed pipe
comes in - the cistern usually has holes each side. I live in a house
built in 1836, (but the plumbing was added some time after then) and
the 'handle' is a chain hanging down, extended by a leather strap so
that the children can reach it.
>>
up is on and down is off;
<<
In the UK, up is off, down is on, unless it is something imported from
the USA. Even then, many importer turn the switch over.
>>
bars mean pull and handles mean push;
<<
Maybe. Or maybe the architect liked handles better than bars. A better
rule is that in public buildings, doors open towards the exit.
>>
and the minimize button is a little down arrow in the
upper-right corner of a Windows application.
<<
Unless it is a Window 95 application
I think I'm saying that it is too easy to assume that everyone has the
same 'standards'. You can't take very much for granted at all.
Personally, I have never seen a US-style mailbox with a flag,
irrespective of what a raised flag means. Our post is delivered
through the door except in very remote places, and generally collected
from public pillarboxes, not from private letterboxes.
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