RE: tabulated-list sort icon is reversed

[Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com>]

> > and a triangle with vertex on top (like ^). The same ambiguity arises:
> > Does it represent the current sort order (low-to-high / small-to-large)?
> > Or does it represent the new sort order you'll get if you use that button?
> 
> You can click on any column to cause it to be sorted, so it wouldn't
> make much sense for that triangle to be a button (i.e. why have
> a button in that one column and not in all others?).

Emacs seems to (at least in some cases) add such a triangle icon to the column header, after its text. And yes, it is shown only in the header of the current column.

I meant the same thing you mean: click the column header (not necessarily the icon in the header) to toggle the sort direction.

> > And apparently other, non-Windows contexts take the approach that the
> > icon represents the new order you'll get if you click the icon.
> 
> I don't think so.

Read "click the column header" anywhere, not just on the icon.

I thought this discussion had pointed out that for some people the icon orientation reflects (and should reflect) the new sort direction you will get, whereas for others the icon orientation should reflect the current sort direction.

At least on MS Windows, in `Buffer Menu', it seems:

* For numerical sorting (e.g. column Size) ) the icon orientation reflects the current sort direction, in the sense that if the small end (vertex) is on top then the first row is the smallest/lowest value etc.

* But for alphabetical sorting (e.g. column Mode) the icon orientation is reversed: when the small end is on the bottom (not the top) sorting is alphabetical (A before Z). You can say that the icon orientation reflects not the current sort order but the new sort order you'll get if you click the header to toggle the order.

So it seems not even to be consistent.