As part of the original conceit that a computer’s workspace was analogous to a physical […]
Category: Uncategorized
MAP: PRINTED MAP
Maps were originally drawn or printed on paper or canvas and either rolled or folded […]
DOCUMENT STORAGE: FOLDER
To keep loose papers in order, they are frequently put in large, folding pieces of […]
ATTENTION/WARNING: FLAG
Flags have been used for millennia as ways to quickly communicate important information, and the […]
HOMEPAGE: HOUSE
A house or home is certainly an intuitive enough concept for digital use, but its […]
TEMPORARY STORAGE: CLIPBOARD
When documents were made of paper, you needed something flat to lay them on in […]
FLASH: LIGHTNING BOLT
Flash photography has existed nearly as long as photography itself. Early plates and films required […]
EMAIL: ENVELOPE
Paper letters, believe it or not, used to be sent totally unsealed and basically open […]
LINK: CHAIN LINKS
From well before the days of the internet, related things have been said to be […]
BATTERY: AA BATTERY
Though many battery-powered devices these days have a rechargeable lithium-ion power source built in, portable […]
ANSWER/DECLINE CALL: TELEPHONE HANDSET
Early telephones had a detachable speaker one held to one’s ear, and an microphone integrated […]
TEXT SELECT: I-BEAM
When your cursor is over text that can be selected, it sometimes turns into something […]
VOLUME: LOUDSPEAKER
In the early days of amplified sound, speakers were often conical, a shape that naturally […]
ZOOM: MAGNIFYING GLASS
When you need to see something in more detail but are at the physical limits […]
DESKTOP: ACTUAL DESKTOP
Early computers had command line and other code-based interfaces (some of which survive today), and […]
SEND: PAPER AIRPLANE
When paper was widely used in schools and offices, it was common to fold the […]
BOOKMARK: ACTUAL BOOKMARK
Paper books have hundreds of pages; if you don’t want to remember exactly which one […]
SHIFT: TYPEWRITER SHIFT KEY
Modern keyboards are based on those created for typewriters, and while they have several digital-specific […]
BACKSPACE: TYPEWRITER BACKSPACE KEY
Modern keyboards are based on those found on typewriters, and while they have several digital-specific […]
ENTER: TYPEWRITER CARRIAGE RETURN KEY
Modern keyboards are based on those found on typewriters, and while they have several digital-specific […]
ATTACHMENT: PAPER CLIP
This symbol is a paper clip, a piece of metal wire bent into a shape […]
INBOX: ACTUAL INBOX
Before computers, business was largely conducted on paper, and one might arrive at the office […]
KEEP: PUSHPIN
In paper-based offices, a common way of organizing information on a large scale was a […]
ORIENTATION: PORTRAIT AND LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS
When artists painted a person’s portrait, they often arranged the canvas so that was taller […]
CURSOR: ARROW
That we use arrows to point at things may seem so obvious that it doesn’t […]
DOCUMENT: PIECE OF PAPER
A sheet of paper with written or printed words on it was the most common […]
WAIT: WATCH FACE
Clocks have been round since the days of sundials, reflecting the endless cycle of day […]
SAVE: FLOPPY DISK
Data storage has gone through many phases: early on, punchcards represented a certain standard quantum […]
WAIT: HOURGLASS
Before mechanically driven or digital watches, timekeeping was more approximate but still surprisingly accurate. Well […]