Sort arrows reversed between macOS and Linux
This is an odd one so bear with me. Consider a Zotero library sorted by "date added" so that the most recent items are shown at the top.
* In **macOS**, Zotero indicates the sort with a down arrow ("v"). This is consistent with the macOS Finder: the arrow _points to_ the letter A, the oldest date. For what it's worth, the Zotero.org website sort uses the same arrows.
* On **Linux**, Zotero indicates the sort with an up arrow ("^"). This is consistent with Thunar (a file browser): the arrow _points to the direction_ of the sort (from A to Z or oldest to newest).
I.e., the same sort, shown on two operating systems, uses arrows pointing in different directions.
Is this a system-level inconsistency or something Zotero can resolve? I sync between macOS and Linux and found the sort frustrating/maddening until I sat down to figure out the exact discrepancy. I'd be fine as long as the arrow implementations are consistent, though https://stackoverflow.com/q/338166/879266 would have the arrows represent the mnemonic direction (down arrow = descending, as in the Linux implementation).
* In **macOS**, Zotero indicates the sort with a down arrow ("v"). This is consistent with the macOS Finder: the arrow _points to_ the letter A, the oldest date. For what it's worth, the Zotero.org website sort uses the same arrows.
* On **Linux**, Zotero indicates the sort with an up arrow ("^"). This is consistent with Thunar (a file browser): the arrow _points to the direction_ of the sort (from A to Z or oldest to newest).
I.e., the same sort, shown on two operating systems, uses arrows pointing in different directions.
Is this a system-level inconsistency or something Zotero can resolve? I sync between macOS and Linux and found the sort frustrating/maddening until I sat down to figure out the exact discrepancy. I'd be fine as long as the arrow implementations are consistent, though https://stackoverflow.com/q/338166/879266 would have the arrows represent the mnemonic direction (down arrow = descending, as in the Linux implementation).
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dstillmanYou basically answered this yourself. They're consistent with each platform's conventions — or at least they were. If you look at the Firefox bookmarks manager on Mac and Linux, you'll see they're different as well. The Ubuntu 16.10 file manager does appear to follow the Mac convention, though, which might be a recent development.That's not what it's doing, and I think you may have misunderstood the SO answer, which is describing the Mac, not Linux, implementation. It's not an arrow — it's small-to-large. So an inverted triangle (large to small) is descending, which in tech speak means Z-A, as on the Mac.
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simondedmanOn Linux, then, is it a deliberate choice to have "V" be small-to-large when intuitively/technically it SHOULD be large-to-small, regardless of how (incorrectly) Thunar also does it? As you allude: there's a right way of doing this; please can Zotero follow convention?
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dstillmanI explain above the reasons this behavior is different on different platforms. I personally prefer the Mac convention, but different programs on Linux do different things, and we follow Mozilla's example here, which is to treat it as an arrow.