Why folders are yellow

Why folders are yellow

Folder - one of the most famous metaphors of screen interfaces. This is a very powerful and powerful character. In a relatively short period of time, he managed to eclipse the term, which was intended to denote. The concept of "directory" or "directory" have sunk into oblivion. Although the "folder" when it was only a metaphor for their designation in graphical shells.



In the process of work I collected different facts about this icon, dropped it into one file. I decided that it would not be superfluous to bring in a less readable form and share.





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Directory (from lat. Directorium - route of movement) in the general sense denotes a certain structure containing a set of specific information. This can be a list of people or a directory of addresses .





With her appearance, she owes the idea to equip the graphic interface of the legendary Xerox Star Workstation (Xerox 8010) with metaphors that are understandable to the ordinary office clerk. Ideas were drawn from the standard office equipment of the then offices. The first commercial embodiment in the mass market was the interface Apple Lisa .

Basic rectangle of appearance of a white rectangle (filled in with the application) with a thin (one pixel) black border. Every folder has a standard manilla folder . The tab is always above the upper left corner of the folder. It is called the title tab. The body of the folder is called “Lisa user interface standards” (1980)

Paper folder

The prototype for the metaphor was the so-called “manila folder”. As far as I know in Russian, there is no such term (although it sometimes flashes in fiction, which, however, can only be a blunder). It will correctly say just a “paper folder” or “folder”.

Structurally, it is a bent sheet of paper, inside which you can insert or hem documents.





Folder = fold (bend, collect) + er (suffix for noun formation)



This type of folder was not known in the former USSR, therefore the folder icon was partly a simulacrum, i.e. she did not have a subject part, but only a property. In Win 9x systems, the object seemed to be just a yellow straight-faced player with a ledge, i.e. abstract thing.



Paper. Why folders are yellow.



American type of folders are made from durable paper, called "Manila". It consists of "Manila hemp", fibers extracted from the leaves of textile banana or abaca (a plant originally from the Philippines). The fibers are very tough and have a uniform thickness, they are easily dyed. Although, as a rule, manila paper is not treated with dyes. It retains the natural color of the fibers: yellowish-beige. That is why the icons of Windows folders and some other systems are yellow or beige.







In addition to paper, manila hemp is used for the production of marine ropes. For this reason, the second name of Manila paper - "cable".

Manila fibers are used to make tea bags. The technology was developed by American engineer Fay Osborne. During the Second World War, in the midst of Osborne's research, Manila hemp became a strategic raw material for the fleet. The engineer had to figure out a way to get manila fibers for tea bags from ... old ropes.

The material for making folders is quite smooth, there are no coarse particles in the composition of the paper so as not to scratch the documents. There are no chemical active ingredients that can react with photographic paper and damage the images stored in folders. There is a standard that requires that folders, once in the water, do not stain the contents in any other shade.

“Leopard” folder icon from MacOs, a non-uniform paper texture is clearly visible.

In Microsoft Windows Vista / 7, the folders are rotated 90 degrees. This is done to give a certain freshness to the icons. It also symbolizes a broader interpretation of the concept of “folder” in this system. In particular, it is no longer associated only with the physical directory on the disk. The expanded folder has its advantage: it is easier to compose the image of documents.

To be continued...