3 ms·

The backspace symbol makes perfect sense. You may very well want to say "Press ⌫ to delete the selected object".

• amelius 6y ago
  But you may also say "Next to the link you will see [EXTERNAL LINK] which indicates that the link leads to another website."
  • DagAgren 6y ago
    I guess that is a good point, but I guess that the backspace symbol gets a bit of a free ride by literally being on your keyboard.
  • Freak_NL 6y ago
    That reasoning would make every conceivable icon a valid target for inclusion. To actually get the character included, you can't just reason that it might be used in a certain way, you will have to demonstrate it with actual and authentic use in the wild. The accepted proposal for the inclusion of the power symbol is a nice example of how this works. If you can find a bunch of printed manuals or books or websites that actually use this icon in this manner you might be able to submit a successful proposal.
    • amelius 6y ago
      The web is full of those symbols, so I'm sure there are books (or online resources) explaining them. And if not, someone should do something about that.
• michaelt 6y ago
  I'm not opposed to the backspace symbol, but by that logic you could include anything in unicode as anything could a symbol you'd like to refer to. I mean, you might want to say "External links can be identified by their □ marker" or "The Windows key is marked □ and can be found to the left of the space bar"
  • deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]