https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-15-Amp-Single-Pole-Switc...
Or car door locks which show red (unsafe) when unlocked. It's showing the current state, not the state that will be when toggled.
By comparison, it's quite common here to have a switch with a lamp to indicate the light is on, which get used when the status of the light cannot be easily seen where the switch is located (e.g a switch for a light in the loft/outside light etc).
The light up variety are mostly to aid turning on the lights in the dark and aren't usually the default. It's nice being able to see the switch when entering a dark room.In a residential setting it's a bit more rare to have a switch control a light you're not either immediately seeing or are often imminently going to see, like a closet or looking out a window next to the switch. It's not like you're often turning on and off lights across the house, so having it light up when the room lights up is rather redundant instead of offering that dark time help. Finally, having an on light would be really redundant since you can usually easily see the switch is physically pointing up or down and they sometimes even say ON or OFF.
As for up being on and down being off, it's about being easier to toggle to the safer state. It's more likely for off to be a safer state (think changing a bulb, having it connected to a garbage disposal, etc.). It's generally easier to flip the switch down than flipping it up, so it's easier to toggle to the safe state rather than the unsafe.
I have those in Europe. The point is that you can find the light switch in the dark. Why would it need a light when it's on, if it's in the room that it lights?
A lot of physical play/pause buttons show both symbols. Also in a lot of cases you can tell if a video is playing.
And that is anyway besides the point of consistent UIs' toggle switches describing their state, not their action.
Fewer and fewer devices we have access to these days have physical switches on them, though.
Does anyone know of a major media player where the play/pause button shows what the state is, rather than what the button does?
“Unsafe” is contextual. If you are inside the car, and the car is on fire, then “locked” is very much the “unsafe” option.
Red lights on top of towers isn't trying to tell planes and helicopters to stop, its telling planes to exercise caution around the tower.
Red at a traffic light means there's a danger so you stop. Green means it's safe to proceed.
Red on a gun safety switch means danger because it's live.
The red wire is live and dangerous. The green wire is earth and safe. (at least true in Europe).
Are you in burning cars often?
I'm still unsure, have you been in many burning cars before? More than just moving vehicles?
(Do car still come doors that don’t automatically unlock when the handle is pulled, if the child safety switch is disabled?)
https://web.archive.org/web/20240128035720/http://www.homede...