There has been a lot of discussion in http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/15736-action-button-labels -- maybe it is time to make a poll now.
One fundamental question is: are Latin letters (e.g. A B C X Y Z) acceptable or not? It has been argued that since we already have a keyboard which has those letters, the action buttons should have different symbols on them to avoid confusion. E.g. when you say "Press A" it is not necessarily clear whether you mean the keyboard key "A" or the action button "A". A counter-argument to that is that things can be disambiguated by talking about either "the A button" or "the A key".
In favor of Latin letters, it has also been argued that different symbols are harder to communicate since some people will not know their name or how to type the symbol. Counter-arguments to that is that are only devs really have to type the symbol (e.g. in help screens), we can put the symbols in visible places (e.g. Pyra home page) so people can copy/paste them, we can add color so you can refer to the buttons by color if you don't know how to say the name, and you can refer to buttons by position or shape of the symbol too.
I'm not going to repeat the advantages and disadvantages of Latin or non-Latin for each of the proposals below, so just keep it in mind.
There are various layout suggestions for Latin letters and for different symbols. You can first select all options that are acceptable to you. If you don't care about the labels at all, you should select all options. If you don't really like an option, but you can live with it, you should select it. In the next question you can select all options that are prefered by you. Only select options you would really be happy with.
Here are the proposals. Sorry for not including all of the proposals -- if I missed something you would like to have included in the poll, please say so.
Latin letter proposals:
1) Pandora layout + C and Z
C
Y Z
A B
X
Pro: great for backwards compatibility
Con: looks illogical
2) Pandora layout + two extra buttons
(here shown as C1 and C2 but this could also be Z1 and Z2 or something like that)
C1
Y C2
A B
X
Pro: great for backwards compatibility
Con: looks illogical
3) SEGA-style
Z
Y C
X B
A
Pro: great for SEGA emulation, looks logical
Con: not Pandora compatible (X and A are swapped)
4) Extended SNES
X
Y A
Z B
C
Pro: great for Nintendo emulation, looks somewhat logical
Con: not Pandora compatible at all
5) Colored letters
(the other proposals can be colored too, but for this one it is obligatory)
Y
M B
C G
R
Edit: Note that the letters themselves don't necessarily have to be colored, it could also be the buttons themselves that are colored (cf. the last question in the poll).
6) Directions + extra buttons
X1
N X2
W E
S
New symbols proposals:
7) Greek letters that look a bit like Playstation layout
Φ
Δ ψ
Π Ω
χ
Pro: great for PSX/PSP emulation, fits the Greek name "theme", looks stylish according to some
Con: many people don't know the names of Greek letters
8) Pandora-like (lowercase) Greek layout
μ
γ ν
α β
χ
Pro: the only "new symbols" that are backwards compatible
Con: some people may consider it as just a "weird font" for A B X Y M V
9) Dice symbols
⚀ ⚁ ⚂ ⚃ ⚄ ⚅ in some order (without the boxes around the pips)
Edit: Example button design:
Pro: logical sequence
Con: mental confusion with number keys, could be hard to quickly visually distinguish the buttons
10) Various PlayStation-inspired symbols
⌂
⚇ ←
≡ ✓
✗
Pro: buttons have a "default" meaning, nice for homebrew stuff
Con: may look a bit random, hard to describe buttons
11) Playing card symbols + red/black
R
♥ B
♦ ♣
♠
Edit: alternative:
R
♣ B
♦ ♥
♠
Pro: well-known symbols
Con: does not extend well from 4 to 6; symbols have different names in each language, "R" and "B" are Latin letters (Edit: underline helps to disambiguate)
12) Chess pieces
♔
♗ ♕
♙ ♘
♖
Pro: well-known symbols
Con: not everyone knows their names ("Press [ROOK]!"), could be hard to distinguish e.g. pawn from bishop.
13) Media buttons
Pro: could be used in media players
Con: makes the Pyra look like a media player
14) Roman numerals
Ⅵ
Ⅴ Ⅲ
Ⅳ Ⅱ
Ⅰ
Con: "I" and "V" are Latin letters, also mental confusion with number keys possible
15) Just label them with their keyboard mapping:
[ins ]
[PgUp] [Del ]
[Home] [End ]
[PgDn]
or with symbols:
⎆
⇞ ⌦
⇱ ⇲
⇟
Pro: good for non-gaming use
Con: would be weird in games
16) No labels at all
Edit: I forgot this one (thanks, Neelix):
17) Alphanumeric combinations
For example:
Z3
Z2 C3
Z1 C2
C1
Pro: easy to type and say and express in code, fits with the existing convention for L1, L2, R1 and R2
Edit: one more as requested by Klumpen and Ziz:
18) Arabic numbers:
6
5 3
4 2
1
Con: confusion with number keys
One fundamental question is: are Latin letters (e.g. A B C X Y Z) acceptable or not? It has been argued that since we already have a keyboard which has those letters, the action buttons should have different symbols on them to avoid confusion. E.g. when you say "Press A" it is not necessarily clear whether you mean the keyboard key "A" or the action button "A". A counter-argument to that is that things can be disambiguated by talking about either "the A button" or "the A key".
In favor of Latin letters, it has also been argued that different symbols are harder to communicate since some people will not know their name or how to type the symbol. Counter-arguments to that is that are only devs really have to type the symbol (e.g. in help screens), we can put the symbols in visible places (e.g. Pyra home page) so people can copy/paste them, we can add color so you can refer to the buttons by color if you don't know how to say the name, and you can refer to buttons by position or shape of the symbol too.
I'm not going to repeat the advantages and disadvantages of Latin or non-Latin for each of the proposals below, so just keep it in mind.
There are various layout suggestions for Latin letters and for different symbols. You can first select all options that are acceptable to you. If you don't care about the labels at all, you should select all options. If you don't really like an option, but you can live with it, you should select it. In the next question you can select all options that are prefered by you. Only select options you would really be happy with.
Here are the proposals. Sorry for not including all of the proposals -- if I missed something you would like to have included in the poll, please say so.
Latin letter proposals:
1) Pandora layout + C and Z
C
Y Z
A B
X
Pro: great for backwards compatibility
Con: looks illogical
2) Pandora layout + two extra buttons
(here shown as C1 and C2 but this could also be Z1 and Z2 or something like that)
C1
Y C2
A B
X
Pro: great for backwards compatibility
Con: looks illogical
3) SEGA-style
Z
Y C
X B
A
Pro: great for SEGA emulation, looks logical
Con: not Pandora compatible (X and A are swapped)
4) Extended SNES
X
Y A
Z B
C
Pro: great for Nintendo emulation, looks somewhat logical
Con: not Pandora compatible at all
5) Colored letters
(the other proposals can be colored too, but for this one it is obligatory)
Y
M B
C G
R
Edit: Note that the letters themselves don't necessarily have to be colored, it could also be the buttons themselves that are colored (cf. the last question in the poll).
6) Directions + extra buttons
X1
N X2
W E
S
New symbols proposals:
7) Greek letters that look a bit like Playstation layout
Φ
Δ ψ
Π Ω
χ
Pro: great for PSX/PSP emulation, fits the Greek name "theme", looks stylish according to some
Con: many people don't know the names of Greek letters
8) Pandora-like (lowercase) Greek layout
μ
γ ν
α β
χ
Pro: the only "new symbols" that are backwards compatible
Con: some people may consider it as just a "weird font" for A B X Y M V
9) Dice symbols
⚀ ⚁ ⚂ ⚃ ⚄ ⚅ in some order (without the boxes around the pips)
Edit: Example button design:

Pro: logical sequence
Con: mental confusion with number keys, could be hard to quickly visually distinguish the buttons
10) Various PlayStation-inspired symbols
⌂
⚇ ←
≡ ✓
✗
Pro: buttons have a "default" meaning, nice for homebrew stuff
Con: may look a bit random, hard to describe buttons
11) Playing card symbols + red/black
R
♥ B
♦ ♣
♠
Edit: alternative:
R
♣ B
♦ ♥
♠
Pro: well-known symbols
Con: does not extend well from 4 to 6; symbols have different names in each language, "R" and "B" are Latin letters (Edit: underline helps to disambiguate)
12) Chess pieces
♔
♗ ♕
♙ ♘
♖
Pro: well-known symbols
Con: not everyone knows their names ("Press [ROOK]!"), could be hard to distinguish e.g. pawn from bishop.
13) Media buttons

Pro: could be used in media players
Con: makes the Pyra look like a media player
14) Roman numerals
Ⅵ
Ⅴ Ⅲ
Ⅳ Ⅱ
Ⅰ
Con: "I" and "V" are Latin letters, also mental confusion with number keys possible
15) Just label them with their keyboard mapping:
[ins ]
[PgUp] [Del ]
[Home] [End ]
[PgDn]
or with symbols:
⎆
⇞ ⌦
⇱ ⇲
⇟
Pro: good for non-gaming use
Con: would be weird in games
16) No labels at all
Edit: I forgot this one (thanks, Neelix):
17) Alphanumeric combinations
For example:
Z3
Z2 C3
Z1 C2
C1
Pro: easy to type and say and express in code, fits with the existing convention for L1, L2, R1 and R2
Edit: one more as requested by Klumpen and Ziz:
18) Arabic numbers:
6
5 3
4 2
1
Con: confusion with number keys
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