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COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!

18 May 13 - 06:05 PM (#3516566)
Subject: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: gnu

I asked a long while back fer you, ya young whippersnapper with good eyesight, ta make the damn 'd' longside the Messages numbers bigger or even a BRIGHT colour so's peeps like me can figger out iffin we already seen all the posts on a thread.

I got yer agin eyesight and I am colour blind fer yer certain colours. So, when I looks at yer tiny little 'd' and I kin barely tell tha difference twixt what I read and didn't and click on it an find out I did, it pisses me off. Maybe it's because I am a cranky aging man who doesn't like the fact that I am such but... fer gosh sake man! Is it that big a deal to improve it for ease of access fer cranky old peeps with poor eyesight?

If so... nevermind.

18 May 13 - 08:30 PM (#3516591)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Bat Goddess

Gnu, I don't know what type of computer you're on, but on my Mac, I can go to System Preferences > Appearance and change the color for buttons and windows and the highlight color. I'm sure a PC has something similar.

I had to change colors so Tom could see things more easily as his vision deteriorated.

Linn

18 May 13 - 09:00 PM (#3516593)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: gnu

Linn... I am also technologically declined. Change the appearence and colours of buttons and windows and and the highlight colour? Sure. I'll put a man on it right away.... MAX!

18 May 13 - 09:23 PM (#3516595)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: katlaughing

I can't type long enough to show you BUT there is one easy thing you can do on ANYONE'S WEBPAGE:


Hold down the Ctrl "Control button" while, at the same time, hitting the +. The page will zoom until you stop when it is big enough. To reduce, do the same thing, but hit the -Minus Sign instead.

if this doesn't work, holler! you probably already have an answer.

18 May 13 - 09:38 PM (#3516597)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Bill D

Font size for 'd' is set at -2. There 'may' be a way to change it locally, but I'm not sure how...

18 May 13 - 09:56 PM (#3516601)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: gnu

THANK YOU, KAT!!!

MAX... nevermind.

18 May 13 - 10:14 PM (#3516604)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Stilly River Sage

Kat to the rescue!

18 May 13 - 10:20 PM (#3516606)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Bill D

I knew how to enlarge the WHOLE page, in fact in Opera, I only have to hit the +... I thought we were hoping for a change to an individual letter....hmmpppff!

18 May 13 - 10:57 PM (#3516613)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: GUEST,Dani

Oh, that CTRL+ is a beautiful thing. I use it for most pages. What a revelation it was!

Dani

18 May 13 - 11:08 PM (#3516615)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: katlaughing

I learneed that ryrcheer in the Swampey Shkool for bratts.:-)

19 May 13 - 04:34 AM (#3516651)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: GUEST

Fabulous, many thanks Kat! and to Gnu for asking the question!

19 May 13 - 04:36 AM (#3516652)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: My guru always said

Sorry, last post was me!

Next question, how did I manage to get logged out all of a sudden?

19 May 13 - 04:45 AM (#3516654)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: GUEST,JHW

I can see there is a tiny d next to some nos of messages but as I don't know what it means it isn't a problem

19 May 13 - 06:29 AM (#3516672)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: s&r

For mac users hold down cmd and press +

Stu

19 May 13 - 06:30 AM (#3516673)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: GUEST

With Firefox, if it was just the d you wanted to change, you could use GreaseMonkey

This example script would also change any thread titles that were 'd' but seems to work for me.

// ==UserScript==
  // @name        gnuD
  // @namespace   http://www.gnuswebsite.com
  // @description change d to D
  // @grant       none
  // @include     http://www.mudcat.org/index.cfm
  // @version     1
  
  function dToD() {
      var links = document.getElementsByTagName("a");
      
      for(var i = 0; i < links.length; i++){
          if (links[i].text == 'd')
              links[i].text = 'D';
      }
  }
      
  dToD();

19 May 13 - 06:31 AM (#3516674)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: GUEST,Jon

missed name above...

19 May 13 - 08:16 AM (#3516687)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: terrier

If you are using a PC with a mouse with a centre wheel, the wheel has a number of functions. It comes in handy here if you hold down Ctrl whilst turning the wheel, you can zoom in and out much faster. For scrolling, just click the wheel and move the mouse up or down the screen. AFAIK these are default settings so you should not need to change anything.

19 May 13 - 08:54 AM (#3516703)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Janie

Thanks for the Mac instructions!

19 May 13 - 09:30 AM (#3516716)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Steve Gardham

Terrier,
Wow! Awesome! I'm technically challenged so I've no idea what this thread is about but I followed your instruction and I'm now off to experiment.

19 May 13 - 09:35 AM (#3516717)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: EBarnacle

Why ahould he use the 'puter in the gnude?

19 May 13 - 01:11 PM (#3516795)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Good post, gnu.
Maybe someday I will learn how to use a computer.

But why d or D?
What's wrong with the other letters?

19 May 13 - 01:13 PM (#3516796)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: gnu

Wow! Some great info here. I am glad I started this thread. I have always ascribed to the philosophy that I simply don't have time to read the instructions or practice so these tips are great.

Thanks to all.

19 May 13 - 01:14 PM (#3516797)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

δ

19 May 13 - 01:16 PM (#3516798)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Δ

19 May 13 - 01:17 PM (#3516799)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

oops! should have gone to the HTML practice thread.

19 May 13 - 02:39 PM (#3516816)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Bill D

small 'd' means "sort descending"... If you click on the last 'batch' of a 1002 post thread, you get 2 posts. If you click the 'd' you get 50 posts.

19 May 13 - 03:33 PM (#3516836)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: JohnInKansas

Now that we've told gnu that Ctl + will make everything bigger (on the monitor, lest he get big ideas) should we tell him that Ctl-Alt-LeftArrow will give him more screen area (on most monitors) to look at even bigger stuff?

(It might be cruel not to tell him that Ctl-Alt-UpArrow undoes it?)

John

19 May 13 - 03:43 PM (#3516838)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Where did you find that "sort descending?

There are many definitions of D and d, but I didn't find that one.

Many are here:
http://www.the free dictionary.com/D

Always thought the upside-down solid triangle meant 'sort descending'.

BC; (dunno if this symbol will work)

19 May 13 - 03:56 PM (#3516840)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Jeri

SHIT JOHN! I just tried that, accidentally hit the up arrow and fell on my head. (I didn't know those arrows did that stuff!)

19 May 13 - 03:58 PM (#3516841)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Jeri

Sorry--it was the down arrow. My computer was upside down. I wondered why it's been so hard to read.

19 May 13 - 04:04 PM (#3516845)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Jeri

Q, it's in the FAQ that no one reads. It just says "descending" though. I'd guess Bill got the "sort descending" term from MS Excel.

(Still having fun with arrows.)

19 May 13 - 04:13 PM (#3516852)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

In MS Excel, sort descending is a box enclosing Z over A and a down arrow.

That little d -sort descending seems to be exclusive to mudcat.

19 May 13 - 08:04 PM (#3516910)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: GUEST,.gargoyle

The only keys needed by posters to this thread - require some finger skill -

PLEASE PRESS... and hold down ... in sequence:

CONTROL
ALT
DELETE

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

repeat at every frustration.

20 May 13 - 11:13 AM (#3517149)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Stilly River Sage


Hold down the Ctrl "Control button" while, at the same time, hitting the +. The page will zoom until you stop when it is big enough. To reduce, do the same thing, but hit the -Minus Sign instead.

Kat had the answer that will work for what he needs.

20 May 13 - 12:26 PM (#3517203)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

That Crtl-Alt-Delete is useful for some of the Below the Belt threads....

20 May 13 - 02:54 PM (#3517263)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Bat Goddess

Sorry, Gnu, I thought you already knew how to enlarge the screen. I thought you needed to change colors for contrast, etc. Tom needed that (as well as enlarging the screen and enlarging the cursor) because blue just didn't have enough contrast.

Linn

20 May 13 - 03:00 PM (#3517266)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Bat Goddess

Now Tom's having problems reading things at all. Our Mac has VoiceOver, but I can't seem to find a tutorial for VoiceOver on a desktop computer as opposed to a laptop or iPad. (Actually, I think I may have just found one.)

Linn

20 May 13 - 03:37 PM (#3517282)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: BK Lick

Use of D and d is explained in Joe Offer's post Tricks for viewing long threads
from 10 Aug 05 - 01:31 PM. (Wait a few seconds for the page to scroll down.)

20 May 13 - 06:05 PM (#3517323)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: gnu

"Ctl-Alt-LeftArrow" don't do squat on this here puppy.

20 May 13 - 06:52 PM (#3517340)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

John in Kansas- and Gnu-
On my W7,
crtl-alt left arrow turns screen 90 degrees left; right arrow turns it 90 degrees right; down arrow turns it upside down.

Did nothing with screen size left.

21 May 13 - 03:31 AM (#3517462)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: JohnInKansas

The thing is that the aspect ratio on most monitors (at least on real computers) is wider than it is tall, and most text pages at least are taller than they are wide. By turning the page so that both tall dimensions are aligned, you can enlarge the view a fair bit more and still have all of what you want to "view" on the monitor.

Most flat panel monitors don't really care which side up they are, so if you happen to have a "swivel mount" you can turn the monitor 90 clockwise and then turn the "picture" 90 degrees counterclockwise (or versey vicey). Some people use them that way all the time.

(I don't happen to have a flex mount on my monitor, so I have to hang it on a rope to do this little trick.)

Some people do think it's important to be able to make their computer look any way they want it to look, and to be able to do what they want it to do. Obviously, Microsoft doesn't agree with them.

John

21 May 13 - 03:47 AM (#3517465)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: JohnInKansas

As an inconsequential note of no particular importance, I will say that I almost NEVER use the "d." I want the most recent posts where I can see them while I'm composing a comment, and if you got in with the "d" they're at opposite ends, sometimes requiring a very long (up to 49 posts?) scroll to jump between one end of the "page" where the last post is and the "Reply to Thread" box that stays at the bottom.

Ctl-Home and Ctl-End will "jump" you to one end or the other, but things don't necessarily align right, so you may need a PgUP or PgDN, or do a couple of "wheelies" to land where you'd like.

Another (minor #2) annoyance is that for some reason my cursor disappears when I'm typing in the Reply box, which forces me to pay very close attention to where the stroke goes when I poke the next key. This has been consistent through at least four versions of my browser - but that doesn't eliminate the possibility that it's "just me."

And for itty-bitty #3 - once you preview, you can't see anything in the thread and I fairly often find "typos" (blame it on whatever you can) that make me think I've misquoted someone and it takes some "advanced aerobatic maneuvers" to go back to the thread, repaste what I had, make corrections, and of course preview again.

I've been reluctant to complain, since knowing how it works - or doesn't - is part of feeling at home and part of the gang.

(Her beauty is in the eye of the beholder, even when it looks a lot like her thumb.)

John

22 May 13 - 03:22 AM (#3517866)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Mo the caller

Any know how to do italics, large & small print and colours in replies.

Well, obviously someone does - but I don't.

22 May 13 - 11:51 AM (#3518020)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Italics explained I think in FAQ, but maybe I can show you.
Enter - I in brackets
Enter content
Enter bracket / i bracket close

my computer doesn't like a lower case I in brackets ; it changes i to I and I have to fight it. Lets see what happens.

22 May 13 - 12:02 PM (#3518024)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Looks like upper case I works
A change in the latest update- DAMN them!

Bold
b in brackets, statement close brackets with /in front of b
On Top of Old Smokey

And please, no loud big letters and leave the colors to gargoyle

22 May 13 - 12:07 PM (#3518028)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Bill D

"requiring a very long (up to 49 posts?) scroll to jump between one end of the "page" where the last post is and the "Reply to Thread" box that stays at the bottom."

But.. ctrl-end pops it down there instantly, just as ctrl-home pops it to the top.

22 May 13 - 01:08 PM (#3518064)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: JohnInKansas

Bill D - I believe I noted that Ctl-Home and Ctl-End jump from one end to the other, but also noted that sometimes "the very end" isn't where you want to be, so you need an additional PageUp or PageDown, or a scroll wheel (wheelie) or scroll bar click or two to "adjust."

My DSL connection is fast enough to download a thread with anything less than about 200 posts in one swell foop, and for threads up to about that length I prefer to always scan what's been posted before making comments. I can't see any reason why the choice changes the "server burden" by much unless it's an incredibly long thread, although I may change my procedure if the 'cat seems to be handling a lot of traffic.

In the extremely rare case when I look at a thread with more than ~200 posts, I may open "in pieces" with the "d," go to the next to last group, and after checking what's been posted recently proceed to the last clump to see if I can add anything. Most threads that go past 200 posts are just the usual arguments between the usual flamers and are too boring to be worth looking at, and I can usually remember the ones that are an automatic "Back" when you see who started them the first time you look.

By my personal preference I just don't very often use the "sort descending" option. It's fine if it works for you.

I do, quite often, save threads to my own "archives of brilliance" (in the rare case when something looks worthy) and it should be noted that if you "save as" from a thread opened in parts the file name is the same regardless of which "clump" of posts you're in, so the last save of "posts 1401 to 1403" will overwrite and replace the first save of the same thread when there were only 20 posts unless you change the file name for the save to show which segment is going to where you save stuff. (The US Supreme Court is about the worst for this, since all "downloads" - usually PDFs - have the same default filename, if you don't edit before you complete the save.)

John

24 May 13 - 08:44 AM (#3518769)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Mo the caller

(I)Thanks Q(/i)
(b)Lets see if it works then(/b)

No, it doesn't, and I thought i did what you said. I don't see any italics or bold when I preview. What am I doing wrong?

24 May 13 - 08:53 AM (#3518775)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Mo the caller

(i) try lower case (i)
[i] try square brackets[/i], [b]that might work [/b]
still nothing...the square bracket thing is the bit that comes up on the screen of another forum when you click the i or b button
try greater,less than brackets???

24 May 13 - 08:54 AM (#3518777)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Mo the caller

Using < and > seems to work

24 May 13 - 11:21 AM (#3518815)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: JohnInKansas

Many html tricks are done with "tags."

To make a tag, you type <tagname>.

In general, every tag MUST HAVE a tag end, that you type </tagname>

If you type <i>something italic</i> you should get something italic.

Some tags can include a "modifier" and some of them must have a modifier to do anything.

If you type <font color="red">Something red<font> you should get Something red.

The other form of trickery is to use a "code." Most codes start with an & that says "what comes next is a code." In the most common usage, the & is followed immediately by a # that means the code is a number. After the number, the code MUST END WITH A SEMICOLON.

If you type an & followed by a space, mudcat will just print the &, but that's something that most websites "just do for you."

If you type &#0169; you shold get © - but for some common symbols there are "short forms" so you should get the same thing if you type &copy; like ©.

More complete instructions for common things, and what you can do with them are in the FAQ, and there are a number of "html practice threads" where you can post your attempts so that others can help you if you need it, AND THE MISTAKES CAN BE CLEANED OUT when the threads get too long.

You can "try out" things in any thread by putting a check in the "Preview" box, and if you hit "Submit Message" it will show YOU what result you got, but you can back out without submitting again so that the thread you're using doesn't get trashed up with "experiments" that don't have anything to do with the thread. If you want to practice, finding an html practice thread is strongly urged, since the people who know how we do it here will usually come in to help fairly quickly.

John

24 May 13 - 11:28 AM (#3518818)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: JohnInKansas

Typing the codes gets confusing, and typing the explanations of codes is worse:

#@%!$& If you type <font color="red">Something red<font> you should ... .

Sorry about missing the / in the end tag. Should have been:

If you type <font color="red">Something red</font> you should ... .

John

24 May 13 - 12:06 PM (#3518835)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Sorry, Mo- I called < a bracket
<...>

24 May 13 - 12:15 PM (#3518838)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

What is the name for the symbols < and > ?

# has several names: hash, pound sign or number sign (N. Am. terminology), or sharp in music.
I like the seldom used appellation octothorpe, coined by a Bell Laboratories employee.

24 May 13 - 12:42 PM (#3518847)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: JohnInKansas

Typographers have fairly specific names for all the symbols, and they're pretty much universal, at least for "Western European" stuff. If you want an easy to find and reasonably authentic name you can check the Unicode standard. The standard defines a code number for each symbol by the name of the symbol, and the names are given in a listing with each symbol chart. The "glyphs" shown in the charts are just "illustrations of a typical form for information" and are not really part of what the standard specifies, so there can be a lot of variation depending on what font (or what language) you're using.

Unicode gives you a Musical Sharp at Hex 266F that you can code here as &#x266F; to look like ♯ that really is different than the #. There's also a "real flat" at Hex 266D (&#x266D;) that looks like ♭ that you might like better than "b."

John

24 May 13 - 01:20 PM (#3518866)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: gnu

Q... "On my W7, crtl-alt left arrow turns screen 90 degrees left; right arrow turns it 90 degrees right; down arrow turns it upside down."

Oh, now THAT would be a dirty trick to play on a rechnologically deficient such as I.

JiK... the disappearing cursor ain't just you and it truly does bug me.

As for the HTML "tricks", I don't have the time to learn any of it because I am VERY lazy.

BTW... with W8 the speelchucker (hey! I like that new word) is automatic but it's on the laptop and that is hooked up to the flat screen in the living room for watching The Cleverlys on yer YouTube.

But, once again, I am glad I started this thread because of the wealth of info provided.

24 May 13 - 03:06 PM (#3518903)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: JohnInKansas

The thing that's most confusing about the screen rotation thingy is that when you Ctl-Alt-LeftArrow and it flips left, you'd think that Ctl-Alt-RtArrow would flip it back, but it don't work thataway. In all cases the arrow key you use points to where the top of the page will be, so Ctl-Alt-UpArrow is the fix.

The spiellchucker in Office programs can be turned on or off and you can change how it works. The autocorrect and autoreplace functions are changed the same way, and autocorrect probably is more likely to cause irritations.

For both, you have to know that the only place you can make the changes is in Word, but what you change there will work in most other office programs.

If the autocorrect changes something that you don't want changed, Ctl-Z immediately after you type what you wanted will cancel the "correction."

It's sometimes important to know that autocorrect works before autoreplace does. The autocorrect "initial caps" function is a common PIA, especially if you deal with company names that have an unusual preference, like gXYdQ Co. Autocorrect will probably change that to Qxydq every time you type it, so you put "replace Qxydq with qXYdQ" in autoreplace and it will change it back for you every time autocorrect changes it, and autocorrect will leave it alone since it's already checked that word.

IFF you don't have other objections to the Google toolbar, it has a fairly decent spellchecker you can use in your browser. You may have to hunt around some to find how to turn it on, and in some setups, the spellchecker button only appears if you select some text to make it think you might want to check it.

John

24 May 13 - 03:48 PM (#3518913)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

According to Wiki, < means less than and > means greater than, in keyboard terminology, which is the old meaning we used in math.

But what are these symbols called when used to enclose I or b, the italic and bold, when posting??
---------------------------

( ) is open and close parenthesis in std. terminology but many of us call them brackets, which on the keyboard applies to [ and ].

'Tis a puzzlement.

See Wikipedia, Keyboard symbols.

24 May 13 - 04:27 PM (#3518930)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: gnu

( and [ and { are all parentheses (I think) but ( is a bracket idnit? > is forward arrow, no?

24 May 13 - 05:26 PM (#3518946)
Subject: RE: COME ON MAX! AT LEAST MAKE IT A 'D'!
From: JohnInKansas

In typography, the font designers use fairly specific names for each symbol. The greater than > and less than < character glyphs have the same name, regardless of whether they have the same purpose in a given usage.

In common talk about them, you can call them anything you want to.

(Some of the following may not display, depending on your font sets.)

( is an open parenthesis
) is a close parentesis
[ and ] are square brackets
{ and } are braces
☓ is a ballot x (varies a lot with the font)
♞ is a black knight and ♘ is a white knight (chess)
☖ is a white shogi piece and ☗ is a black shogi piece (Chinese Chess)
☤ is a Caduceus
☣ is "oh shit, I shouldn'a stuck my finger in that!"

John