Yeah, but the cables still have major standardization issues. It's almost impossible to reliably tell if a cable can be used for power and data or just power, leading to people either thinking a cable is broken or over-spending.
If you put the empty side towards the top of the machine, that works first try 95% of the time. For desktops, the top of the machine is motherboard side up.
That only works if the pc is laying on the long side; most modern pc cases are made to stand only on the short side; kind of a bummer for people like me that still have a desk made to have the pc under the monitor
That is what I meant. With desktops that are short side down, the motherboard side with the CPU socket, PCIe slots, etc. should be considered as upwards
I just look at the port and the USB connector and see which side the plastic bit inside is blocking and which side is open, can get them right every time if you take 2 seconds to look at them
Unless you're plugging it in a dark place in the back of a PC and you forgot to bring your phone... So you just try and see which orientation is correct.
If things are done according to the spec, the logo's engraved/embossed on one side and not the other, so you can learn to feel that and get it right first time even in the dark.
The half filled with plastic should be towards the bottom or rear of the host and the usb logo (if any) of the removable device or cable should be up or forwards.
There's always been an invisible 4th dimensional peg that's not talked about in most USB-A connectors, and you are required to flip your plug around so many times to get it in to the correct position.
Some of us have that inherent knack to sense the 4th dimensional peg without perceiving it...and thus we do not have this struggle. Meanwhile others completely lack intuition of the aforementioned 4th dimension and struggle endlessly with that peg.
The USB logo is supposed to face up relative to the way the port is mounted on the motherboard. USB's port isn't flush with the case, so the flip and flip again action can be skipped if you wiggle the plug up and down and left and right to actually enter the port and not just be stuck in between the case and the outside of the port.
The first time I saw this, I was in high school - which is a long fucking time ago. At least color the port blue to indicate 3.0 speeds... keep with the times my guy.