Title: Yours vs. Mine
Context: Words matter. How to use language correctly in your UI.
Synopsis: How much ownership do you really feel over an interface? Maybe it’s “my” email, but is it “my” Gmail? Complexity exists even in the simplest corners of the user’s experience. Do we talk about “my” settings or “your” options? Chances are the person looking at either will understand what’s being asked of him or her, but that may not really be the point. Setting the tone for the relationship between the object or interface and the user happens at the base level of understanding: language. So while “we” want to be useful to “them”, “you” shouldn’t forget that how “I” perceive “my” relationship with “your” software is all about “us”.
Best Bit: “If we think about interfaces as literal ‘interfaces’ to tasks (like how people are interfaces to their ideas), instead of as tools themselves, it makes sense for the interface to take on a personality, and to become a ‘you’ to the user.”
via dcurt.is
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