Michael recently made one of his pet peeves known to me. He prefers a web app to say "My Settings" as opposed to "Your Settings". I never really thought about it before, but I think I prefer "Your Settings". I'm guessing this is a perception issue, perhaps due to a difference between desktop and server-hosted apps.
On a web app, I think I feel like the server is talking to me: "Here are your settings that we are storing on our servers for you." With a desktop app, perhaps I'd feel more ownership over the data and I would expect the button to say "My Settings".
Or maybe because I am writing the software, I'm thinking as a service provider when I write "Your Settings" in a link.
Anyone else? Is there a Strunk & White for user interfaces that provides a rule?
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4 comments:
What ever happened to just "Settings"? I don't need to feel like the server is talking to me or vice versa. Its a computer.
Don't even get me started on "Tools->Options" in lieu of "Settings"...
This whole time I thought it was my computer talking to me... Wait,I'm talking to my computer right?
steve: going through my projects, I think all of them have just a "Settings" link. But some of them have some text on those pages along the lines of "Here are your settings..."
I like just "Settings". Maybe my beef is more with the "Your Settings" sites. Let me revise my pet peeve to say make it "My Settings" or "Settings", but NOT "Your Settings". Netflix, if you are listening, I'm talking to you! ("Your Account", "Your Queue" - you know who I am! At least make it "Michael's Queue".)
As for whether it is on a server or on the desktop, who can distinguish any more? I spend most of my day in a browser. And it seems many of my desktop apps would be worthless without some server (although maybe not for storing my settings).
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