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Yours vs. Mine

dcurt.is

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Re: Yours vs. Mine

#51

Post by Arelius »

kyro wrote: post #30
tadfisher wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with this. Using the example from the article, "Profile" is just as expressive as "My Profile", more concise, and groups better with other similar actions. Taken to its logical extreme, you'll have to put "My" everywhere; imagine GMail with "My Inbox", "My Starred", "My Important Messages", "My Circles", etc.

I think pronouns should be reserved more for interactions, where a UI's personality really shines through. So when refreshing your inbox, you may see "Fetching your email", for example.

Yeah, actually even in that case, I'd prefer no pronouns. "Fetching email" is much better IMO, and possibly more accurate (Imagine my girlfriend logged into my email for instance).

Re: Yours vs. Mine

#52

Post by to3m »

Swizec wrote: post #38
astine wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would a computer use the familiar form? It seems to me that I would uncomfortable if a computer, or worse, a web interface actively maintained by team of strangers, started to address in language that suggested a certain level of intimacy.

It might just be my youngness and general disapproval of the polite form speaking here. I really think English has gone in the right direction by removing their polite form in favour of being polite without senseless grammatical contortions.

It's a minor point but actually English has only the polite form. Stiff upper lip, and all that. "Thou" is the singular, but it isn't used much any more.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thou#History

Re: Yours vs. Mine

#53

Post by majormajor »

thejerz wrote: post #48

Ready? This is going to blow your mind... NEITHER. Just say "Purchases" or "Bookmarks." Not yours, not mine, not his, not hers. Just "it." Now, get back to writing code!

Reminds me a bit of the good ol' pre-Vista days of "My Documents" et cetera in the Windows world. :) But hey, even MS took a decade between 95 and Vista to decide to drop the prefix!

Re: Yours vs. Mine

#54

Post by addlepate »

mhb wrote: post #46

Somewhat topical pedantry: The incorrect non-reflexive use of myself to avoid the potentially incorrect choice of I vs. me. As in: ... rather than the interface being an extension of myself.

That looks correct to my native-English-speaking eyes.

Re: Yours vs. Mine

#55

Post by ramses0 »

Brilliantly stated!

"My..." implies the interface is an extension of the users brain.

"Your..." implies the interface is a tool to be mastered.

Both might be appropriate for certain use cases. Using github as an example interface with personality, perhaps "My Forks" but "Your SSH Keys"?

Re: Yours vs. Mine

#56

Post by scottmagdalein »

thejerz wrote: post #48

Ready? This is going to blow your mind... NEITHER. Just say "Purchases" or "Bookmarks." Not yours, not mine, not his, not hers. Just "it." Now, get back to writing code!

Where this simplicity breaks down is when you have two kinds of a thing. For example, a user may have documents shared by a group and then documents that are yours/mine.

Honestly, I still feel it's an overwrought discussion about something that ultimately doesn't effect the user enough to change their general perception of the product.

Re: Yours vs. Mine

#57

Post by jameshart »

scottjackson wrote: post #22

From the section of the iOS HIG about writing alert copy: > Avoid using “you,” “your,” “me,” and “my” as much as possible. Sometimes, text that identifies people directly can be ambiguous and can even be interpreted as an insult.

Yet Siri calls me 'you', and refers to herself as 'I'. Rules are made to be broken. Actually, on a recent road trip, I found myself asking Siri for an update on my progress by asking: "What's our ETA?". While she gave me the right answer, I kind of wish she'd responded by saying when "we" would arrive. An interface that is actually in it together with me - that would be a step forward.

Re: Yours vs. Mine

#58

Post by thejerz »

scottmagdalein wrote: post #56
thejerz wrote: post #48

Ready? This is going to blow your mind... NEITHER. Just say "Purchases" or "Bookmarks." Not yours, not mine, not his, not hers. Just "it." Now, get back to writing code!

Where this simplicity breaks down is when you have two kinds of a thing. For example, a user may have documents shared by a group and then documents that are yours/mine. Honestly, I still feel it's an overwrought discussion about something that ultimately doesn't effect the user enough to change their general perception of the product.

So, call the one Documents, and call the other Shared Documents. This ≠ rocket science.

Re: Yours vs. Mine

#59

Post by lotharbot »

andrenotgiant wrote: post #42
abstractbill wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mostly. The downside is with words ("profile" even, though rarely enough that it probably doesn't matter) that can be both nouns and verbs. Leaving off the my/your then makes the button ambiguous.

Anecdotally, I have run into this with Google Products (Mail & Voice): The "Archive" button is problematic because you can almost always navigate to the noun Archive folder, or verb Archive an item.

how about "view archive" and "send to archive"?

Re: Yours vs. Mine

#60

Post by schraeds »

thejerz wrote: post #58
scottmagdalein wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where this simplicity breaks down is when you have two kinds of a thing. For example, a user may have documents shared by a group and then documents that are yours/mine. Honestly, I still feel it's an overwrought discussion about something that ultimately doesn't effect the user enough to change their general perception of the product.

So, call the one Documents, and call the other Shared Documents. This ≠ rocket science.

I'd love to see some software you've designed.
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