denegro.com

I me mine

December 24th, 2010 68 comentarios

A couple of days ago I got this email from Ticketmaster announcing their new features. On a quick scan, something caught my attention, a couple of words clearly stood out:

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It seems a bit weird, to say the least, that items under “My favorites” and “Stuff you browsed” belong to the same person, doesn’t it?

Some questions arise:

  • Wich determiner is right, “my” or “your”?
  • Should designers use personal pronouns on their interfaces at all?
  • Do users detect this uncoherence or is it just a designer problem (thus, a non-existent problem)?

Because I’ve had this dilemma for quite a while now, I collected some opinions on the issue. Have you got any more? Your own, maybe? If so, please leave a comment.

My Computer. I’ve always hated this icon — its insulting, infantilizing tone. Even if you change the name, the damage is done: It’s how you’ve been encouraged to think of the system.

Ellen Ullman, 1998

“My” also presents the potential for substantial confusion. Let’s say I’m interacting with a widget-selling site. And I have a personal area on the site, and it’s called, “My Account”. Then the system, when referring to me, must call me “I” and “My,” which is weird, because, well, it’s odd when reflexive possessive adjectives are used and you’re not in control (or should that be, “and I’m not in control”?) Also, if I need to talk to The System for some reason (say, send email to the people who run it), how do I refer to it? Usually it’s “Contact Us”, but if I am “My”, than “Us” would be me as well, so that leaves “You” for The System, so it would be something like “Contact You” and, well, that’s weird, too.

Peter Merholz, 1998

Labeling stuff with “My” imitates the point of view of the user. It is as if the user has printed out labels and stuck them to various objects: My Lunch, My Desk, My Red Stapler. Except the user hasn’t done this; you (the site) did it for them.
Labeling stuff with “Your” instead reinforces the conversational dialogue. It is how another human being might address you when talking about your stuff. Even with MySpace, people say things like “I saw what you put on your MySpace.

Yahoo patterns — Your vs. My

if you succumb to the peculiar temptation of my, you just set yourself up for totally unnecessary inconsistency.

And, should you decide to brand a whole section of your site with “My”, you aren’t really branding the experience at all. You are inviting your users to draw an analogy with something another company did over a decade ago. It’s a missed opportunity, and that sucks.

Erika Hall, 2010

  • Agustu00edn Jimu00e9nez

    Great post.nnI’ve faced too this dilemma for several times (as anyone in the room thinking on interfaces) and my conclusion is that it doesn’t matter at all. nnWe must avoid incoherences, that’s for sure, but the mental processes of users that let them understand each part of an interface are centered on figuring out what is it about, not who does it belong to. Anyone interacting with a computer, or say a device, feels with any doubt he is the human being part of that subtle relationship. nnAs we all have grown with so many cases of both examples of “yours and mines” that I think they are both well understood. I think there’s not a right one in terms of better user response, understanding or convenience.nn

  • Agustu00edn Jimu00e9nez

    Great post.nnI’ve faced too this dilemma for several times (as anyone in the room thinking on interfaces) and my conclusion is that it doesn’t matter at all. nnWe must avoid incoherences, that’s for sure, but the mental processes of users that let them understand each part of an interface are centered on figuring out what is it about, not who does it belong to. Anyone interacting with a computer, or say a device, feels with any doubt he is the human being part of that subtle relationship. nnAs we all have grown with so many cases of both examples of “yours and mines” that I think they are both well understood. I think there’s not a right one in terms of better user response, understanding or convenience.nn

  • Agustu00edn Jimu00e9nez

    Great post.nnI’ve faced too this dilemma for several times (as anyone in the room thinking on interfaces) and my conclusion is that it doesn’t matter at all. nnWe must avoid incoherences, that’s for sure, but the mental processes of users that let them understand each part of an interface are centered on figuring out what is it about, not who does it belong to. Anyone interacting with a computer, or say a device, feels with any doubt he is the human being part of that subtle relationship. nnAs we all have grown with so many cases of both examples of “yours and mines” that I think they are both well understood. I think there’s not a right one in terms of better user response, understanding or convenience.nn

  • Agustu00edn Jimu00e9nez

    Great post.nnI’ve faced too this dilemma for several times (as anyone in the room thinking on interfaces) and my conclusion is that it doesn’t matter at all. nnWe must avoid incoherences, that’s for sure, but the mental processes of users that let them understand each part of an interface are centered on figuring out what is it about, not who does it belong to. Anyone interacting with a computer, or say a device, feels with any doubt he is the human being part of that subtle relationship. nnAs we all have grown with so many cases of both examples of “yours and mines” that I think they are both well understood. I think there’s not a right one in terms of better user response, understanding or convenience.nn

  • Agustu00edn Jimu00e9nez

    Great post.nnI’ve faced too this dilemma for several times (as anyone in the room thinking on interfaces) and my conclusion is that it doesn’t matter at all. nnWe must avoid incoherences, that’s for sure, but the mental processes of users that let them understand each part of an interface are centered on figuring out what is it about, not who does it belong to. Anyone interacting with a computer, or say a device, feels with any doubt he is the human being part of that subtle relationship. nnAs we all have grown with so many cases of both examples of “yours and mines” that I think they are both well understood. I think there’s not a right one in terms of better user response, understanding or convenience.nn

  • Agustu00edn Jimu00e9nez

    Great post.nnI’ve faced too this dilemma for several times (as anyone in the room thinking on interfaces) and my conclusion is that it doesn’t matter at all. nnWe must avoid incoherences, that’s for sure, but the mental processes of users that let them understand each part of an interface are centered on figuring out what is it about, not who does it belong to. Anyone interacting with a computer, or say a device, feels with any doubt he is the human being part of that subtle relationship. nnAs we all have grown with so many cases of both examples of “yours and mines” that I think they are both well understood. I think there’s not a right one in terms of better user response, understanding or convenience.nn

  • Agustu00edn Jimu00e9nez

    Great post.nnI’ve faced too this dilemma for several times (as anyone in the room thinking on interfaces) and my conclusion is that it doesn’t matter at all. nnWe must avoid incoherences, that’s for sure, but the mental processes of users that let them understand each part of an interface are centered on figuring out what is it about, not who does it belong to. Anyone interacting with a computer, or say a device, feels with any doubt he is the human being part of that subtle relationship. nnAs we all have grown with so many cases of both examples of “yours and mines” that I think they are both well understood. I think there’s not a right one in terms of better user response, understanding or convenience.nn

  • Agustu00edn Jimu00e9nez

    Great post.nnI’ve faced too this dilemma for several times (as anyone in the room thinking on interfaces) and my conclusion is that it doesn’t matter at all. nnWe must avoid incoherences, that’s for sure, but the mental processes of users that let them understand each part of an interface are centered on figuring out what is it about, not who does it belong to. Anyone interacting with a computer, or say a device, feels with any doubt he is the human being part of that subtle relationship. nnAs we all have grown with so many cases of both examples of “yours and mines” that I think they are both well understood. I think there’s not a right one in terms of better user response, understanding or convenience.nn

  • Agustu00edn Jimu00e9nez

    Great post.nnI’ve faced too this dilemma for several times (as anyone in the room thinking on interfaces) and my conclusion is that it doesn’t matter at all. nnWe must avoid incoherences, that’s for sure, but the mental processes of users that let them understand each part of an interface are centered on figuring out what is it about, not who does it belong to. Anyone interacting with a computer, or say a device, feels with any doubt he is the human being part of that subtle relationship. nnAs we all have grown with so many cases of both examples of “yours and mines” that I think they are both well understood. I think there’s not a right one in terms of better user response, understanding or convenience.nn

  • Agustu00edn Jimu00e9nez

    Great post.nnI’ve faced too this dilemma for several times (as anyone in the room thinking on interfaces) and my conclusion is that it doesn’t matter at all. nnWe must avoid incoherences, that’s for sure, but the mental processes of users that let them understand each part of an interface are centered on figuring out what is it about, not who does it belong to. Anyone interacting with a computer, or say a device, feels with any doubt he is the human being part of that subtle relationship. nnAs we all have grown with so many cases of both examples of “yours and mines” that I think they are both well understood. I think there’s not a right one in terms of better user response, understanding or convenience.nn

  • Agustu00edn Jimu00e9nez

    Great post.nnI’ve faced too this dilemma for several times (as anyone in the room thinking on interfaces) and my conclusion is that it doesn’t matter at all. nnWe must avoid incoherences, that’s for sure, but the mental processes of users that let them understand each part of an interface are centered on figuring out what is it about, not who does it belong to. Anyone interacting with a computer, or say a device, feels with any doubt he is the human being part of that subtle relationship. nnAs we all have grown with so many cases of both examples of “yours and mines” that I think they are both well understood. I think there’s not a right one in terms of better user response, understanding or convenience.nn

  • Agustín Jiménez

    Great post.

    I’ve faced too this dilemma for several times (as anyone in the room thinking on interfaces) and my conclusion is that it doesn’t matter at all.

    We must avoid incoherences, that’s for sure, but the mental processes of users that let them understand each part of an interface are centered on figuring out what is it about, not who does it belong to. Anyone interacting with a computer, or say a device, feels with any doubt he is the human being part of that subtle relationship.

    As we all have grown with so many cases of both examples of “yours and mines” that I think they are both well understood. I think there’s not a right one in terms of better user response, understanding or convenience.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez

    Even though my experience tells me that most people around me is blind to these things, I’m all for, in the first place, coherence. Then I’d erase to extinction all the “My…” references in all systems, and a small smile would lighten up within MY inner self. I have no newer reasons to add for this, so I’ll just sign most of what’s been said already.

  • twitter.com/DamagedGoods Diego Cano

    Another example:nnqweos.tumblr.com/post/2338273250/mi-tu-su-en-atrapalo-com-tratan-al-usuario-de

  • twitter.com/DamagedGoods
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