[OPEN-ILS-DEV] 'My Account' vs. 'Your Account'

[Lazar, Alexey Vladimirovich]

On Jul 31, 2012, at 12:11 , Dan Scott wrote:

> On Tue, Jul 31, 2012 at 12:48:49PM -0400, Dan Wells wrote:
>> Hello all,
>> 
>> Apologies if I missed any prior discussion, but as I am working on implementing TPAC for my library, I noticed that the 'My Account' link from JSPAC is now labeled as 'Your Account Log in'.  I have no problem with either wording, and it isn't a huge deal, but I want to make sure we are being consistent and deliberate with this label.  In particular, the current alpha Android app uses 'My Account', so I am trying to determine for certain which direction we wish to go as a group before I go ahead and change it to match the TPAC.
>> 
>> Since it interested me, I just spent the last 30 minutes or so looking at 20 top Internet retailers across a variety of product types to see which sort of labeling is more common.  Here are the results:
>> 
>> "My Account":
>> barnesandnoble.com
>> bestbuy.com
>> buy.com
>> costco.com
>> dell.com
>> homedepot.com
>> jcp.com
>> kohls.com
>> officemax.com
>> petco.com (in 'My Petco' menu)
>> petsmart.com (only visible after 'Sign in')
>> sears.com (listed as 'My Profile')
>> staples.com
>> target.com
>> toysrus.com
>> zappos.com
>> 
>> "Your Account":
>> amazon.com
>> lowes.com
>> nordstrom.com
>> 
>> Other:
>> newegg.com ('Your Account' within 'My NewEgg')
>> 
>> 
>> Rather than spend any more time providing an analysis of this data, I would like to step back and hear if others have any strongly held opinions about this.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> Dan
> 
> After you log in, the button splits into two: "My Account" and "Logout".
> 
> I would be fine with changing "Your Account Log In" to "My Account" in
> the default TPAC, if that's the preference, as the string is already
> translated.

If the website takes on the perspective of the user "My account" wording seems to make sense. From the website owner perspective, as if addressing the user, "Your account" wording is appropriate. "My" seems more personal. "Your" feels a bit more official, but not necessarily less personal. I think it could be argued that an Android phone and the Gmail account along with it are more "personal", as compared to a 3-rd party website, like Amazon, or a library website that has some personalized features.

If I were to choose now, I would probably prefer the more official "Your account" wording, at least when a user is logged off. When logged in, that same wording could be used if consistency is important. That said, leaving it as-is seems like a fine option as well.

Alexey Lazar
PALS
Information System Developer and Integrator
507-389-2907
http://www.mnpals.org/