"My account" or "Your account" labels

Question

I have somewhat of a strange question that is not really technical, but I do hope to collect meaningful advice.

I'm building a large web application, basically a photo sharing community site. As part of this site, logged-in users can go to their profile, from which they can see their own things (images, comments, votes) as well as edit their details and preferences. Users can also see profiles of others users (their images, comments, votes), but of course not edit their details.

The question I have is simple but it keeps bothering me: What to call the personal links and content of a user? Should they be named "Your":

Your images
Your profile ...

...or "My":

My images
My profile

...or perhaps named, even if you're logged in:

Fledder's images
Fledder's profile

As unimportant as it may sounds, I'm really looking for advice in this area. I'm particularly interested in any standards, why an option is preferred, and in which contexts it is preferred.

Valet

Attention to detail in the UI is what can make an OK user experience, a really good, personal user experience. So it may seem trivial, but it's very hard to get the UI just right and so in my opinion, this level of attention to detail bodes well overall – Highroad

Think this question has merit. The UI is the most important part of a piece of software. No use having a perfect backend if the UI is rubbish/unuseable/unappealing!! – Highroad

This is purely a design aspect, not necessarily programming. Other than that, you could argue it's just suggestive/argumentative anyways. – Tumult

@will this is really relevant question as he is trying to create a decent UX which is programming related. He can't ask this on Meta or on Serverfault. If anything perhaps suggest this is as a wiki article but closing it goes against StackOverflow faq – Winn

@adathedev - wish i could give you rep points for that! what a lot of software companies don't understand is the true concept of interface... the user could give two craps about the gorgeous code you used to write the program, they just want it to work. and a bad UI is a sign to the user that the code is probably bad too since they typically don't really understand what goes into it. Bad UI = no users. End of story. – Feretory

Flip a coin to pick, and then be consistent about it. – Phio

Answer 1

Imagine it from the user's perspective as they're reading it, and IMHO "My..." is best. That relates to me rather than "Your..." which when the user reads it doesn't naturally relate to themselves, and "Fledder's..." is like talking about yourself in third person.

Hence, I go for "My..."

Highroad

Thank you that makes sense. Combined with one of the comments below (that says all the big boys use "My") I'm convinced this is the way to go. – Valet

ha... i didn't say "all the big boys" i said some of them. there are other "big boys" that use each notation you suggested. but "my" isn't a bad decision :) – Feretory

The big boys include Microsoft. I personally was always put-off by the "My Documents" naming. And Microsoft doesn't have a reputation for usability (at least in 2014)... – Rockbound

Answer 2

Why not just Images or Profile by themselves?

Masorete

I think you lose some context with this option. Who's images - mine? everyones? – Highroad

I agree with AdaTheDev. But it may be acceptable depending on the overall context of use (basically if it makes clear that these are user's images). – Grammalogue

Yeah, I'd agree with that....overall context is important. It's the 4th option missing from original question so def a consideration – Highroad

If you look at the Windows UI, "My Pictures" and "My Documents" was the standard in Windows XP. Vista and 7 removed the unnecessary "My" to make it "Documents", "Pictures". If you're signed in, couldn't you assume they're your own? Really depends on how the text is placed in relation to other login info. – Tumult

I see your point...but in the context of a photo sharing website, "Images" could take you to all public images, for you to then search on narrow down as you'd need a way to get to both your images, and the wider community's images. There's an ambiguity there. – Highroad

Answer 3

Whenever you're in doubt about something like this, turn to the big boys.

Take a look at Yahoo!. They have "My Yahoo", which is a personalized homepage. YouTube has "My Videos". Google has "My Account" (when using iGoogle).

On the flipside, take a look at Flickr (coincidentally a Yahoo! company). They have "Your photostream", "Your sets", "Your gallery", "Your etc".

Further still, Twitter uses the [user name] method (log in and check your settings: http://twitter.com/account/settings)

What it boils down to is your preference. Pick one way and be consistent.

However (IMHO) either way, it is moot and will not make a difference because someone is not going to be confused by "my" or "your" unless they are used on the same page.

Feretory

I agree! I always tell clients that as long as things look on purpose and are consistent, they will work well. Inconsistency makes it all look patched together and poorly planned. – Reversioner

Answer 4

What you choose to do does not really matter as long as you are consistent.

• "My" makes you feel at home
• "Your" says you're using a provider platform and are treated as a "customer". It suggest you don't own the data (in comparison to "My").
• "somename" makes you unsure of whether you're connected on you won account or viewing someone else's... Should be avoided IMO.

Grammalogue

Answer 5

Personally I understand what you are going though, the little things such as this can impede on the development process of any project. Typically for me it is a color scheme, but I get the point.

Anyway, I would hands down use "Your profile, Your images." Since the items are of their property, it would only fit. As well... I love it when a website talks to me, it increases the user experience as if a personal bond is created between the application and myself. Allow me to share an example; Say your at a website, there is large heading text on the top which reads:

"[author's name]'s portfolio, view and comment on his(or her) images [link]here[/link]."

One might surmise that this would be a sufficient welcome message, but consider this one instead:

"Hello and welcome, to my website. Here you may browse and comment on some of my work within my portfolio. Thanks for visiting and fell free to stick around, and get lost in the awesomeness...

I think that sounds 100 times better. As you read you get the felling that what you are reading is a personal message just for you and not a generic greater just taking up space. On that note, if all of the credentials for your users, are referring to the user in the first person, then said user might get the felling of a blank emptiness such as being the only one active on your website (At least thats what I get). All of us want the exact opposite of that.

I hope my advice helps, and best of luck.

Assassin

Answer 6

The biggest problem with "my" is it gets redundant when you have a clear context for the current user. And gets redundant when listed on every item in any list. "Your" seems too rarely used to be familiar.

For example, "My Documents" is obviously yours when it's shown on your desktop, in your home directory, or in "your home page" on a website (e.g. links across the top/side on twitter.com or facebook.com, when you're logged in).

It seems natural to group these together, so when you can provide that context, dropping the "my" is shorter and simpler with no loss. For example, Stack Overflow uses the box at the top of the page to provide context for recent messages, profile, logout, and tools—all specific to the current user. You could even use "my" in some text to provide that context; similarly, "$user's" could be used to imply either the current user or another user:

Home: ^{[links to your home directory/page]}
- Documents
- Downloads
- Pictures
- Profile
- ...
Simon: ^{[links to either Simon's profile or Simon's home page]}
- Documents
- Downloads
- Pictures
- ...

Ultimately, you'll have to consider your target audience and what they will, on average, understand with the least effort. But shorter or simpler (from the user's POV) is almost always better:

A designer knows he has reached perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
      — Antoine de Saint Exupery

Ester

Answer 7

This is a matter of taste, and everyone will have a different opinion...

For what its worth, I prefer Fleder's only because if you have multiple accounts, its a visual indicator of which account you're logged in with.

EDIT:
@Romain Muller - I don't think you ever explicitly support multiple accounts, it just happens implicitly. Sometimes for legitimate reasons (personal account & professional account), and other times for illegitimate reasons (by pass storage limits).

Either way, you want to give your users the benefit of the doubt, and assume that if they have multiple accounts, then they see who they are logged in as.

Salic

So you should only prefer "Fleder's" if you intend on explicitly supporting multiple accounts per user. Other cases could drive this formulation to be misleading. – Grammalogue

The current username can be clearly shown once regardless of how other links are shown. For example, SO shows it at the top of the page and many games will show it in some fashion (where it is often relevant to have more than one account or multiple characters). – Ester

Answer 8

I think 'My' is the best bet. 'My' approaches the user in a more natural way, especially with regards to a computing experience, where a user's documents are nearly always titled "My Documents." Using the user's name is not a bad solution, however I feel it is awkward to look at, and it does not instantly inform you that it is in fact your data. 'Your' is also not a bad option (I would use it instead of the user name), however it makes me (and most likely many other users) feel distanced and separated from the application.

So, in short, 'My' is in my opinion the most appealing solution.

Contestant

Answer 9

'Your' is the better choice.

See:

http://dcurt.is/yours-vs-mine

And also:

https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/24612/my-account-or-your-account

http://ustwo.com/blog/mine-or-yours-a-ux-geeks-thoughts/

https://developer.yahoo.com/ypatterns/social/core/yourvmy.html

Curable