Has anyone ever noticed how ambiguous certain terminology is online? I’ve heard complaints from users of varying levels of experience, and I’m sure for new users it’s especially confusing. Most experienced web users may not notice how confusing some wording is, and even if they do, it’s not hindering their ability to get things done. I’m not suggesting we try to change generally accepted labels, but perhaps seeing some examples will help us realize that in the future we should name new technologies with more deliberation, in order to prevent confusion for new users (when it’s a new technology, new users are the majority).
Filter – To developers, there is a clear difference between “search” and “filter”. But users just need to find something, so they’re not thinking “filter”, they’re thinking “search”.
FAQ – Not everyone realizes this stands for “Frequently Asked Questions”. What’s funny is that the people who don’t know what this means are probably more likely to be asking some of the questions answered within this area of a site.
Sitemap – I’ve actually had people tell me they thought this was a map of the company’s facilities/locations. How hard would it have been to call this “Website Map” in the first place?
Links - What should we expect to see behind this label? Links to similar products, shops, or companies? Links to partners, affiliates, or paid advertisers? Why would anyone even care to click on this?
Keyword - A keyword isn’t always a single word, it’s often a phrase or combination of words. It also implies that it’s a “key” to something – that there’s only one correct key to get the answer you want.
Blog - Originating from the term “web log”, this is not only vague, but can be often confused with other social tools such as a wiki or forum – both of which are also vague terms.
Podcasts – A combination of “ipod” and “broadcast”, I wasn’t even sure what specifically constitutes a podcast when I started writing this post, so I’m willing to bet it’s pretty vague to a lot of other people too.
RSS – This stands for “Really Simple Syndication”. That doesn’t really make it clear how this would be useful to someone or what, specifically, it can do.
Homepage - Are we talking about the homepage of a given website, or about the first page a browser loads when you open it? Not to mention some browsers can be set to load the page you last viewed before closing it, and some websites allow users to customize the main page, saving modifications based on a login, IP or cookie.
Cc/Bcc – These stand for “Carbon Copy” and “Blind Carbon Copy”. Young people probably don’t even know what a carbon copy was. Older people probably don’t pick up on the analogy because it’s abbreviated.
So there are a few examples to remind us that next time we’re about to name something, we should think about why. What other examples of extremely common yet highly ambiguous labeling have you found on the web?
2 Comments
very good point, yes!
Interesting point and a good read. I think as time goes on though we are slowly developing a more ‘to the point’ attitude with websites and the whole web 2.0 community things is really hitting off on this note with large icons, simple terminology, large icons etc. Makes scan reading much easier :D