Log on (in), sign on (in) -- technical distinction?

Subject: Log on (in), sign on (in) -- technical distinction?
From: Odile Sullivan-Tarazi <odile -at- mindspring -dot- com>
To: TECHWR-L Writing <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:00:17 -0700


A terminology question.

Our group is looking at these sets of terms --

log on / log off

log in / log out

vs.

sign on / sign off

sign in / sign out


And I'm wondering what other groups are doing with them.

The MS Manual of Style (published in 2004) makes this distinction
between log on / log off and sign in (or sign on) / sign out: if
creating and ending a user session on a computer or network, use log
on / log off; if creating a user session on the Internet, use sign in
(or on) / sign out.

From your point of view, is this a valid distinction? Does it matter
whether a user is working in an application that resides on her local
machine, a company server, or on the Internet?

What distinction, if any, do you make between these two sets of
terms, or do you see in your work being made between these two terms?
Then when it comes to log on or log in, which do you think is more
correct, more standard? Sign on, sign in?

I don't believe there is a firm standard being followed across the
industry (certainly not across industries), but I'm trying to get a
handle on trends.

Thanks!

Odile
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat


Follow-Ups:

Previous by Author: Re: Re: FrameMaker Cursor Distorted
Next by Author: Re: Log on (in), sign on (in) -- technical distinction?
Previous by Thread: Recall: Certification and Compliance Marks
Next by Thread: Re: Log on (in), sign on (in) -- technical distinction?


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads