Choose your language wisely 1:22 PM, Jan 12th
When it comes to web development, usability is important - I mean, I should know - I'm not very good at it myself. Now, there is one thing you need to know about usability - there are a lot of little things that can make a real difference. Today, I'm going to show you one of the little things that can make a small difference to your work.
Choosing your language wisely
One of the things that really 'grinds my gears' is the choice in language some people use to explain actions - it's a frustrating thing even more so because for a lot of people it's not immediately apparent - you may interpret it one way whilst your users may see it another way.
The main example of this lies in blogs - there can often be an ambiguous enough to cause confusion among even some of the more educated users. Take for example, Lifehacker.
The issue here lies in the choice of "next page" and "previous page" - the choice is ambiguous enough to confuse in some cases. The issue here also lies in the fact most blogs either use this or the alternative working "older posts" - the latter being more descriptive but causing issues due to the difference in meaning yet likeness of implementation.
The real issue here? As a developer, you really need to choose saner defaults. Your average blog isn't run by someone who knows how to program - it's usually run by a person using some pre-built package. So, if you're working on a publishing platform - take note, Use sane defaults.