Closed Bug 1187014 Opened 9 years ago Closed 8 years ago

Use "you" in preference strings, not "me"

Categories

(Firefox :: Settings UI, defect)

defect
Not set
normal

Tracking

()

VERIFIED FIXED
Firefox 53
Tracking Status
firefox53 --- verified

People

(Reporter: jaws, Assigned: leftysolara)

References

(Blocks 1 open bug)

Details

Attachments

(2 files)

I actually feel the opposite and have been pushing for us to remove references to "me" and "my" from our UI. While agree that Firefox is "mine" (i.e. the user's), the preferences and settings should come from the "voice" of the browser. If we throw first-person pronouns into the mix, it starts to become ambiguous as to whether it's the browser or the user speaking. We should strive to be consistent for sure, but my vote is for "you" and "your."

(That said, the strings that start with "warn" in comment 0 would have to be reworked if we made the change globally.)
Thanks, I've updated the summary.

For the strings starting with "warn", we could maybe drop the "me" and just use "Warn when closing multiple tabs" or use "Warn you when closing multiple tabs".
Summary: Use either "you" or "me" in preference strings, not both → Use "you" in preference strings, not "me"
From "Point of View" section of https://firefoxux.github.io/StyleGuide/#/copyrules,
In general, use the second person (you) to address the user in Firefox products. Firefox is a user agent, and this point of view reinforces the message that β€œFirefox works for you.”

Avoid using the first person (my, I) in the interface, as it can create confusion about who is being addressed.
Assignee: nobody → beachjar
Status: NEW → ASSIGNED
Assignee: beachjar → nobody
Status: ASSIGNED → NEW
Hey Jalen, would you like to take this bug?
Flags: needinfo?(leftysolara)
(In reply to Jared Wein [:jaws] (please needinfo? me) from comment #4)
> Hey Jalen, would you like to take this bug?

Sure, I can take this one.
Flags: needinfo?(leftysolara)
Assignee: nobody → leftysolara
Status: NEW → ASSIGNED
Comment on attachment 8826442 [details]
Bug 1187014 - Use 'you' in preference strings, not 'me'.

https://reviewboard.mozilla.org/r/104392/#review105230
Attachment #8826442 - Flags: review?(jaws) → review+
Pushed by jwein@mozilla.com:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/86e55de5106e
Use 'you' in preference strings, not 'me'. r=jaws
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/86e55de5106e
Status: ASSIGNED → RESOLVED
Closed: 8 years ago
Resolution: --- → FIXED
Target Milestone: --- → Firefox 53
Out of curiosity: since some other strings that include "Warn me…" and other occurrences with "me" only were left in, will a follow-up be required, or was that intentional?

Not sure if this this bug is about the prefs _panel_ only, but it just feels strange now to see "me" when closing FF with multiples tabs where "you" is in the prefs.

Sidenote 1: Removing all "me" instances could also be considered, such as in in "Don’t show me again".
Sidenote 2: Locales may already have left out the "yous" or "mes" for linguistic reasons. My locale for instance would allow "Warn me when…", but "Warn you when…" is a different story. Think of it as comparing "Don’t show me again" and the (rare) "Don’t show you again".
(In reply to Ton from comment #11)
> Out of curiosity: since some other strings that include "Warn me…" and other
> occurrences with "me" only were left in, will a follow-up be required, or
> was that intentional?
> 
> Not sure if this this bug is about the prefs _panel_ only, but it just feels
> strange now to see "me" when closing FF with multiples tabs where "you" is
> in the prefs.
> 
> Sidenote 1: Removing all "me" instances could also be considered, such as in
> in "Don’t show me again".
> Sidenote 2: Locales may already have left out the "yous" or "mes" for
> linguistic reasons. My locale for instance would allow "Warn me when…", but
> "Warn you when…" is a different story. Think of it as comparing "Don’t show
> me again" and the (rare) "Don’t show you again".

This bug was only focused on strings within the preferences. Can you file a new bug to convert the strings found in other places?

The voice of the strings should be as Firefox is talking to the user, so the strings that read "Warn you when..." should make more sense than "Warn me when..." since it is Firefox that is talking to the user, not the user talking to themselves. I hope that can help you think about how the strings should be written when they are localized.
OK but if you don’t mind, I would rather see a new bug filed/fixed by the one(s) responsible for this bug for obvious reasons.

Strings containing the remaining/inconsistent strings with "multiple tabs":
https://transvision.mozfr.org/?recherche=multiple+tabs&repo=aurora&sourcelocale=en-US&locale=en-US&search_type=strings#browser

Strings containing "warn me" AND "me" in general:
https://transvision.mozfr.org/?recherche=me&repo=aurora&sourcelocale=en-US&locale=en-US&search_type=strings_entities&entire_words=entire_words

Strings containing "ask again" specifically:
https://transvision.mozfr.org/?recherche=ask+again&repo=aurora&sourcelocale=en-US&locale=nl&search_type=strings&each_word=each_word

Additionally, I understand the intentions of replacing "me" by "you" and fully agree. Therefor the sidenotes above don’t apply to localizations specifically but to en-US as well or even primarily, hence the suggestion to remove the "me" in the "show" strings for instance and not replacing them by "you" at all cost, but leaving out either of them since e.g. "Don’t show again" could be considered to be more common. Strings like "Always ask me before …" may be questionable and others such as "Get me out of here" may not be eligible for me->you replacement at all; I’m sure you get the point. Any remaining "yous" or "mes" left in intentionally for en-US after the related bugs(s) were fixed can be handled/adapted within their localizations, of course.

Unless the intentions is to eliminate "me" in preferences only and (identical) prompts would be allowed to vary.
(In reply to Ton from comment #13)
> OK but if you don’t mind, I would rather see a new bug filed/fixed by the
> one(s) responsible for this bug for obvious reasons.
> 
> Strings containing the remaining/inconsistent strings with "multiple tabs":
> https://transvision.mozfr.org/
> ?recherche=multiple+tabs&repo=aurora&sourcelocale=en-US&locale=en-
> US&search_type=strings#browser
> 
> Strings containing "warn me" AND "me" in general:
> https://transvision.mozfr.org/?recherche=me&repo=aurora&sourcelocale=en-
> US&locale=en-US&search_type=strings_entities&entire_words=entire_words
> 
> Strings containing "ask again" specifically:
> https://transvision.mozfr.org/
> ?recherche=ask+again&repo=aurora&sourcelocale=en-
> US&locale=nl&search_type=strings&each_word=each_word

Yeah, in places where it's not so necessary we may be able to just remove the "me", but I will want to consult with our UX team to make sure that they are OK with the change in wording there.

Please file these bugs and we can get moving on them. Thanks!
Attached image preferences.png (deleted) β€”
I've tested on Windows 7 x64, Ubuntu 14.04 x64 and Mac OS X 10.11 using Firefox 53 Beta 7 (buildID: 20170327081421) and I saw some places where "me","my","I" are used instead of "you","your","you", as follows: 
- (on Windows) under Content tab -> "Notifications" section -> "Do not disturb me" -> I'm not sure if here the change should be applied; any thoughts? 

- under Privacy -> "History" section -> "Firefox will: Use custom settings for history" selected:
          - "Remember my browsing and download history" 
          - "Keep until" I close Firefox"
          - "Clear history when Firefox closes" checked -> on Settings panel -> "When I quit Firefox" 

Shouldn't we apply this change here? 

Please see attachment "preferences.png".
Flags: needinfo?(jaws)
Yes, it looks like we missed those strings. Can you please file a new bug to get those fixed?
Flags: needinfo?(jaws)
(In reply to Jared Wein [:jaws] (please needinfo? me) from comment #16)
> Yes, it looks like we missed those strings. Can you please file a new bug to
> get those fixed?

I filled bug 1352404 .
Marking this bug as VERIFIED FIXED.
Status: RESOLVED → VERIFIED
Depends on: 1352404
No longer depends on: 1352404
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