Comments on: Login/Logout vs Sign In/Sign Out vs Log in/Sign out – A short roundup

By: kelly

kelly — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 07:18:04 +0000

never forgotten

By: Matt Auckland

Matt Auckland — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:27:27 +0000

Good reply Strunk, I was also hoping this article would draw some conclusion, but never mind.

I think even though I’ve used Signup for my own user registration, and by rights should use Sign in and Sign out to match, I’m going to go with Log in and Log out as I’m an old skool computer user, and log in/log out where common place back then.

There’s no right or wrong to this decision, it is purely up to the developer. But as Strunk pointed out, from a grammar and UI perspective it is important to use good English and meet UI guidelines.

By: Me too

Me too — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:06:54 +0000

Wow, Tanin, you get all kinds here! Thanks for the survey, this is helpful in work I am doing currently.

@Strunk: great example sentence showing the verbs & nouns. I’m working with a site that has confused them.

By: Tanin

Tanin — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 18:15:29 +0000

@may
Please read http://windowslivehelp.com/community/t/46658.aspx

By: May

May — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 01:07:07 +0000

Hi, I’am having problem signing out of a site. While logging in to my live.com acct.Unfortunately,my inbox froze & i can’t read any of my emails. Clicked sign out & realized that it appeared a X sign saying : X https://ssl.facebook.com/accept_token.php
Clicked Try Again,but unsuccesful…pls advise. Tks

By: Tanin

Tanin — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 21:23:12 +0000

Pete, I’m sorry that you find this article dissapointing. It was only intended as an observation…a roundup.

If you want my opinion on this issue, I’m currently using the “Sign in” / “Sign out” combination in my projects but am increasingly inclined to move away from using words. Using symbolic images in combination with self-explanatory forms have the potential of giving users a smoother interface experience. I like how Twitter does it now even though it requires Javascript (the sign in button takes you to http://twitter.com/login if you don’t have javascript on).

By: Pete

Pete — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 09:42:55 +0000

Disappointing article. Outlines a beginning for the debate: “Which is best?”, but makes no attempt to discuss it.

I’m sick of the vagueness that surrounds this issue. Why is it so hard for someone of note to, with methodical reasoning and clear judgement, define a basic, standardised vocabulary for web developers to refer to?

By: Chris Mear

Chris Mear — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:05:17 +0000

Oh, Strunk, I’m so glad somebody else has this pet peeve of mine.

By: Strunk

Strunk — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 22:13:21 +0000

Note that “login” is an adjective or noun, but “log in” is a verb phrase. So if your buttons are labeled with verbs (as they should be according to typical user interface guidelines), then the login button should read “log in,” not “login.”

Use the login button labeled “log in” to log in with your login.