RE: Username or user name (generalized)

[Steven Jong <SteveFJong -at- comcast -dot- net>]

 I recently posted to ask for opinions on whether to match the 
capitalization of the UI in the documentation. (Collectively, you said 
yes.) This discussion of "username" versus "user name," and Taryn's 
well-known advice (hi, Taryn!) to follow the UI, leads me to dip 
another toe into the water.

Not only has my group decided not to follow the generally 
accepted practice of matching the capitalization of labels in the UI, 
we are not following the spelling or usage, either. For example, we 
have determined among ourselves that the correct term is "user name," 
and we use it consistently in the documentation (which I think is right 
and proper); at the same time, when we refer to the label in the UI 
that says "Username," we say to enter the user name in the User Name 
field (sic). Another example: The button says "UPDATE;" our 
documentation says to click Update. One more: The field says "Timeout 
interval;" our documentation says to enter a value in the Time-out 
Interval field.

The rationale for this decision is that we are not obliged to follow 
the peculiarities, or parrot the mistakes, of the UI, and that our 
users will have no trouble making the connection between what we call a 
thing and what the UI shows. I acknowledge that our engineers are as 
inconsistent as anyone's, and that our users won't take long to catch 
on to--and might not even notice!--these subtle differences. I don't 
prefer the vagaries and errors of the UI labels. At the same time, I 
believe that not following the UI, even when it's wrong, is against the 
practice of every software company I know of or whose output I've seen 
(and I've seen a lot!). Further, my experience is that not following 
the UI, even when it's inconsistent, is a tech writer 101 mistake that 
most writers and editors would "correct" without a second thought.

I made these points in my group, and I was outvoted. So I've changed 
the case and usage of the references to the UI in many places in my 
500-page document. (I'm genuinely curious as to how far the policy 
goes: Should I refer to the User ID field as the User Name field too?) 
But just as a sanity check, I ask you: am I now an old fogey, out of 
step with current practice? Is it better to maintain consistent 
terminology and usage, boldly declaring our independence from 
inconsistent developers? Or is it better to slavishly follow them, even 
when they're wrong?


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