TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Logon/Log on From:Brian Lindgren <bjl -at- AWOD -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 19 Aug 1997 07:27:33 -0400
---------- Dan Wise wrote:
> Don Smith ( I hope) said that at his company logon has become synonymous > with "logging on to." Then he said not to sweat the little things. > > Don may be required to treat logon as a verb. I am not, and I do not. > I once worked with a corporate style guide that had three different uses of the term in question:
1) log on 2) logon 3) log-on
Log on indicated an action; it was also sometimes used as "log onto." Examples: "If you log onto a computer ..." or "Log on over there..."
Logon reflected the screen command, which at the time was a DOS prompt. "Type in your name at logon." This was not necessarily a literal reference to the screen, but was also used to reference time of day.
Log-on was used in such hackneyed constructions as "His log-on name is Joe_Blow."
Yeah, yeah. Dull message, I know. I can hear some of you sawing logs.
