HN Explorer

Ask HN: Login or logon?

1 points by marchustvedt ↗ HN
Where are we this today? From a UI perspective, is login/logout now universally preferred over log on/log off? Is it regional? Which came first?

This terminology question has always lingered for me. Thanks!

7 comments

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Zekio
login and logout sounds better and they are shorter which makes for shorter buttons if you display the full text
ocdtrekkie
I do not know if this is universal, by any stretch:

On the web, you'll almost always see log "in"/"out". You sign into a website or service.

However, I would think you log "on"/"off" a machine like a PC. You sign onto a computer or local network. But I've never seen this term on like a web service.

warrenm
Doesn't matter - they're interchangeable

Just keep it consistent in your app/service/tool/etc

greglindahl
You "log on" to a mainframe. You login to a minicomputer.