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From:
Christopher Fahey <[log in to unmask]>
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Date:
Sun, 12 Feb 2006 14:26:18 -0500
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> I remember the origins of "logging on" 
> originating in the *nix/mainframe world, 
> where a user's activity on the system is 
> written to a security "log." 

In usability testing with consumers (i.e., non-computer experts), I have
noticed that a huge number of people use the expression "log on" to simply
mean "go to a web site". They'll say that they've "logged into google" to
mean "I typed www.google.com into the browser and hit enter". Importantly, I
don't think I've ever seen anyone under the age of 45 say this.

I also notice a large number of people in this age group use the expression
"punch" to mean "type". As in "I punched in my email address and password".
Whenever I hear this, I can't help but imagine (to my horror) that inside of
their heads they are thinking that every time they type a key on a computer
keyboard, there is a hole being punched into a paper card in a mainframe
somewhere!

It's an interesting phenomenon that we tend to continue to use the
conventions we learned the first time we learned to use a computer, even if
those conventions are obsolete. For example, a huge number of people
double-click links in web browsers, which I suspect is a kind of legacy from
their experience double-clicking icons when they first learned how to use
GUI-based computers. They associate major changes of what is visible on the
screen (such as launching an app or going to a new web site) with
double-clicks. 

Has anyone else noticed this?

-Cf
[christopher eli fahey]
art: http://www.graphpaper.com
biz: http://www.behaviordesign.com

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