Do you avoid using gendered pronouns?

Last updated by TiagoAraujo over 3 years ago.See history

Historically, it’s been the convention to refer to users as ‘he’ in technical documentation. This is obviously outdated and sexist – users may not be a "he". It’s more common now to see "he/she" used, but this is clunky and could also still be considered as misgendering non-binary people.

The best pronoun to use is "they". It’s simple and elegant and doesn't exclude anyone.

This feature is particularly important if the user runs a semi-long task (e.g.30 seconds) once a day. Only at the end of the long process can he know the particular amount of time, if the time taken dialog is shown after the finish. If the status bar contains the time taken and the progress bar contains the progress percentage, he can evaluate how long it will take according to the time taken and percentage. Then he can switch to another work or go get a cup of coffee.

Bad example: User referred to as "he"

This feature is particularly important if the user runs a semi-long task (e.g.30 seconds) once a day. Only at the end of the long process can they know the particular amount of time, if the time taken dialog is shown after the finish. If the status bar contains the time taken and the progress bar contains the progress percentage, they can evaluate how long it will take according to the time taken and percentage. Then they can switch to other work or go get a cup of coffee.

Good example: User referred to as "they"

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