Talk:Style

Personas and use cases - proposed edits

significant addition: sentences and bullets starting with:
"Note: Be aware that a plural pronoun for an individual..."

To support inclusiveness:

• For persona names, include different ethnicities and genders.
• Avoid stereotypes (e.g., all coders and managers are male).
• For persona pronouns, it's OK to use she/her/hers, he/him/his, they/them/their:
  • For most personas, use gender-specific pronouns.
    Rationale: It is easier to understand, it is easier grammatically, and it respects people who want to be referred to with a gender pronoun.
  • When there are several personas, consider also including personas who use the pronouns they, them, their.
    Note: Be aware that a plural pronoun for an individual will seem wrong and will be confusing to some readers, especially people with different English language abilities. Consider approaches to limit confusion, such as:
    • Use the persona's given name instead of pronoun in most places.
    • Before using the plural pronoun, note that in the persona text; e.g.: "Tal uses the personal pronouns they, them, their".

Note:

• Related information in the Personal pronouns section above
• (This applies to resources in English. There may be different guidance for translations.)

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Persona pronoun addition comments:

• EOWG discussion 26 March 2021

• Other ideas for example wording:
  1. e.g.: "Tal uses the pronouns they, them, theirs to refer to themselves"
  2. e.g.: "Tal's personal pronouns are they, them, theirs"
  3. e.g.: "Tal's preferred pronouns are they, them, theirs" (reviewer note: "preferred" has critics)

• Other ideas to replace "especially some whose native language is not English, some older people, and some people with cognitive disabilities"
  1. people with different English language abilities
  2. people with different language skills
  3. people with different English language knowledge
  4. note that we didn't want to use words like "low" or "limited"

• previous draft wording:
  • When there are several personas, consider also including personas who use the pronouns they, them, their.
    Note: Be aware that a plural pronoun for an individual will seem wrong and will be confusing to some readers, especially some whose native language is not English, some older people, and some people with cognitive disabilities. Consider approaches to limit confusion, such as: