"At" or "On" our online store?

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Tim Green
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"At" or "On" our online store?

Unread post by Tim Green »

This is one of those grammar points that always looks wrong to me no matter how I write it: Should it be "See this page at our online store" or "See this page on our online store" or something else? I've considered "in" as well but somehow all of them look and feel wrong; more so the longer I look at them... :roll:
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Tobias Escher
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Re: "At" or "On" our online store?

Unread post by Tobias Escher »

I think given that something is "on the internet" most people extend that rule to things like online stores, too.
I would either choose "on" or "in":
- "on" subscribes to the "on the internet" rule.
- "in" refers to the store as a place, albeit in this case a virtual one.
Definitely not "at" because that would indicate a geographical location, which I think traditionally is only used with file-based references.
So you would say
- "find XYZ _at_ this and that path on your hard drive"
but
- "find XYZ _on_ the server
Just my 2 cents and they might be wrong :)
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Martin Wynne
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Re: "At" or "On" our online store?

Unread post by Martin Wynne »

I think it should be at. There are frequent references to "visiting" or "going to" web sites. So they are places, not objects or containers. Hence the term "site".

But for me the puzzle is "click the abc item in the xyz menu" or "click the abc item on the xyz menu". The same for lists. Is an item in a list, or on a list?

I've been told dozens of times that it should be on. But when I'm writing without thinking, it invariably comes out as in, and I have to go back and change it. I suspect that for the compiler of a list, items are in it or not. For the user of a list, they are on it or not.

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Tim Green
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Re: "At" or "On" our online store?

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Martin, Tobias,

Thanks, I also think that "at" probably sounds best. As for lists, I would always say "in" a list, in the same way that you would say a number is "in" an array or a word is "in" a sentence. Same thing as far as my logic sees it... :?
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Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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