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Across the various different programs, you will most often have a menu item called:

Preferences

  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Gedit
  • Synaptic (Under a Settings menu column)
  • Hexchat (Under a Settings menu column)
  • Gnome-Terminal
  • Thunderbird
  • Rhythmbox

Less often:

Options

  • QtCreator

and less often:

Settings

  • Gvim
  • Chrome

Preferences seems to be the most used, but it is absent in some programs. Are the terms synonymous, or is there a distinction to be made as to where such labels are supposed to lead to?

Anon
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    Very closely related question over on User Experience: [Options, preferences, settings, configurations: What to call them in my application?](http://ux.stackexchange.com/q/17442/53062) Also related: [Which is the more common term used: Preferences or Settings?](http://ux.stackexchange.com/q/43040/53062) and [Where should the “preferences” item go in a desktop application?](http://ux.stackexchange.com/q/340/53062) – 8bittree Dec 21 '16 at 19:38
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    What ecosystem are you developing for? Mac OS, Windows, Gnome, KDE, iOS, Android all have a human interface guideline/style guide that discuss the naming of menus. But be aware that such names are subject to localization. Finding an *English* name for Prefs/Settings is only a small part of the problem. – amon Dec 21 '16 at 19:55

1 Answers1

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It's the lack of style guides. On Mac systems you have Preferences fixed to store your options and settings. Other systems prefer whatever the programmer's taste is to name preferences.

Robert Harvey
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