I made an application that includes a list of credits. This contains, among other things, names of people who have helped, Kickstarter backers, and legal notices for software libraries I've used that require it.
Where is the best place to put these credits? I've seen the following locations, either on the desktop or on a mobile device:
- The "About" menu, either the default on Mac OS X or an arbitrary one created
- A "Credits" item in the Help menu
- The Preferences dialog
- A text file along with the installation
- A printed manual
- At a certain point in the operation (e.g. for a game, after the player wins)
- Nowhere
From a usability standpoint, I want a location for the credits where they will be easily found because I promised Kickstarter backers that I'd put their name in the credits (maybe that was a mistake, but oh well). Is there a recommended location for these credits? And does it matter based on the platform the app is running on?
[Also, there aren't really any good tags available that describe this question. If someone wants to retag this or create some new ones, feel free].
Answer
"About" is the best choice, because it's where people go when they want to learn more about (ha) the software they are using. And that is crucial, because placing credits in any other place will be out of context with the user's goals at that moment.
Also, "credits" can be easily mistaken for "tokens" or something you can use to get goods (it happened to me when I first read this question's title), so putting them as a separate menu item can be confusing.
In Mac the About pane is located under the menu, in Windows is typically under Help menu.
But if you really want to highlight your benefactors, you can (and should) do it in the app's website in many ways: putting their logos along the app's logo, mentioning them in the footer next to the copyright, setting an "About" page, etc.
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