On the patron's account page, the 'Pay fines' tab could be renamed 'Pay debts' (or something more idiomatic) given the fact that fines are only one kind of outstanding debits the patron's account has. For example, there might be fees.
I think Pay is wrong then too - you can also writeoff/void... maybe manage? It can also not only be debts I guess. What about credits?
(In reply to Katrin Fischer from comment #1) > I think Pay is wrong then too - you can also writeoff/void... maybe manage? > It can also not only be debts I guess. What about credits? I'll leave to native speakers :-D
Maybe 'Payments and Write-offs'? That side-steps the question of what's being paid or written off, and I think that it's broad enough to cover everything. 'Credits' would be fully general, but the context of 'a positive amount on a balance sheet' isn't broadly used in English -- I think that it would be a bit of a leap to see a 'credits' tab and think 'This is where I go to make payments'.
The librarian at one of the libraries I support doesn't like the word "fines" either. I was going to change it in the template file to perhaps "Charges and Payments".
What about: - rename the tab for this entire section in the patron view "Accounting" instead of "Fines" - rename the first "Account" tab to "Transactions" since this tab is only for viewing the history of all the patron's charges and payments (including writeoffs, credits, and fine forgiveness) - rename the second "Pay fines" tab to "Make a payment". I think "payment" can be inclusive of writeoffs and other alternatives to strict payment with cash or credit.
(In reply to Myka Kennedy Stephens from comment #5) > What about: > - rename the tab for this entire section in the patron view "Accounting" > instead of "Fines" > - rename the first "Account" tab to "Transactions" since this tab is only > for viewing the history of all the patron's charges and payments (including > writeoffs, credits, and fine forgiveness) > - rename the second "Pay fines" tab to "Make a payment". I think "payment" > can be inclusive of writeoffs and other alternatives to strict payment with > cash or credit. +1 Thx for the suggestions, Andy and Myka!
(In reply to Myka Kennedy Stephens from comment #5) > What about: > - rename the tab for this entire section in the patron view "Accounting" > instead of "Fines" > - rename the first "Account" tab to "Transactions" since this tab is only > for viewing the history of all the patron's charges and payments (including > writeoffs, credits, and fine forgiveness) > - rename the second "Pay fines" tab to "Make a payment". I think "payment" > can be inclusive of writeoffs and other alternatives to strict payment with > cash or credit. I asked our staff to look at this thread and they agreed with these suggestions.
I agree with Myka's comments. - rename the tab for this entire section in the patron view "Accounting" instead of "Fines" - rename the first "Account" tab to "Transactions" since this tab is only for viewing the history of all the patron's charges and payments - rename the second "Pay fines" tab to "Make a payment". I think "payment" can be inclusive of writeoffs and other alternatives to strict payment with cash or credit. My comment on the second pay fines tab could also be Make a Transaction. Although that may be too lengthy.
What about the tabs in the OPAC? Is Accounting something patrons would understand?
Just a follow up: our staff continued to discuss this and agreed that "Accounting" doesn't seem right for a patron-facing term, it seems likely to cause confusion. "Fines" was preferred.
(In reply to Eric Phetteplace from comment #10) > Just a follow up: our staff continued to discuss this and agreed that > "Accounting" doesn't seem right for a patron-facing term, it seems likely to > cause confusion. "Fines" was preferred. I agree that "Accounting" wouldn't work for the OPAC. To be more inclusive, what about calling the tab "your charges" instead of "your fines"? I notice that the heading of that page in the OPAC says "Fines and charges," so changing the tab to use charges instead of fines would still be consistent with language that our patrons are accustomed to seeing.
Charges would work for us in the OPAC. The particular problem we have with using the word "Fines" is that we don't fine for overdue books, we only assess fees for lost books and rentals.
(In reply to Andy Boze from comment #12) > Charges would work for us in the OPAC. The particular problem we have with > using the word "Fines" is that we don't fine for overdue books, we only > assess fees for lost books and rentals. Agreed. Fines has a specific meaning in the context of Koha, and there's a tendency to over-generalize because most, but not all of the charges are fines -- unless they aren't. In fact, I would be inclined not to use the word 'Fines' at all if FinesMode is not set to charge for overdues.
Created attachment 82941 [details] [review] Bug 21578: Terminology changes in patron's account section (staff)
Created attachment 82982 [details] [review] Bug 21578: Terminology changes in patron's account section (staff) Signed-off-by: Owen Leonard <oleonard@myacpl.org>
Created attachment 83572 [details] [review] Bug 21578: Terminology changes in patron's account section (staff) Signed-off-by: Owen Leonard <oleonard@myacpl.org> Signed-off-by: Katrin Fischer <katrin.fischer.83@web.de>
Awesome work all! Pushed to master for 19.05
This would cause an unexpected end user-facing change in the stable branch.. Upping to 'enhancement' and stating intention not to backport.