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I'm in the middle of creating a web form, where users can apply for a certain service. In order to do so, they are clicking the apply button. Then they fill out a form and submit it. Later on, they can view their application status, which indicates whether the application has been processed or not.

Are there other words for apply and application status which could be used in this situation? Please note, this is not a sign up process, since not everybody meets the asked requirements.

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I think there is nothing wrong with "apply" and "application status", personally. – Mark Beadles Feb 22 '12 at 20:22
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Why do you want to use something else? – Karl Knechtel Feb 22 '12 at 20:29
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I'd like to find something that doesn't sound as technical as "application status" if possible. – Matthias Feb 22 '12 at 20:32
Request, Request Status? – tcovo Feb 23 '12 at 21:06
Eventually, I decided to use "ServiceRequest" and "ServiceRequestStatus". Everybody, thanks for your feedback. – Matthias Mar 1 '12 at 10:22

2 Answers

up vote 5 down vote

Probably not the best word choices.

For one thing, the verb apply has several meanings, beyond the one you intend. A naive user might well believe that your service would be "applied to them" (somehow) if they press the "apply" button. If you haven't been astonished yet at what naive users can believe, get ready.

For another thing, the noun application also has a number of meanings, of which one (the one that gets shortened to app and shows up as a file type .app in some systems) is central to any computing usage. The fact that that isn't what you mean probably won't help; I suggest you don't give this confusion any room to grow.

You need something that does more than merely imply a communication request instead of a piece of software. I'd go for Submit or Post for the button label, and Status of your Submission instead of Application Status.

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+1 purely for Submit, which is a well-established usage in online forms for actually sending a communication to the organisation behind the page. As opposed to Apply, which often just "save changes". I just filled in my online tax return a while back. It took a while, and several times I "saved the changes made so far" - but I certainly only clicked on Submit once! – FumbleFingers Feb 22 '12 at 21:41
I am fine with Submit, not with Submission Status. The submit process concludes with submitting the application or whatever. Thereafter it is the application/whatever that has a status -- submission is past. In fact, once you click the submit button, submission status becomes 'successful', forever. – Kris Feb 23 '12 at 6:18
thanks for your feedback. please see my comment to the original question. – Matthias Mar 1 '12 at 10:22
up vote 4 down vote

"Apply" and "Application status" are correct in this context.

I would stick with them.

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