English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I am building an interface for making connections between items.
When viewing a particular item, the user has the possibility of connecting it to other existing items, by selecting them from a list.
Which expression is better? Is "add connection" even correct?
For regular usage, either expression would work. However, create connection implies that the connection has not yet been made, while add connection implies that the connection exists and that it is simply being added to a list.
Given what little I know of your situation, I'd say that create connection is more appropriate.
I think that both options are fine. You might even consider using connect as a verb : connect item or connect items, for instance.
I think that add connection has the advantage of being shorter. (Of course, even shorter would be, add link, create link, or something similar.)
Create connection has the advantage (or disadvantage) of implying that connections are not generic, latent items that just need to be activated.
