Better term for "Favorites"

Question

I'm designing some surveillance camera footage. I'm adding a little "Favorites" section where the user could make a temporarily list of camera feeds to save and put at the top of the list, since there are hundreds of feeds.

However, this system will only be used if there is some sort of emergency. So the term "Favorites" feels a little wrong ("Let me drag this feed of a guy stabbing people into my favorites list...")

I thought of Bookmarks, but since this will be a temporary list this term doesn't feel right either. What would be the best term to use here?

Answer 1

What about:

• prioritize / priority list
• inspect / inspection list
• investigate / investigation list
• observe / observation list (although one could probably argue all footage is already being observed)

Answer 2

There's definitely no right answer to the 'best term' to use here. In terms of context, you're correct in that 'Favourites' or 'Bookmarks' don't really feel right.

An obvious solution would be 'Saved' or 'Saved for Later'. You could borrow from Twitter and Pinterest where you 'pin' items (the metaphor mightn't work, but certainly 'pin' evokes less emotion than 'favourite').

The other option would be to look at what Mail on Mac has been doing for years and use 'flagged' - this feels pretty good to me.

Essentially any generic term which makes it clear that the footage will stand out from the rest, without any emotion attached would work.

I'd keep it super simple and go for flagged, but it's all going to depend on your context. Save mightn't be so good as you're not technically 'saving' the footage, so flagged stands out for me.

Answer 3

Twitter allows you to temporarily "pin" a tweet at the top of your feed. This term, Pinning, appears to be exactly what you are looking for: a single item from a long list of items that you temporarily place at the top of the page. Pinning also invoked the feeling of something temporary: when you look at a pinboard, you can easily pin and unpin things you put on there as you need them.

As an added advantage, a pin is an easy icon to stylize and is quite recognizable.

Example of a Pinned Tweet:

Answer 4

I would suggest simply using an icon, most probably a "star". This is a widely accepted and recognised practice and simply suggests that a user is marking something out from the rest of the group in order to create prioritisation.

Answer 5

My opinion is to use an icon, a star maybe or use something simple, not necessary a word, maybe a sentence or a group of words like "You chose:". You said this is just a section, so you don't need this in a menu, so it can be a title in this case that is a little longer.

Like I said, for me, a long, descriptive title is the better choice in this case, but if you add an icon, you can consider the star, a flag or something that suggest temporary, like an hourglass.

Please see this topic, I think it can help you https://meta.discourse.org/t/favorite-vs-like-vs-bookmark/1444/15.

Answer 6

You could name it watch list. It is kind of like eBay where there are millions of items, but there are only a few that you are interested in. You could have a small icon next to them with a star as in some suggestions, or a check mark. You can also have an option in the right click menu to add to watch list.

Answer 7

Since your users will presumably be pinning certain camera feeds to the top of the list for specific reasons, there's an obvious semantic meaning here: Those feeds are more important than the others, at least for the moment. Because of the meaning here is obvious - and very different from "favorite", etc - I suggest simply calling them "Important Feeds". Or, if they're going to be changed frequently, something like "Currently Tracked Feeds". A straightforward phrase that communicates how the feature is actually being used.

By the way, this is neither here nor there, but rather than the star icon that others have suggested using, I'd suggest an exclamation point icon. That communicates the sense of "alertness" that is involved with reviewing security footage. And in an unusual color, like bright red or green, it won't be interpreted the same way as an exclamation point normally is in text.

Answer 8

These are findings, they are remarkable content or content relevant for an investigation.

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I also agree with the use of flagged and pinned. If the software allows, the use of tags may be more versatile for the user, although that is beyond the scope of the question.

Answer 9

Try not to find a word but to find a meaningful concept to your users.

The concept can be to hold on to a feed or to collect/gather a bunch of feeds because you need to review it later. Or to keep focus on certain feeds because they need extra attention. Maybe it's not always disturbing but you can call it at least notable or mentionable.

Learn about the user's mental model and you will have an answer that is more worth than any answer given here.

Answer 10

Highlight

By Oxford Dictionaries' terminology it is "[a]n outstanding part of an event or period of time". The verb highlight refers to "[d]raw[ing] special attention to" the issue, be it violence on tape or any other event. Unless the CCTV is monitoring a stadium there should be no misunderstanding of the term.

Answer 11

"Words change meaning according to the context"

In your context, favourites/Bookmarks are not the right choices for sure.

There are some really bright ideas right here in the feed "track" & "watchlist" being my favourites (ah ha)

Sometimes, it can be done using an action as well.

"Pin to watchlist" can be a button which allows you to add a video feed to a separate section (watchlist). Simply unpin to remove it from there.

Icons with a toggle state are another good way to achieve a somewhat similar effect

an eye icon with states enabled and disabled so users can click and toggle the state - which is basically adding or removing item from watchlist

If the number of all the available stream is very large then track or save would be a viable option. "Save to watchlist"

The flag doesn't sound good purely because of its history with "report as spam" context. Ultimately, I'd suggest going with what goes best with all the other aspects & features of your app. If you have the concept of channels, lists, playlists or anything special go with something that fits the bill.

This was more like an aggregation of the ideas mentioned above rather than a new idea itself. But it should do.

Answer 12

I think I would go with "Tagged Videos", or "Tags". Then users could either "tag" videos for review by dragging them to this list or by some other interaction that adds them to the list.

Answer 13

I can see more suggestions here but my suggestion is 'Emergency List', emergency is the word takes priority and it indicates that as temporary. This word has more emotion as user acts quickly and it serves the purpose.