Apart from what Dave said, the terminals in battery compartments usually fall into two types, spring negative and blade. To load the spring type, it works best if the cell is inserted neg end first, when the pos end slides in easily, compessing the spring to ensure good contact. I suspect that the one being discussed is the blade type. EXACTLY THE SAME. Place the cell in offering the neg end first, the pos end drops easily into its socket with minimal force on the neg blade. It can be done the other way round, but shouldn't, because that makes for excessive bending on the spring as the end of the cell makes room for itself to pass.
And if it was designed for non rechargeable, thats the one to use, but it is a very good idea to make sure that the transmitter really does get swithed off. Annoying and expensive otherwise.