On Thursday 03 March 2011 10:09:30 Roger Oberholtzer wrote:
On Thu, 2011-03-03 at 00:36 +0200, Stan Goodman wrote:
It could very well be what happens here: you make a working name for something during development - long before the thing sees the light of day - and with no intention that the thing really be called that when it is released into the wild. But references pop up, and eventually you are stuck with the working name being the final product name. As such, we now try hard to come up with a good name before we tell anyone about it. And let me tell you, finding a good name is often as hard as making the app itself. Especially when you factor in that the name should be as useful to native and occasional English speakers.
Thank you for the above. I can easily understand the problems, which must surely occur for others as well, in many contexts -- automobile model names, for example -- and that it is a real struggle. The solution, however, cannot be to make names equally unintelligible for everybody. Ask ten passers-by on the street, products of any of the cultures represented among Swedish immigrants, what associations he has with "Nepomuk", for example. To me, it sounded like an Inuit work, which led me to "blubber".
In Interface Design 101, a rule that is repeated to the point of distraction is that:
(1) if there is a parallel in the real world to what you are trying to accomplish, then use the real world metaphor to your advantage via naming, control choices, etc. The user will 'catch on' much faster.
How true.
(2) It there is no parallel in the real world, do not confuse the user by choosing names etc that imply that there is a relation to something they may already know/understand. The user will recognize that this is something new and needs to be learned.
Also. These are both exactly the point I wanted to make.
So, where in the real world do you have desktop search engines? I lean towards #2 as being the category they fit in. At least for most people (bibliophiles aside). Same for the other admittedly oddly named items. But I suspect the name is not because of reason 2. It is probably more the result of the development naming trap.
BTW, I thought definition 4 for Plasma was not too bad for the Desktop use.
Definition #4 was "A collelction of charged particles". Chacun a son gout. Thanks again.
Yours sincerely,
Roger Oberholtzer
OPQ Systems / Ramböll RST
Office: Int +46 10-615 60 20 Mobile: Int +46 70-815 1696 roger.oberholtzer@ramboll.se ________________________________________
Ramböll Sverige AB Krukmakargatan 21 P.O. Box 17009 SE-104 62 Stockholm, Sweden www.rambollrst.se
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