Naming of the 5 office apps

[Mark Kretschmann]

On Tue, Nov 23, 2010 at 4:09 PM, C. Boemann <cbo at boemann.dk> wrote:
> Hi
>
> I've talked to several of youon irc, but here follows a formal request.
>
> I'd like us to agree soon on names for the apps so the website, forums and
> press material can move forward. I think we all agree now is the time to get
> rid of the KNames if we ever want to do so. And since the word processor is
> forced to be renamed anyway it will seem really silly to keep the KNames for
> some.
>
> I think it's pretty important that there is a common theme in the names. At
> the very least having some KNames and some not seems unprofessional. But I
> think we should go a bit further and actually make the names match in some
> way.

So, here is an issue that I just discussed with Cyrille and Casper on
IRC, but I find it's worth repeating here:

With application naming, especially in our case, "Simple" is often
better than "Complex".

"Calligra" itself is already a rather complex name, it's unusual, and
not a real existing word. If you are trying to play a complex
linguistic word game with the app name, you end up with something that
you might understand, but only you. Not everyone is as smart as you
are, keep this in mind :)

Example:

"Calligra Writer" - Complex, then Simple. Everyone understands this,
it's easy to grasp.

"Calligra Cunninglingus" - Complex, then a Complex word game that
might be funny, but sure as hell is confusing.


So, better try to keep it simple with the application names, is my
advice. Also: Ask native English speakers (and those of other
languages) if the name has negative connotations. Non-native speakers
have a much harder time telling this.

-- 
Mark Kretschmann
Amarok Developer, Software Engineer at KO GmbH
Fellow of the Free Software Foundation Europe
http://amarok.kde.org - http://fsfe.org - http://kogmbh.com