Use of library names (Akonadi, Solid, Nepomuk, Phonon etc.) in user interfaces

[Dotan Cohen]

2008/6/7 Tom Albers <tomalbers at kde.nl>:
> Hi,
>
>> Names for some "behind the scenes" KDE libraries/daemons are creeping
>> into user interfaces.
>
> Which is good. We spent a lot of time investing in promoting those words, and the
> user should see them in the interface too, to actually identify that we are not about
> words, but actually implemented stuff.

Users don't care about words or names, they avoid things that confuse
them. Avoid, as in "don't use and do not want to learn".

> Nepomuk is the big example. No-one understands what it is. Even when you are
> actually tagging in dolphin, you have no clue, you are using nepomuk. Which is
> bad. If you want it to be a bigger success, users should be confronted with it.

No one wants to understand what it is. Users want to tag in their file
manager. They don't want to tag in Dolphin (they don't want to know
that Dolphin is the name of the file manager). They certainly don't
want to know what a Nepomuk is.

>> - Users who are not KDE-tech enthusiasts seeing these would be
>> somewhat mystified.  To give an idea of what
>> I mean, imagine how odd it would seem if Apple's next Safari release
>> had an "Enable Squirrelfish" option in its
>> settings to turn JavaScript on/off.
>
> I don't get this point at all. If you want to know, google for it.

Are you kidding? Users don't google. Users avoid anything that they do
not understand.

>> - Distributors working to get KDE setups ready for schools,
>> businesses, mobile devices etc. will all have to
>> waste time patching software to take these names out and put something
>> more descriptive and obvious in place.
>
> Well great. I guess they adapt more stuff to their customers. If they think it
> should go upstream, they can find us and we can see if that fits.

We should not ignore the problem that has been already identified,
deliberately waiting for users to complain.

>> - In System Settings there are modules called "Nepomuk" and "Solid".
>> Again, I worry that many users are not going
>> to have a clue what these are.  For quite a while during the 4.0 cycle
>> the sound setup in System Settings was called "Phonon".
>
> It's all about branding. First we create a hype and then we are going to deny
> those words to be used in the interface?

KDE enthusiasts have heard the branding. Not end users.

>>  What I propose
>> is to create some simple guidelines
>
> Obviously I will vote against it.

Obviously you do not understand users.

>> I am not sure what you could use for Akonadi as its scope is very
>> broad.  "Akonadi Calendaring/Mail/Organisation/Backup/Tea Making" is
>> probably
>> too long for a menu item ;)
>
> Yeah, that's why it is called "Akonadi".

How about something descriptive? I would post examples but I do not
want to appear cynical.

Dotan Cohen

http://what-is-what.com
http://gibberish.co.il
א-ב-ג-ד-ה-ו-ז-ח-ט-י-ך-כ-ל-ם-מ-ן-נ-ס-ע-ף-פ-ץ-צ-ק-ר-ש-ת

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
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