[Kde-pim] jargon is bad! :)

[Aaron J. Seigo]

On March 16, 2010, Allan Sandfeld Jensen wrote:
> On Tuesday 16 March 2010, Tom Albers wrote:
> > When you decide the desktop you chose for plasma, akonadi, nepomuk. As

people don't pick based on names. they pick based on what the product means to 
them. they pick it because "it works with my iPod" or "it connects to the 
Exchange server we have at work" or "it looks pretty" or "it supports my inner 
vision of myself". brand names are there to give people something to hang 
those ideas on, but it is the ideas that they choose for not the abstraction 
of the name itself.

still, you are right that we need to do promo and ensure that those who need 
to know those names know them. (i'd actually argue that Akonadi is something 
that developers need to know about and that users should just enjoy using :)

however, we're not talking about promo. we're talking about satisfied usage.

(which becomes something people associate with the brands used in promo)

> > said in the past, instead of hiding those terms to the user, we should
> > promote it so we can make sure the user knows what they do and let them
> > actively choose for the KDE SC because we have them.

as you note, cars are sold with things like "ABS" which is jargony, but the 
best that can be done, and which they've educated people as to the meaning; 
not unlike, say, "email" and "instant messaging". they are also jargon, but 
jargon we live with because we have to and because the education has been 
done.

but do you know what brand of brake pad comes in your new car? probably not. 
what matters is that it has ABS, not that it's the Bosch IPS21 that is 
providing the stopping friction. well, maybe if you're a car enthusiast it 
matters :)

we're not actually talking about promo when we discuss jargon in the UI. we're 
talking about the user interface and the satisfaction of people using it.

by means of story: imagine if while driving your car something is going wrong 
with the braking system and your car computer pops up a warning light on the 
dashboard that reads "The Bosch IPS21 has worn down. Go to the nearest 
mechanics shop at your convenience." hmmmm... 'how important is the "Bosch 
IPS21"?' asks the driver who was just trying to get in to the office, but  who 
is now distracted and uncomfortable because he doesn't know if he's now 
driving a timebomb on wheels or what. did that message give the driver useful 
information while they are whizzing down the autobahn at high speed? is it the 
time to really be trying to add to the Bosch brand value? (doubly so since 
they are failing, not the time you want people to be forming associations with 
your brand ;)

of course, in reality, you get a "Brakes failing" message, or maybe even 
"ABS!" on some cars. while ABS is jargon, it's as "good" as they can get it 
and it usually comes with the "brakes" icon for good measure. but they never 
say "Bosch".

Akonadi is not like "ABS". "email" is like "ABS". Akonadi is like Bosch.

when a person is trying to use the software, just as when they are driving 
their car, they deserve to get clear as possible information about what is 
going on so they can at least feel comfortable and at best make sensible 
decisions.

the marketing and promo can happen when they aren't operating the machine in 
an attempt to get something done.

> Fortunately you don't need to be a majority to be right :) Still Aaron also
> have a point. Using the name only might be confusing to a user, the
> terminology should be discoverable, so in my opinion; if there is no other
> context then the term needs to be atleast implicitly explained by the text
> where it is used.

+1

there are certainly times we can't get away from "jargon" because there simply 
is no other word or phrase out there. we are in the business of creating 
technology, after all, and sometimes that means we make something new.

the point is not to become gratuitous about it and use jargon just because we 
can (or are busy thinking about other important things, like making sure our 
software doesn't eat people's data :) when there are words/phrases that we can 
use which are plain language and understandable by many/most people.

-- 
Aaron J. Seigo
humru othro a kohnu se
GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA  EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43

KDE core developer sponsored by Qt Development Frameworks
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