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On the Naming of Things


Josh

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The design of the Leadwerks website involves organizing a lot of different kinds of data that are continually growing, including forum posts, blog entries, gallery images, videos, and downloadable files.

 

All this information was organized in categories, and sub-categories, and in some cases, sub-sub-categories. The depth of categorization made it impossible to follow all the information that was flowing through the site, and users frequently posted in the wrong place. We recently underwent a restructuring of this information in an attempt to make all categorization only one level deep and streamline the viewer's experience. In this article, I will share with you some ideas I learned from this process that were not immediately evident to me.

 

Programming Forums

Originally, we had one main "Programming" forum for general programming discussion with several sub-forums which were meant to be used only for discussion of issues specific to each language, like compiling or editor problems. It didn't work out that way, and the community was fragmenting along programming language. Each group tended to participate in only the sub-forum of their language of choice, and I found myself answering the same questions repeatedly, for different languages. I don't know if this was related, but there was also a lot of territorialism among the various factions, with many arguments over which language should "win". Arguments occurred over which languages warranted their own forums. I also felt like the forum had grown beyond my ability to absorb, and had stopped reading the programming forums some time ago.

 

With the arrival of the tagging feature in our community software, I felt it was time to merge all the programming forums into one, using tags as a 'light' way to sub-categorize posts. I chose to leave the Lua "Script" forum separate for two reasons:

  • If we do an "indie" script-only version of Leadwerks3D in the future I want separate permissions for that forum.
  • To protect beginners from intimidating low-level programming discussions. Which isn't to say anyone using Lua is a beginner, but beginners tend to prefer script.

Although there was initial protest against this plan, I went ahead and closed the programming sub-forums for new discussion, without losing them just yet. I also made the Lua sub-forum a top-level forum and renamed it to "Script". My job is not about promoting other technology's brand names, and the user doesn't care much about the underlying technology, so I felt this was more appropriate than "Lua".

 

Other Forum Categories

We also had forum categories for sound, materials, modeling, and shaders. All of these sub-forums were merged into a single forum called "3D Artwork". Calling game sounds "3D artwork" may not be terribly accurate, but I'll get to that later.

 

Gallery and Videos

At the same time, I was working to simplify the entire contents of the Leadwerks website. Previously, we had gallery images and videos divided up by product. The gallery had four sections for Leadwerks Engine, 3D World Studio, our upcoming game development software Leadwerks3D, and a fourth category for miscellaneous pictures and photos. The videos section was also divided into three categories, by product.

 

I decided to merge all videos into a single category, and replaced the gallery with a custom implementation that simply displays all images in chronological order, with no attempt to categorize them.

 

Asset Store

The Leadwerks Asset Store too was broken up into many sub-categories. The code section was subdivided by programming language, and we had similar issues as we experienced with the programming forums. Although Java was not an officially supported language, there was a lot of material available for the language, so a sub-category was created for it. I felt odd having all these "brand names" scattered across the Leadwerks website.

 

We moved everything into a single "Code" category, using tags to specify what language a file was for.

 

Portal

Additionally, I implemented a community portal page which shows all recent forum posts, images, videos, status updates, blog entries, and asset store files. Items are displayed in chronological order, with no sub-categories.

 

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The new face of the Leadwerks community.

 

The Result

The reorganization of the programming forums was the most drastic change, and I think the community has generally agreed the change was for the better. I am once again active in the programming forums, and it's easy to keep up with current discussions. I made the final change and merged all posts from the programming sub-forums into the main programming forum, then deleted the sub-forums.

 

The site overall is much easier to follow, especially the videos and gallery images. A chronological stream of recent items trumps sub-categorization, any day. Because there are fewer sub-sections to check on, it's much easier for me to keep up with the flow of content. Although I don't have any statistics to back this up, I feel like the community is more active now than before the change.

 

Choosing Titles

I have learned that slightly inaccurate and specific titles are better than encompassing but vague titles. For example, I removed the "Sound" forum and moved all posts into the "3D Artwork" forum. Is it accurate to include posts talking about video game sound and music in a forum that is mostly devoted to discussion of 3DS Max and Photoshop? Probably not exactly. Would it be better to call the forum "Game Assets"? You might be inclined to go with this suggestion, if you are an analytical type, but consider the following:

 

iTunes is Apple's online music store. It was originally built as a program to purchase and sync music for iOS devices. Movies were added to the program's features, and the title "iTunes" was no longer exactly accurate. Would it have been better for Apple to rename the application to "iMedia" like "Windows Media Player"? It would be more accurate, but no one would have any idea what it did. When apps were added to iOS, iTunes gained the ability to manage applications as well. Should the program be renamed to "iContent"? It's a more accurate description, but it's so vague it loses meaning.

 

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iStuff?

 

The name "iTunes" is catchy, and it describes the main point of the program, even if it doesn't encompass all functionality of the program. This is a weird idea to me, because as a programmer, my inclination is always use a broader and broader term until I reach one that encompasses all characteristics of the thing it describes. However, I am certain that a catchy title that describes the main point of the thing it describes is superior. With this idea in mind, it makes perfect sense to include game sounds and music in a forum about 3D game artwork. It is exciting to me to learn something that is illogical but self-evident.

 

Conclusion

When you categorize things, choose fewer categories with descriptions that encompass most of what they contain. Never get too analytical about the categorization and naming of things. Instead, just go with what feels more natural and catchy, even if your nomenclature is slightly inaccurate.

 

We still have one big contradiction of this idea on our site, the use of the term "Asset Store". Leadwerks3D actually uses a class called "Asset" as a base class for textures, materials, shaders, and other objects, but about 40% of total files, and 100% of paid files in the store are 3D models. Additionally, the term "Asset" still isn't broad enough, because code files and games are not an extension of the Asset class. It would not be out of the question to rename the Leadwerks Asset Store to the "Leadwerks Model Store". The analytical (and much worse) extreme would be to call it the "Leadwerks Digital Goods Store".

 

Keep your names short and catchy, and don't try to broaden them to encompass every aspect of the thing that they describe.

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..thing about tagging is not a solution because its not an obligatory, before user do post, therefore it is eventually going to produce mess up of massive proportions because everything will be mixed up with no info about corresponding language people may be interested in to. I agree about what you saying, that its very difficult and rather irritating to answer same question, at various programming forums related to specific language. I believe it was possible to sort that out by General Programming forum, where people can go and ask whatever they want, programming related, without any specific language in mind. I believe also that its much easier for you to watch over things now, but by visiting various programming forums on other places, I think this is not a good way to do things, because such approach doesnt considering customers who in majority, I believe, want to have isolated programming forums, related to specific language, but again, thats just my opinion. It is easier for you, but its rather confusing and messy for consumers, not to mention tutorials section structure, but ok. Just my 2 cents..

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Art and Sound

That's interesting you would say that, because I used to catch myself giving things plural names a lot. I am strongly opposed to giving a thing two names. I used to do this in the Asset Store categories, like "Materials and Textures", "Barriers and Fences", etc. and I purposely made a decision to reduce these to one word.
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The problem is, the categories still aren't "catchy" and are still generic. If you want to go the iTunes route, you should think up a neutral catchy name for each category, such as:

 

Lead:Code, or LeadCode.

Lead:Art or LeadArt.

 

etc.

 

Right now it's non catchy names that "also" don't make sense for all the items that would be placed in that category.

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Guest Red Ocktober

Posted

so... in other words... we're pretty much right back where we started, more or less... and it only took us about two years to get here... or there... or wherever...

 

well... lets see if i can find something now... 'cause the last couple of times i opened the page, i couldn't locate a darned thing amongst all the pop up dialogs and sub categories within categories...

 

--Mike

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The problem is, the categories still aren't "catchy" and are still generic. If you want to go the iTunes route, you should think up a neutral catchy name for each category, such as:Lead:Code, or LeadCode.Lead:Art or LeadArt.etc.

I wasn't referring to the "i" prefix, I meant to point out that iTunes is named for music, but does a lot more. However, the more specific name that captures most of what the program does is actually better than calling it "iMedia" or "iContent" or something more nebulous.

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so... in other words... we're pretty much right back where we started, more or less... and it only took us about two years to get here... or there... or wherever...well... lets see if i can find something now... 'cause the last couple of times i opened the page, i couldn't locate a darned thing amongst all the pop up dialogs and sub categories within categories...--Mike

It is not clear to me what you are referring to.

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Guest Red Ocktober

Posted

the old forum had a lot less stuff cluttering up the screen... Leadwerks Engine, Content Creation, and General... you'd select a forum, then you'd select a sub-forum (if there was one), and you were there... right where you wanted to be, getting info, exchanging info, interacting with those who had a common interest...

 

now... you've got the gallery in your face at the top... the comments (updates) on the side... and if you happen to move the mouse over something, another thing pops up...

 

the menu is so cluttered up with choices you almost need a google map direction to get where you're going... and most menu selections open up a long list of redundant or unnecessary choices to further confuse you (me)...

 

all this dutifully developed while we've (i've) been waiting for Leadwerks 3...

 

now it sounds as if things are about to be re-simpified... at least a little...

 

i'm just a lil bewildered...

 

--Mike

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I wasn't referring to the "i" prefix, I meant to point out that iTunes is named for music, but does a lot more. However, the more specific name that captures most of what the program does is actually better than calling it "iMedia" or "iContent" or something more nebulous.

Well, iTunes, is a brand name, which is quite ubiquitous, and forum categories are not. Honestly the software iTunes is a horrible example IMHO of organization. I actually "do" have trouble finding things in iTunes because the movies and the music aren't separated in a very efficient way.

I understand the need to have less forum categories, and in particular sub categories. I completely agree, but lumping music/sound with graphics doesn't make ANY sense to me.

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the old forum had a lot less stuff cluttering up the screen... Leadwerks Engine, Content Creation, and General... you'd select a forum, then you'd select a sub-forum (if there was one), and you were there... right where you wanted to be, getting info, exchanging info, interacting with those who had a common interest... now... you've got the gallery in your face at the top... the comments (updates) on the side...

That's the portal page, not the forum?

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