[Thunar-dev] Name suggestion

[Adam Scheinberg]

A little field research: I asked a few people at my office "If you
were writing a new file manager, what would you call it?"

One person said "Secretary - it's something that organizes your
files."  After hearing that, another person suggested "Cabinet."

TWO people suggested "File Manager."  They said anything else is
confusing.  They are both not very savvy computer users.  Interesting
that they do not like names because they barely understand the tasks. 
One also said "File Browser" would be good too.

One person read the suggested names and liked Digger and Pathways.  He
said "Pathways is a better name, but doesn't sound like a file
manager, but rather an airline or travel company."

Another said "Kingpin sounds the coolest of all the words on there,
but Rover is the best name for a file manager, hands down.  The icon
should be a dog, fetching files." Too bad Tracker already had a dog
icon.

The last person said "Filebox."  I thought that was pretty funny,
because it sounds like Firefox.  I don't know if that was intentional
or not.

Last thought: "Explorer" conjures up images of "exploring."  Trying to
stumble upon something.  I don't want to "explore" for my files. 
"Finder" is good - I do want to find my files.  But do I need to have
to find or look for them?  "Tracker" is the best name, because it
implies I know where my files are, as I already TRACK them.  I don't
need to "find" them or "explore" my system to locate them.  Just
thinking about how an image may come to mind when you say a possible
name.  It should be a good, reassuring image - not one of desperation,
but rather of confidence that your files are safe.

I hope I'm not overthinking this.  

Adam

On Tue, 29 Mar 2005 16:07:05 +0200, Foxtrot <simsalabimladen at gmail.com> wrote:
> Brief summary:
> 
> The ideas we've had so far are:
> Alexander
> Canary
> Chairman
> Chronicler
> Conductor
> (File) Digger
> File Keeper
> Handler
> Kingpin
> Nomad
> Pathfinder
> Rover
> Scout
> Skipper
> Swashbuckler
> Vagabond
> (Xf-)Ray
> 
> Suggestions:
> -Distinguish from other file managers.
> -No Xf-<whatever> names. :-)
> -Use understandable English.
> -Preferably something that can be represented effectively as an icon.
> -Don't sound cheap.
> -Sound good.
> -The name should be at least somewhat descriptive (or have a 'deeper
> meaning' of some sort).
> -Should be easy to remember.
> 
> I think it's also important to do thorough checks to ensure that the
> names we choose aren't already taken. Firefox, as an example went
> through two name changes because the two former names (Phoenix and
> Firebird). Then, of course, it turned out that the domain firefox.com
> was already taken, but I don't think we need to worry about that.
> 
> Here are some names of some more file managers for inspiration
> (copy/pasted off wikipedia):
> 
>     * Ac Browser Plus (multi-panel navigation)
>     * Directory Opus (tree, single/dual-panel navigation, extremely
> configurable)
>     * DOSShell
>     * FAR Manager (dual-panel navigation, text-based)
>     * FileMatrix (multi-column navigation)
>     * Finder
>     * Konqueror
>     * Magellan Explorer (dual-panel navigation)
>     * Midnight Commander
>     * Nautilus
>     * Norton Commander (dual-panel navigation, father of OFM)
>     * PathMinder (integrated text editor)
>     * ROX-Filer
>     * Servant Salamander (dual-panel navigation)
>     * Total Commander (dual-panel navigation)
>     * VFU File Manager
>     * ViewMAX
>     * Volkov Commander
>     * Windows Explorer (tree, single-panel navigation)
>     * XTree
> 
> --
> "In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of
> people very angry, and has been widely regarded as a bad move."
> -Douglas Adams
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-- 
Adam Scheinberg
ascheinberg at gmail.com