Naming Things

A talk about the role of naming and semantics in code, usability, and more. Presented at Refresh Chicago, January 25, 2012.

Transcript

1. This is a talk by David Demaree
   The name of this talk is
   NAMING THINGS
   Refresh Chicago • January 25, 2012
   

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2. There are only two hard things in computer science:
   cache invalidation and
   NAMING THINGS
   http://martinfowler.com/bliki/TwoHardThings.html
   

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5. pipe
   

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6. pipe
   cigar
   

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8. pipes?
   pipes!
   pipes
   pipes?
   

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10. font
    

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11. font the metal type character set of a single
    size and style of a particular typeface
    font a digital file containing the character set
    for a particular variation of a typeface
    font the database object representing a
    particular font file
    

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12. font the word most commonly used by our
    customers to refer to a whole typeface
    

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13. “Hey, did you get that
    font thing figured out?”
    

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14. font
    typeface
    family
    superfamily
    font
    weight
    style
    variation
    

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15. font
    typeface
    family
    superfamily
    = All Gothams or Gotham Narrow
    = Gotham Narrow
    = All Gothams
    

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16. font
    font
    font
    font
    = All Gothams
    = Gotham Narrow
    = Gotham Narrow Bold
    = Font.find(‘gotham-narrow-bold’)
    CUSTOMER A
    CUSTOMER B
    TYPE DESIGNER
    TYPEKIT ENGINEER
    

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17. USER INTERFACE
    “font” refers to typefaces
    

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18. COMMUNICATIONS
    “fonts” refers to typefaces or type in general
    typefaces usually preferred over font or family
    

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19. BEHIND THE SCENES
    TypekitFontFamily
    FamilyChoice
    FontVariation
    FontFile
    a typeface on Typekit.com
    a typeface added to a Kit
    a weight or style of a family
    the actual font file for a variation
    

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20. TypekitFontFamily
    Browse::Family
    FontFamily
    Family
    a typeface on Typekit.com
    metadata for our new browsing UI
    a presenter for font/family data, no longer actively used
    see above
    

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21. # It's called Family instead of Font so that
    # we can potentially reserve the name Font for
    # the current FontVariation. Naming is hard.
    class Family
    # ...
    end
    ACTUAL CODE COMMENT FROM THE TYPEKIT.COM RAILS APP
    

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22. @families.each do |family|
    # What kind of family is this?
    family.class
    #=> Browse::FamilyCardPresenter?!?!?!
    end
    

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24. fonts or families
    fonts or licenses
    my fonts?
    purchased or licensed
    THE SEMANTICS OF LICENSING
    

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25. My Licenses
    My Web Licenses
    My Fonts
    Purchased Licenses
    Fonts I’ve Purchased
    Purchased Fonts
    

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26. Naming things =
    Domain modeling
    

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28. WHAT’S IN
    A NAME?
    GOOD
    

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29. descriptive
    accessible
    clear
    consistent
    GOOD NAMES ARE
    

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30. vague
    obscure
    ambiguous
    contradictory
    BAD NAMES ARE
    

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31. NAMING IS ALWAYS
    a compromise
    vag
    obsc
    ambig
    contrad
    riptive
    essible
    lear
    sistent
    

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32. Pro applications tend to sacrifice simple, intuitive naming for
    RAW POWER
    

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33. How are these things di erent?
    

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35. Hard for newcomers
    Extremely versatile for those
    trained in the system
    O ers more freedom to the
    user to define their own model
    but
    and
    

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36. THE GREATEST
    DOMAIN MODEL
    OF ALL TIME
    (according to David)
    

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38. Events
    Faces
    Places
    Photos grouped by time
    Photos grouped by people in them
    Photos grouped by where
    iPhoto’s library is automatically grouped into
    

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39. Events
    Faces
    Places
    = When?
    = Who?
    = Where?
    

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40. Natural
    Intuitive
    Unambiguous
    Simple
    

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41. Tags + semantics
    

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42. Typical tagging systems
    Users apply various words to describe a thing
    No framework for knowing what the words mean
    No guarantee of internal consistency
    Crystal Light National Aerobics
    Championship Opening
    #videos #funny #80s #wtf #rofl
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=ozoTzkCeO-A
    

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43. Semantic tagging systems
    Users associate a thing with specific other things
    Tags aren’t just abstract names, they provide context
    Built-in mental model for organizing and finding information
    Crystal Light National Aerobics
    Championship Opening
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=ozoTzkCeO-A
    Kind: Video When: 1980s
    Genre: Vintage TV
    #wtf #rofl
    Like
    

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45. Naming things =
    Branding
    

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46. JAKOB NIELSEN’S GUIDELINES FOR NAMING
    Supplement made-up words
    with known words
    Supplement brand names
    with generic terms
    Learn to recognize and
    avoid internal jargon
    

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48. The product’s name is OINK
    Things you post on Oink are OINKS
    The act of posting an Oink on Oink
    is OINKING or TO OINK
    

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49. Making a phone call = calling
    Posting a tweet on Twitter = tweeting
    Posting an oink on Oink = oinking
    

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50. oinking
    rating
    reviewing
    posting
    MAKES SENSE ONLY WITHIN THIS APP
    MAKE SENSE IN A BROADER CONTEXT
    NO PRIOR KNOWLEDGE NEEDED
    CLEARER AS TO INTENT
    

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51. “oink” “tweet”
    VS.
    

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52. Use invented or
    recontextualized words
    with caution
    

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53. Stream
    Circles
    Hangouts
    Incoming
    +1’s
    New from friends
    Groups
    Video chat
    New from… ?
    Like
    GOOGLE+
    

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54. NEW NEW TWITTER
    How are Connect and Discover
    di erent?
    How am I not Connecting or
    Discovering on the Home page?
    

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55. TOO REDUCTIVE
    Home
    Connect
    Discover
    Timeline
    Who to follow
    Local trends
    Interactions
    Mentions
    Who to follow
    Stories
    Trends
    Activity
    

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56. THANKS!
    ddemaree@gmail.com
    @ddemaree on Twitter
    http://demaree.me
    

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57. Q&A
    

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