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#1 2007-11-22 01:30:37
- dreamer
- Member
- Registered: 2007-06-08
- Posts: 242
TXP's naming conventions for its plugins. It causes a branding problem
I’m curious to know why the naming conventions for the plugins is the way it is. For example, why is it like 3 letters plus an name, ie; cch_articles ?
You don’t know how much harder it is for people to remember that. As a comparison, take Wordpress. You basically name your plugin as whatever…like give it an actual name rather than 3 letters. This makes the plugins easier to remember giving it a better branding. I can easily remember the Ultimate Warrior Plugin or the Google Sitemap Generator or whatever. But the way TXP does it is kinda funky and makes it hard for anyone to remember what they are much less what they do.
Thoughts?
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Re: TXP's naming conventions for its plugins. It causes a branding problem
the plugins are generally named after the main plugin function. and the functions use a 3 letter prefix to prevent code conflicts between other plugins.
i dunno about you but with my limited experience with wordpress, i definitely had to edit certain variables, functions etc in wordpress plugins so that they wouldn’t conflict with another. case example being Ultimate Tag Warrior WordPress Plugin with Jeromes Keywords
as for branding, “Ultimate Tag Warror Wordpress Plugin” i’m sure is a great plugin but sounds ludicrous and full of fluff. i think it’d be rather silly if a plugin with that sort of name appeared in the TXP camp, which is clearly based on clean functionality and minimalism.
Last edited by iblastoff (2007-11-22 03:05:54)
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Re: TXP's naming conventions for its plugins. It causes a branding problem
- You can regonize the author from the name
- There can not be two plugins with same name
- Names are short and name could be same as the function
- In example Manfre makes really great plugins. “Hey, that plugins has a mem-prefix” – lets take a look.
- No code conflicts
More about plugin prefixes and reasons:
I think TXP’s plugin-system and naming much more better than WP’s. And using plugins is more easier too.
Cheers!
Last edited by Gocom (2007-11-22 02:58:37)
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Re: TXP's naming conventions for its plugins. It causes a branding problem
This case has two aspects:
- Branding: Feel free to name your plugin in any way you want to and promote this brand on every occasion.
- Things you introduce into the Textpattern namespace (variables, database tables, CSS classes, …): Obeying the convention will help you to support your plugin as you wouldn’t have to deal with third-party software clashes. For plugins implementing tags, it also reduces keyboard wearout to name your tag
ufb_barbazinstead ofultimatefrontendbeautifier_barbaz
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Re: TXP's naming conventions for its plugins. It causes a branding problem
Postmaster, for example, and TXPhorum.
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Re: TXP's naming conventions for its plugins. It causes a branding problem
ben, yep. To mention something that ain’t yours, TextCommerce :) Bu-wha-ha-ha.
Cheers!
Last edited by Gocom (2007-11-26 19:12:01)
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Re: TXP's naming conventions for its plugins. It causes a branding problem
Gocom wrote:
- You can regonize the author from the name
- There can not be two plugins with same name
- Names are short and name could be same as the function
- In example Manfre makes really great plugins. “Hey, that plugins has a mem-prefix” – lets take a look.
- No code conflicts
More about plugin prefixes and reasons:
I think TXP’s plugin-system and naming much more better than WP’s. And using plugins is more easier too.
Cheers!
:)
For the reasons mentioned above, the textpattern naming convention works well. I’ve been hit by the variable and function renaming issues in Wordpress and a few other apps (it’s a pain to fix).
Being able to identify the author makes it easy to find out more information about a plugin. E.g. if you see an example form with a “xyz” prefix, you can easily figure out who wrote it, whether or not they are still maintaining it, and find other plugins they wrote if you like their work. It also serves as a form of free advertising for plugin developers. I’ve gotten a decent amount of consulting work simply because some one liked my plugins.
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Re: TXP's naming conventions for its plugins. It causes a branding problem
benbruce wrote:
Postmaster, for example, and TXPhorum.
Should be renamed to bab_postmaster and bab_txphorum respectively, IMHO.
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