This is a great module but the generic term feature is creating a lot of confusion when searching for web pages related to it. Even this bug report page is in Category:feature request. Could you rename it "fFeatures" or "dFeatures" (short for drupalFeatures) or something that could make searching for related documentation more effective? Please.

PS: Speaking of searching for related items, a single page that indexes all currently available "fFeatures" would be really nice. Thanks.

Comments

pasqualle’s picture

pasqualle
Location 🇭🇺 Budapest
commented

available features:
https://community.openatrium.com/documentation-en/node/441

yhahn’s picture

yhahn commented
Status: Active » Closed (won't fix)

Won't fix for the time being.

Aveu’s picture

Aveu commented

Pasqualle: That's a start but it's more like a link to links ... I am thinking something more like a set of pages here at d.o with a path of /fFeature/{fFeaturename} akin to the /Project/{modulename} paths for modules.

Aveu’s picture

Aveu commented
Status: Closed (won't fix) » Postponed

yhahn, I know you are the maintainer of this but if you say "won't fix for the time being" shouldn't this be Status:postponed until then?

I really love the idea of Features but I am just concerned that the module name is so generic that articles about it will be lost to the information overload cloud ... like going to google.com and googling for "google" because you're trying to find references to articles about google being used as a verb.

mikemccaffrey’s picture

mikemccaffrey
he/him
commented
Status: Postponed » Closed (won't fix)

Let's not keep an issue thread open on the off chance that the entire project might be renamed at some vague point in the future.

Personally, I think tacking a consonant on the front of the module name would just create much more work and confusion than leaving things as they are. The overload on the term "feature" is a bit confusing and hard to search for, but I don't think we've seen a viable alternative suggested.

Aveu’s picture

Aveu commented
Title: Please rename this module! » Prevent Features Genericide
Status: Closed (won't fix) » Postponed (maintainer needs more info)

I will agree that leaving this issue open is probably not the best way to go, but not for the reasons stated. Yet the official definition of postponed status here is "... issue seems like a good idea, but ..." not just yet. This is a feature request not a bug report and I see nothing wrong with leaving a feature request open until the maintainer decides if he is going to add that feature or point blank and forever say no. Neither of those conditions has happened here. I am returning this to postponed and asking yhahn, as the maintainer, to consider the following...

If the problem is that "adding a consonant" is going to cause problems (which I am not sure I see as more difficult than a one time bulk string search and replace) that leaves only two real choices: (A) leave the name on overload, or (B) change the name completely.

Choice (A): Leaving the name on overload is just a bad idea. Period. It increases confusion and weakens the product's recognition factor. It is a form of self-inflicted genericide and as great a module/idea as Features is, the high probability is that when a similar module comes along with a more distinctive name, that is the module that is likely to be better known over time. Take FCKEditor for example. Is it the best at what it does? ... that is arguable. Yet no matter how much some of us may dislike that module's awkward name, it is a distinctive and memorable name. Can you remember the names all the other wysiwyg editor modules as easily as FCK?

Choice (B): Changing the name completely is an option. I did some thesaurus work and found several interesting options. I also found that the choice of the word "features" as the module name was well thought out and changing it completely is a difficult decision. That is why my first suggestion was some kind of a modified spelling ... just please not "Pheatures"! Yech! :P

My thesaurus research suggests some choices might be as follows:

  1. Feature also means something like "prominent item" like a newspaper feature article. Another word for that is a "scoop". This might work for this module, after all you are essentially scooping up some configurations and making them available for other Drupal installations. Users could go to Scoop Farms and get the latest Scoop.
    ...Of course there is that unfortunate association of this word with dog excrement.
  2. Profiles would be a good choice but that is already in use for another Drupal purpose.
  3. Highlights: This is synonymous with (one meaning of) features and has a positive sound to it.
  4. Impressions: This has some potential, it does relate to mass production of knowledge.
  5. Mimics: How would you use this... I'm going to install the latest Mimic. ?
  6. Artifacts: This might work but it sounds so dry and dusty.
  7. Particles: Kind of a small idea for such a big module.
  8. Complements or Supplements: ... boring!
  9. Chunks, Chops, Chips: ... I don't think so.

However it is done, respelling or renaming, the module needs to be renamed for the reasons outlined in Choice A above and on the fact that new Drupal users depend on being able to research other Drupal user's experiences. As things are that is all but impossible.

If the name is going to change the time to do it is soon, before more modules are written based on this one. Perhaps it could be implemented with the D6-2.x or the D7-1.x version of this module?

I will not say any more on this topic ... I have made my views clear and I leave it in the hands of the module developers to consider this issue. I hope they will consider all that I have said carefully.

mrfelton’s picture

mrfelton commented

"Components" - though this may be just as generic.
"Building Blocks" - hmm.. don't know about that - the usage of the term blocks would just confuse people.

Though, to be honest I quite like 'features'!

yhahn’s picture

yhahn commented
Status: Postponed (maintainer needs more info) » Closed (won't fix)

@Aveu: I don't disagree with your points, certainly a very distinctive name would be great. That said there are many prominent Drupal modules with names that could refer to something different in different contexts (Views, Image, Event, Token, Date, Link, Print to name a few).

Additionally, renaming a module and its namespace are not small tasks in Drupal - it is actually one of the most difficult things to do given the current state of Drupal's update infrastructure.

The cost of doing this is just too expensive for the maintainers, users, and API implementing developers to make this an actionable now or in the near future.

Hope this is a sufficient explanation for you.

emjayess’s picture

emjayess commented

**Configatures** ... woulda been a fun name. #namestorming lulz, just a few years late is all.