In the topic RenameMainWebToHome, I started commenting on the name TWiki itself, as it is a problematic word (see summary). In this topic, I've collected the comments from earlier posts and I'd like to invite others to comment.

Summary: I believe that the word TWiki itself is utterly meaningless, especially for new users. Remember that TWiki is aimed at corporate intranets, not at e.g. linux-saturated dorms. There are several reasons why I'd like to see a name-change, but primarily for the sake of simplicity! It's not a real word, and that confuses users. KISS applies. It has odd capitalization, causing lots of typos. Sometimes found as the proper-looking but incorrect "Twiki", mostly found as the counterinstinctive "TWiki", and sometimes as "twiki". The latter is particularly during setup&maintenance, but it's not consistent! Especially for inexperienced administrators, this is hell. KISS applies again.
Can we find a better name, or at least change the capitalization to be e.g. "Twiki" throughout the tool (in topics as well as in code)?.

-- TorbenGB - 17 Jan 2003

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So far, this has been written:

• rename "TWiki" in all file&folder names to "Twiki" This is perhaps a strange request, but it boils down to a confusing mass of uppercase and lowercase names being used throughout twiki.org and the code, twiki , Twiki , TWiki , not to mention wiki and Wiki . Having all kinds of mixtures really is confusing. Since we can't use lowercase in some instances, I would prefer to have it Title Case throughout the site, documentation and in the code itself. So, can I ask for "Twiki" and "Wiki" as the only occurrences? (I know Peter has © on "TWiki" but it's a strange exception in the naming scheme.)

-- TorbenGB - 24 Feb 2002

As recommended earlier by TorbenGB, TWiki should be systematically replaced by Twiki. For new users (and old alike) the unique spelling of TWiki is more of a nuisance than the thrill that they get out of knowing it has something to do with "Wiki" and with "TakeFive".

-- ThomasWeigert - 17 Aug 2002

We should keep in mind that the systems users generally don't need (or even want) to know what "TWiki" is (as a piece of software), any more than the users of other web-based application need to know the platform software system. Thus having "TWiki" up on the banner is pretty meaningless to them. It's clear that the web and page names are navigational aids and they need to be considered from the user's perspective. If TWiki is targeting corporate intranets, our target users have to be assumed to be quite thoroughly techno-naive. We can't just say "they will have to learn that the Main web holds users and little else". Users don't want to learn TWiki, they just want to use it.

-- ToddJonker - 19 Aug 2002

Just feel like adding a small (but important!) comment. If you're already planning on sitewide renames and this sort of implications, then please also consider the awkward word TWiki itself... I understand that's the name of the tool, but come on, it's a very awkward word to type -- not least due to the nonsensical uppercase/lowercase. Considering that TWiki is even case-sensitive, it only adds to the confusion and error-rate. When should I type twiki? Twiki? TWiki? TWIKI? It's not exactly a user-friendly word.

Please don't get me wrong: I love the tool, but from a usability perspective, I hate the name.

-- TorbenGB - 16 Jan 2003

Can you please start a new topic via FeatureBrainstorming and put your comment there? I'll share my thoughts when you do. Thank you!

This discussion is long and complicated enough as it is sticking to the rename of Main to blah for some value of blah.

-- GrantBow - 16 Jan 2003

Here's the new topic. Go ahead and comment! :-)

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I noticed that I am doing strange typo since I started hanging around here on twiki.org: TYping first 2 letters capitalized instead of one only. EXactly like in TWiki! So yes, I vote for change of spelling. Obvious no-surprise spelling will be Twiki. Also on HighResolutionLogos and on TWikiMission there are voices to be "teamwork wiki" - which will nicely match Twiki name.

Looks like many of "young turks", which come later into Twiki community and did not invested into name as much as oldtimers, are mostly for change.

Question is: will this change help on TWikiMission? My opinion is: Yes!. Just a little, but every little bit helps.

How to make bigger impact? Synchronicity: Change twiki spelling, add new HighResolutionLogos, SimplerDefaultTemplates, RPM based distro, and simple way to contribute via CommentPlugin. I will continue about all this in TWikiMission.

-- PeterMasiar - 18 Jan 2003

how about a smaller and less problematic change? if we DontUseCaseToFindWikiTopics, just a combination of any capitalisation that constitues a WikiWord and the same spelling links to that topic? this is related to FileSystemNameClash.. that way SvenDowideit is equivalent to SveNdOwideit. This happens on a Windows based TWiki, and if we write this into the twiki code, then we don't need to rename from TWiki to Twiki at all. I think the usability impact far outways any extra performance cost.

-- SvenDowideit - 18 Jan 2003

Sounds GREAT regardless of any other implementations.

-- GrantBow - 19 Jan 2003

I think a name change is not the most important issue currently - most of the barriers to adoption are unrelated to this, see various discussions on Codev for examples. You can of course call it whatever you want when you implement it - some sites just talk about 'the wiki'.

The name change is a separate issue to the case-sensitivity of filenames and topic names - if this must be provided by TWiki, it would be some work to maintain an index of the case insensitive versions of all filenames. If such an index was not provided, it would be unmanageable to have to try all the combinations of case-sensitive filenames derived from a case-sensitive filename.

-- RichardDonkin - 19 Jan 2003

This isn't case sensitivity, but it's still interesting. After looking at Peter's diff in CVS I think this is an elegant solution. WebDotTopicAndWebSlashTopicURLs

-- GrantBow - 20 Jan 2003

Just a factoid: as of this writing, the spelling Twiki appears on 696 topics here on twiki.org. It seems it's not just me who has trouble with the FUnky CApitalization as I've seen it called.

-- TorbenGB - 17 Jan 2003