Category: web2

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What’s in a name?

I’ve just been doing some work revamping my blogging app and I’ve decided that I’d like to give it a name and brand it. So, what to call it? There’s so many applications out there, so many websites, how do you come up with a good name?

After doing a bit of googling for names I found this interesting article over on the Firewheel Design site, ‘Four Concentric Circles of a Web 2.0 Name‘.
Josh from Firewheel has come up with four categories of names used in applications:

  1. The Literal Name (DropSend, Meetup etc…)
  2. The Metaphor (Mint, Digg, Flock etc…)
  3. The Pseudo Abstract (Del.icio.us, Flickr, Odeo etc…)
  4. The Cab Calloway (Squidoo, Meebo, Rojo etc…)

It’s an interesting article, so it got me to thinking about names, in this particular case it’s for a blogging tool so it needs to ‘say’ something.

A couple of ideas…

A couple of names came to mind:

Blogorrhea:
The word ‘Logorrhea’ is defined in Wikipedia as an “excessive flow of words” and, when used medically, refers to incoherent talkativeness that occurs in certain kinds of mental illness, such as mania.

Examples of logorrhoea might include talking or mumbling monotonously either to others or more likely oneself. This may include the repetition of particular words of phrases, often incoherently.

I actually quite liked this one, but it just sounds a bit too much like ‘diarrhoea’ though. Fair enough as I guess logorrhea is a bit like verbal diarrhoea. So, close but not quite appropriate ;)

Captain’s Blog:
Mmm, what more needs to be said?

This last one was promptly discarded as an idea for obvious reasons! The two names I’m considering are simply, ‘Blurb‘ and ‘Blah‘. I like them because they’re short, simple and are obviously related to writing or speaking, which is what blogging is about I guess. They both fall into the Metaphor circle in Firewheel Design’s article.

Anyone got any other ideas?

I’d be pleased to hear anybody else’s thoughts / suggestions of names. I’ll try and come up with some kind of prize for the best suggestion.

~Rick

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Geek stuff, Web 2.0, interesting music…

I was watching TV tonight and saw the Orange advert with this unusual music track on it, I googled a few of the words of the song and found out it was a track by Joanna Newsom, a quick trip to the iTunes Music store and I bought the album. It’s called ‘The Milk-Eyed Mender’, you can follow this link to go straight to it in the iTunes Music store, you’ll need iTunes installed to do so of course. Nice album, very quirky sound but I like it.

Apart from listening to music (and updating this blog!) I have been reading a lot of stuff about what has been termed ‘Web 2.0’. What’s Web 2.0 you ask? well, that’s what lot’s of other people are asking too! I’ve been asked to speak at an event called Creative Exchange in Perth next week and I’ve decided that this will be (at least part anyway) the subject of my talk.

Basically Web 2.0 is about the new generation of internet based application, or Rich Internet Applications as they’re known. Web 2.0 refers to the development of the World Wide Web from simply being a collection of websites that can / may link to one another to becoming more like an operating system in itself. Web 2.0 Applications move away from simply being web-browser based content to being separate software applications that draw functionality as well as content from the internet.

Many websites have ways that allow you to tap into the content or functionality that they provide, Google for instance has methods by which you can search their extensive database and pull the information back into the application requesting it. Many News websites offer you the ability to subscribe to their content using RSS feeds, these can be linked into an application to provide up-to-date information. Another characteristic of Web 2.0 RIA’s is that of being Social applications, linking users to one another, communities based not just around websites as in Web 1.0 but within desktop software applications too.

So, there’s a very brief glimpse of some Web 2.0 thoughts. I’ve set up an account on Del.icio.us (A Social bookmarking site!) with some interesting stuff about Web 2.0 in case anybody feels like reading more, it’s definitely something I’m paying attention to as a web developer / designer. My Del.icio.us site is http://del.icio.us/wideopenspace/web2.0

As one of my old college tutors used to say, ‘Interesting stuff, interesting stuff.’ ;)

~Rick