[Qgis-developer] Renaming SEXTANTE

[Larry Shaffer]

Hi Victor,

On Fri, Aug 9, 2013 at 11:53 AM, Victor Olaya <volayaf at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi
>
> After much thinking and considering some suggestions, I think it would
> be a good idea to remove the SEXTANTE branding, and just have
> everything with a more descriptive name, such as "geoanalysis",
> "processing", or something like that. In the long-term, that will help
> to integrate the analysis framework into QGIS,and help users locate
> it.
>
> It shouldn't be more difficult than just replacing string ocurrences,
> but before doing such a big (and potentially troublesome) change, I
> would like to hear the opinion you guys have about this (is it a good
> idea? what name should we use instead of "sextante" for packages and
> modules? any good refactoring tool that you recommend?,etc)
>
> I am going to be out of office next week, so I might not read my email
> everyday, but it would be great to hear what you think about it. Once
> I am back, I will proceed to change it,
>
> I discussed it briefly with Tim and Paolo, who agreed on this, so I
> assumme this is not incompatible with the API freeze and the release
> plan that we have, but if anyone thinks this shouldn't be done now,
> please say it. I personally think that it would be good to have it in
> 2.0, so all analysis stuff is called "analysis" (or whatever) and not
> with a name that (although I like and feel very identified with it)
> for most people doesn't make much sense...
>

Agreed (to the doesn't make much sense to users). +1 from me for this much
needed approach to the naming of core plugins.

Concerning branding (and with no disrespect to any third-party projects
brought into core), the brand is not SEXTANTE, not fTools, not GDALTools...
the brand is QGIS.

Here are some examples of current branding confusion for a user:

* GDALTools, fTools, and SEXTANTE are listed in the Plugin Manager. These
names are indecipherable to a new user, especially one new to GIS or FOSS4G.

* Once activated, there is no indication that any particular part or action
of the Vector menu is related to fTools, so it's hard for a user to discern
core functionality from a plugin's. This is the way core plugins should be
shown, as part of the app. In this case, however, there is a disconnect due
to branding.

* The Raster menu has GDALTools settings at the bottom of it. Again, it is
unclear to which tools these settings apply.

* In the SEXTANTE Toolbox there is a big button at the top, which links to
a third-party site. While this makes sense for a third-party plugin, it is
inconsistent with other core tools, and makes it appear the tool is not
actually a core functionality. A discrete Help button at the bottom of the
toolbox, that goes to QGIS-related help for the tool makes more sense.

In my opinion, the following core plugins should be renamed to similar
names as such:

SEXTANTE -> Geoanalysis Tools
GDALTools -> Raster Tools
fTools -> Vector Tools

Their icons should be updated to reflect their place and purpose within
QGIS.

An example of a core plugin that looks and acts like a core plugin to QGIS
is DB Manager. There is absolutely no disconnect between name, due to
unnecessary branding, or purpose in the app, to the user. The user clearly
understands what it is in Plugin Manager and, once activated, the plugin
blends in nicely as part of the app (though maybe the icon needs updated to
match newer ones).

This is not to say credit should be ignored. These are considerable
contributions to the project. The underlying external projects ported to
core should reasonably be accessible to the user, possibly in the About
dialog, and possibly with links directly to an external resource for each
(where appropriate). This should probably be done for providers as well.

Side note: there should probably also be some indication within Plugin
Manager that a plugin is 'core,' hopefully prompting a user that it is
something they should not generally consider disabling.

Regards,

Larry



> Thanks in advance.
>
> Victor
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