Re: ConTeXt name/branding

[Hans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl>]

On 27-4-2010 12:41, Scott Steele wrote:
> Sidenote: If anyone has ever considered changing the name of the ConTeXt
> project, I'd like to support that. Name consistency is important, but there
> are two unnecessary problems that the current name creates.

the implication of a name change is quite big

> The first is that the unusual capitalization and pronunciation are a barrier
> to new users. I've used macro packages in the TeX family for about four
> years now (though it seems much longer! I can't believe for how long I was
> putting out such ugly papers!), but I'm now consciously trying to remember
> to pronounce them as tecks, latecks, zeetecks, conteckst, etc, and to type
> them as Tex, Latex, Xetex, and Context (outside of this message/forum). The
> odd capitalization doen't win fans among people who appreciate typographic
> tradition, and the pronunciation requires that, instead of explaining first
> how powerful and useful these systems are, one explain the Greek chi and
> Donald Knuth. It doesn't give a good impression when one's first exposure to
> TeX involves being told one is wrong in how one pronounces a word that is
> less than 40 years old (The same goes for many open source projects).
> Further, if the name is brought up in conversation and piques the interest
> of a potential user, they will have a difficult time later searching for it
> when they type in contekt or conteckt.

well, nobody here cares much if you type ConTeXt as CONTEXT (small caps) 
or context (verbatim or whatever)

concerning the pronouciation ... the x is not like in tex, it's just x 
(ks or whatever) ... we're not that picky and there are no rules other 
than that it should look right in your text if you refer to it

> The second problem with the ConTeXt name is its shared spelling with
> context. When I google context and font, I get so many pages imploring me to
> consider the context of my document when choosing between Arial, Times New
> Roman, and Comic Sans. Many of the things I'll be searching for while using
> ConTeXt yield thousands of irrelevant pages because of how context can pop
> up in so many topics that share major keywords with the typesetting process..

well, googling on latex is also somewhat special ... as we now have 
context mkiv, you have a better change for a hit

> Of course, I myself am in no position to advocate a name change, and if the
> two issues I listed are the price for having a cutting-edge typesetting
> system, then I'm still a pretty happy camper. But if any of the people who
> have actually worked really hard to put this together have ever thought
> about bringing up a branding change, here's my two pence.

changing a name will bring way to much work with it (changing web pages, 
manuals, filenames, lots of code, script names, habits etc)

Hans

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                                           Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE
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