Re: Menu names and placement

[Callum McKenzie <callum physics otago ac nz>]

On Tue, 2005-01-11 at 18:02 -0500, Paul Kahler wrote:
> Hello gnome-games people,
>  
> The gnome games are GREAT. I do have 2 issues with the menu though ( I
> have Fedora Core 3, so this may not be all your fault ). First is that
> the menu items are not all HIG compliant. I didn't know what "Iagno"
> was until I mouse-overed it and saw that it should be called "Reversi"
> which is a name I recognize and like to play I don't want my brain to
> even remember that Iagno means reversi in gnome-speak. "Nibbles" might
> best be called "Worm", but I'm not a fan and wouldn't have known
> without trying it either way. I'm sure there are trademark issues with
> giving Tali the more recognizable "Yahtzee" name. My second issue is
> more a suggestion really. There are so many games that the menu begs
> for another level. I'd like to see types of games and then the actual
> games in shorter lists. I'd like to see sub-menus like: Board games,
> Cards, Dice, Puzzles. This should be continued by distributions by
> putting the non-gnome BZflag and Tuxracer under "Action" and things
> like flightgear under "Vehicle" (which may want to include BZ) or
> "Simulation". Some games seem to be two types, but I'd put Tetris (er
> Gnometris) in Puzzle rather than action...
>  

There are reasons for most of the names - not necessarily good ones -
but reasons none-the-less.

Iagno is the one with the best argument against it. Another common name
for the game is Othello, but that is trade-marked. If you recall your
Shakespeare then you will remember that the main character in Othello is
Iago. From that a quick translation of g -> gn, since we are the _GN_OME
project, and you get Iagno. When I cleaned up all the names to avoid the
GNOME-something disease I left this one as it is, because it appeals to
me. I keep thinking that I should change the name to Reversi, but I have
held off because I seem to be changing the game names quite frequently.

Worm / Nibbles is a toss-up. I first encountered the worm name on a
TRS-80 back in 1983. Apparently there has also been a popular variant
called Nibbles. So it is arbitrary, the original author chose Nibbles
and I have stuck with it.

Tali / Yahtzee is a straight-out trade-mark problem. There is no way we
can use Yahtzee. Tali is an ancient Roman game which is the predecessor
of both knucklebones and Yahtzee. Hence the name.

As far as subdividing the menus goes, some of the distros are pushing
for a smaller games menu too (when you have KDE games installed as well
it extends beyond the edge of the screen, and half the programs begin
with K). Unfortunately I don't think they want deep menus either. i.e.
they want to remove some games, I have explained that whichever game I
remove, someone will be coming after me with an axe, but they don't seem
to care :). Also, subdividing the games would require some coordination
between us, KDE, and the distro people. This is possible, but I haven't
got around to it.

 - Callum