"Folders" - outdated nomenclature
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| phsolide Aug 20, 2011 5:51 PM EDT |
I really wish that the early 90s "desktop metaphor" had not turned the perfeectly serviceable "directory" into the watered-down babytalk "folder". Now that we've (mostly) acheived a paperless office, the term "folder" has no intrinsic meaning, and less meaning that a more abstract term like "directory". The "desktop metaphor" was never very good in the first place, lacking, as it did, a photocopier icon for making copies of "documents", box icons for moving more than a few "documents" from one "folder" to another "folder", and no pencil tray on the "desktop". Grossly imperfect. Before you whine about how that's carrying a metaphor too far, think about it. Why isn't renaming "directory" into "folder" also carrying it too far? |
| patrokov Aug 21, 2011 12:53 AM EDT |
As long as we're at it, should change the word file to entry? After all, file is part of a desktop metaphor as well. What would one expect to find in directories? Files or entries? In all seriousness, though, I think the reason folder stuck so well is that it's a shorter, easier to say word as well as forming an alliteration with the word file. |
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