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JohnGB ♦
JohnGB ♦
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Removed the excuse section. 5 upvotes say it's no longer needed :-)
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Benny Skogberg
Benny Skogberg
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Sorry if the question does not belong here. Perhaps someone could enlighten me on where to post this instead, if it doesn't. Somehow I believe terminology is a part of UX, though.

Many Microsoft softwares, like the Office suite and the Windows Explorer, feature a type of column filter that they have dubbed the Autofilter.

  • It filters rows based on column content.

  • It adapts the filter options to both the type and the content of the column.

Now, in our own software (for Windows), we have created a similar function and accordingly officially called it the Autofilter. But as our co-workers and users get familiar with it, they tend to call it the Column filter in everyday conversations.

So my question is, in general, how to go about the problem of keeping an original name, or making up our own? "Autofilter" is quite ambiguous, while "Column filter" is much more descriptive. What is more important, terminology that is recognizable to a few, and consistent with the platform; or the ease of adapting the term?

Examples

Excel - Filtering a text column on entered content:

enter image description here

Windows Explorer- Filtering a Date column by calendar or on relative time:

enter image description here

Sorry if the question does not belong here. Perhaps someone could enlighten me on where to post this instead, if it doesn't. Somehow I believe terminology is a part of UX, though.

Many Microsoft softwares, like the Office suite and the Windows Explorer, feature a type of column filter that they have dubbed the Autofilter.

  • It filters rows based on column content.

  • It adapts the filter options to both the type and the content of the column.

Now, in our own software (for Windows), we have created a similar function and accordingly officially called it the Autofilter. But as our co-workers and users get familiar with it, they tend to call it the Column filter in everyday conversations.

So my question is, in general, how to go about the problem of keeping an original name, or making up our own? "Autofilter" is quite ambiguous, while "Column filter" is much more descriptive. What is more important, terminology that is recognizable to a few, and consistent with the platform; or the ease of adapting the term?

Examples

Excel - Filtering a text column on entered content:

enter image description here

Windows Explorer- Filtering a Date column by calendar or on relative time:

enter image description here

Many Microsoft softwares, like the Office suite and the Windows Explorer, feature a type of column filter that they have dubbed the Autofilter.

  • It filters rows based on column content.

  • It adapts the filter options to both the type and the content of the column.

Now, in our own software (for Windows), we have created a similar function and accordingly officially called it the Autofilter. But as our co-workers and users get familiar with it, they tend to call it the Column filter in everyday conversations.

So my question is, in general, how to go about the problem of keeping an original name, or making up our own? "Autofilter" is quite ambiguous, while "Column filter" is much more descriptive. What is more important, terminology that is recognizable to a few, and consistent with the platform; or the ease of adapting the term?

Examples

Excel - Filtering a text column on entered content:

enter image description here

Windows Explorer- Filtering a Date column by calendar or on relative time:

enter image description here

Tweeted twitter.com/#!/StackUX/status/319810114192277505
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JOG
JOG
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Should we use Microsoft's feature names, or our own? "Autofilter" vs "Column filter"

Sorry if the question does not belong here. Perhaps someone could enlighten me on where to post this instead, if it doesn't. Somehow I believe terminology is a part of UX, though.

Many Microsoft softwares, like the Office suite and the Windows Explorer, feature a type of column filter that they have dubbed the Autofilter.

  • It filters rows based on column content.

  • It adapts the filter options to both the type and the content of the column.

Now, in our own software (for Windows), we have created a similar function and accordingly officially called it the Autofilter. But as our co-workers and users get familiar with it, they tend to call it the Column filter in everyday conversations.

So my question is, in general, how to go about the problem of keeping an original name, or making up our own? "Autofilter" is quite ambiguous, while "Column filter" is much more descriptive. What is more important, terminology that is recognizable to a few, and consistent with the platform; or the ease of adapting the term?

Examples

Excel - Filtering a text column on entered content:

enter image description here

Windows Explorer- Filtering a Date column by calendar or on relative time:

enter image description here