Kudos, and a minor suggestion.
Hi, I'm new to Trisquel, but have been playing around with it for the last couple of days and like what I see. I'd love to be able to play a part in making it better, but not really sure how I can contribute. I'm no programmer, but one thing I can suggest is that Web Browser needs a real name. It may not seem like a big deal from a development point of view, but people still identify with their web browser almost as much as they do their OS. The Debian folks went with Ice Weasel for their un-branding. What do you guys think?
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I agree. When I tell people I use Web Browser it's almost as bad as telling them I use gNewSense (as it sounds like nuisance) :) I think one thing that we should learn from Apple is that a catchy name is important.
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You could say you use Firefox, as the web browser is technically Firefox. I agree that "web browser" on its own is weak branding, although Microsoft gets by with "internet explorer" which is pretty much a synonym. I'm not too good at naming web browsers, though, so I'm unfortunately of no help.
I know it's been suggested to use the GNU Icecat browser in place of the unbranded Firefox several times before, but would it be possible to just apply the Icecat branding to the current browser? I think it'd actually be pretty cool if the other libre-firefox clones (e.g. gNewSense BurningDog) did this too, in a sort of showing of unity. As far as I can tell, the functionality between all of these browsers is roughly equivalent, and the different brands can lead to confusion.
BTW gNewSense should only sound somewhat like "nuisance" if you say it correctly - my understanding is that the "gNew" is pronounced like "GNU" (hard G + "new") and "sense" is pronounced like "sense" as opposed to "since." I happen to think it's a catchy name, myself, though.
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Not to be off topic, but when I tell my bank that there site doesn't work with my re-branded Mozilla browser (even though they claim Firefox works) they have no idea what this means. I agree that Internet Explorer is pretty weak as a name, however thankfully for Microsoft it comes with Windows (other wise why would anyone download a browser using such a generic name?). Trisquel doesn't have enough market share to use a generic name like Web Browser. Personally I like the name gNewSense as well, but with a name that really sounds like a mix of GNU with nuisance I can't convince any of my friends to use it.
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This isn't really an issue with having "no branding" but rather with not being a "name brand." Your bank would not know what "Icecat" or "Iceweasel" or probably even "Seamonkey" is (they all use the same Mozilla rendering engine). It's their fault they hired an incompetent web developer who doesn't know that "Gecko is Gecko".
Optimally we'd all just use the Firefox branding, as this would cause the least confusion for users. However, Mozilla's trademark policy expressly forbids it in the case of Trisquel.
I was thinking what would be cool is something like "Silk" a little obscure, but it fits in with the spider/web thing. Dunno... Or maybe WebFoot, with a logo of a duck @_@. Ok ya, I know, I need to get some sleep hehe.
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It seems everyone is rebranding Firefox, but the lazy ones. Why? Isn't one rebranding (IceCat) enough?
Personally, I don't have a problem with the "Web Browser" name, because I just keep calling it Firefox when I talk about it. But I agree, that it would be a nice touch using IceCat in every libre-free distribution per default and don't go through all the fuss.
I have no problems with IceCat personally. Anything is better than "Web Browser".
I don't really see anything wrong with "Web Browser", personally. It's an accurate representation of what it is. Plus, when you open a Nautilus window, it says "File Browser".
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File managers aren't really of the same class of application as web browsers. Something like a file manager is considered to be "part of" the desktop environment itself; I wouldn't call myself a "Nautilus user", more like a "GNOME user." Web browsers are not like this; they are distinct from the rest of the environment and have an identity of their own.
I actually like Web Browser. Who knows, perhaps one day it will be a real fork... Design is tough, yet important and often overlooked. I envision a day where most everyone uses libre software, and it is just the "web browser". Simple, tells you what it does, even the computer "illiterate" will get it and what it means. As mentioned, it DID work for MS, even they luck up and get it right sometimes.
What is a FireFox, and what does it have to do with anything, let alone freedom? Maybe you see what I mean. We should not get caught up for branding for the sake of branding, but branding is important. Focus should be on Trisquel itself, imho.