Something I have been thinking about lately is the idea of naming folders that make sense in the future. For example, it does not make sense to name a folder “Word documents”; a year from now you might wonder what kind of Word documents are in that folder.
A common technique I have seen people do when introducing new websites or new software is to move all the old files (previous version of a website, supporting documents for old software) to a new folder labelled “old”. At the time, it makes sense.
Yet it does not make sense down the road. Should information that is new now be put in that folder a year from now? What reference point does the folder use to determine when something is old?
Folders should have names that accurately describe what is in them.
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3 replies on “Old folders”
Sort of like how css classes names should describe what the element does rather than where they’re located or what they look like. IE, “subheading” and “heading” are better to use than “redallcaps” and “redbold.”
Exactly. Or how element tags should describe the element they surround (e.g. <p> for paragraphs).
If you were moving a site’s folders to and “old” in 2005, what about naming the folder pre2006?