.zip and .xml are too generic as extension names
Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Silva |
Won't Fix
|
Wishlist
|
Unassigned |
Bug Description
I believe that calling our save file formats .zip and .xml is a step in the
wrong direction.
Renaming Silva .slv to .xml decreases the utility of the extension. It is now
not possible for either a human or a computer to distinguish it from any
arbitrary .xml file. This makes it harder to search as a human, and harder to
attach software to it for a computer (like windows). Typically XML files in
particular formats have their own extensions, like .rdf and .xslt, and .html.
You can associate things like schemas with them for validation, and my editor
can actually recognize the extension and automatically load a RNG schema.
Similarly, naming the current rich export format .zip is way too generic.
Imagine doing a search for all silva exports on your system. You'll find *all*
zip files. It also becomes impossible to associate software with this extension.
Uploading a zip file into the XML import system in addition has no meaning for
Silva. OpenOffice also gives its save file format a different extension, and so
are Java .jar files called differently, even though they're both zip files.
While sometimes someone will want to unzip the file, or treat an slv file like
xml, a far more common operation used on these files would be using tools that
*specifically* target Silva exports; Silva itself is one such a tool.
Specifically using them as zip or xml files is advanced usage, and such advanced
users can be expected to be handle more particular extensions.
So let us stick with what gives us the most benefit and industry standard
practices concerning extension usage by software.
Changed in silva: | |
importance: | Low → Wishlist |
Nautilus/Gnome seems to recognize .slv files as XML files by default, see
attached screenshot.