On -EE

People ask me why I’m so critical, or perhaps snarky, about add-ons, websites and services that use the -ee naming convention. After all, you big jerk, your site is called EE Insider.

Touché, touché. Of course, I would argue that this site is different because my site describes what it’s about. I’m not trying to be clever. If anything it’s a boring, uninspired name.

I think the first site to do the -ee naming scheme was Train-ee by Mike Boyink. It’s a good name. I happen to also like Devot-ee and it certainly has a better ring to it than Masuga Design Add-on Shop. Both of these happen to be real words, too.

I do think there is now an odd, unfortunate hastiness in naming your new ExpressionEngine related website something -ee but a lot of add-ons are using the naming scheme to their detriment. It isn’t original anymore and it keeps you from standing out. A clever -ee name isn’t clever at all and now that there are so many you’re being lumped in with the rest of them.

Steve: What’s that add-on again? Something “ee”…

Tim: Hmm…I don’t know there are so many.

If you don’t care about standing out or about marketing that’s okay. But you should. If you want to own your own identity and make it work for you if you create more add-ons, I recommend you keep it simple, clear and without the -ee. It can be clever, too.

A great example are the add-ons from Low. All of his add-ons have simple, descriptive names modified by his nickname.

• Low Variables
• Low Reorder (this used to be Reeorder and he smartly changed it after taking it over)
• Low Alphabet
• Low Seg2Cat
• Low Yearly Archives

Read the entire list of add-ons and it’s a clear message: the add-ons describe what they do, are created by Low and that’s what matters. Low owns his brand.

A different example is Backup Pro by Eric Lamb. Simple and to the point. This add-on backs up your EE sites. Perfect. That’s what I need. A similar type of add-on is Safe Harbor by Tom Jaeger of EE Harbor. The name is original and accurately describes (or gives a feeling for) what the add-on does.

Neither of these backup add-ons are trying to be overly clever with their naming.

Here are more add-on names:

• Champagne
• FireMail
• Store
• Campaigner
• Channel Images
• User
• Favorites
• Assets
• Playa

Look at the add-ons that have won an award from the community. They all have names that don’t share their branding with others: CartThrob (what a great name), Structure and Image Sizer.

You spend hours building a great add-on. Take a few minutes and name it something that doesn’t share your brand with others.