Module Creation File Naming Convention

Module Creation File Naming Convention exhorts theWord module creators to use an easier way of naming topics (chapters) within theWord when they create a new module.

In reality, I have seen all kinds of filename naming conventions in my years of working with theWord, e-Sword, and MySword. I have even used different naming conventions over the years to my own pain in the later years. So let me just put out there some of the things as I see them.

Author’s Name and Book Title

We start with this. Some people like to put the author’s name after the book title.

Attributes of God by Arthur Pink.

The problem I see with this is that you need to classify these books somehow. The idea is that your classification system should be consistent to always lead you to a specific book logically if you follow that system.

The problem with the above is very simple, you most probably will have less of a firmness on the book title than the book’s author. In the example above, is the book’s official title, “Attributes of God” or “The Attributes of God”? The issue will make you have to go to the ‘T’s” and the “A’s” to find what you are looking for. But if it is by author last name (providing you know who wrote it) then you go to the “Ps” and will find it quickly.

In this case, “Attributes” is probably the keyword that will get you to the specific Pink book, and it will give you any other “Attributes of God” books by other authors, but this is going to be a search on all modules. No way around it.

So I would use the convention of Author’s last name as the first element in the title. Then I would put the book title.

Should we include a prefix “The” when the book title has one?

On the matter of naming a module, I would save that space and opt not to add it. The filename is not a place for a long description of the book. “The” rarely implies much or adds much to meaning of the book. If the book title is “The only Savior” then I would include it.

And what about compound last names

In such a case as Theodore Austin-Sparks, I would always use Austin-Sparks as the author’s last name. Note that in SEO and web page search results, Google’s SEO principles would like the key search terms to 4 words. Austin-Sparks is one word here, and Austin Sparks is two. W. T. is doubtful that Google will identify it as a keyword, but W.T. yes. We don’t want author first name abbreviations to be identified as keywords.

Should we include the author’s first name or first initial?

In general, it is better not to include the author’s first name. In will take up space; it will also cause confusion because sometimes you just don’t know what to do with it.

For example,

The doctrine of baptism, mechanical and spiritual by Aitken, W. Hay M. H

What do you do with that first name? It is long and complicated and parts are abbreviated and parts not.

To me, most works are identified enough to know who wrote it with just their last name. In a few cases, I will add a first letter initial to clarify.

Horatius Bonar was a Presbyterian minister who wrote a good number of books. His brother Andrew Bonar was also a pastor and writer but wrote fewer books. So in this case any “Bonar” books to me would be Horatius, and any books by Andrew Bonar, I would use “Bonar, A”. Another case would be the difference between Alexander Hodge and Charles Hodge his father. The more prominent author is the father.

How long should the filename be?

Basically, the answer is however long the author + title is But in some cases, you can abbreviate the title. I would do so when possible. We need both the filename and the abbreviation showing in the program to be short. In the Title field or in the actual text, put the full long title of the book.

Should we add additional information?

I opted for yes at one point, but afterward, the abbreviations become confusing. I was putting the author affiliation in brackets {} and the category in parentheses (). Later I found upon uploading the actual file to my sites in the Internet, the process stripped the brackets and parentheses from the filename. Great :(

So I think it is more confusing than helpful so I am reverting to more simple things.

What extensions should we use?

First of all, if you create a new module in theWord, it will default to the type of file you are creating. In most cases, a book will have the module extension abbreviation, twm. You might need to add gbk.twm so that it is clear what it is.

Modules that are structured as a commentary (each chapter has to be a verse of a chapter of a book, a book, or a chapter in a book of the Bible), and these are named .cmt.twm. Note that cmt extension really refers to the structure of the module. A commentary can also be in the form of a regular book, and should be named gbk.twm.

The same is true with dictionaries.Although this information is not really necessary, these are small tips to help the user to know what is going on as far as the structure of the module.

See more Module Creation Posts

• 01c Editing Module Properties Settings Action Tab
• 01c Editing Module Properties General Properties
• 01b Editing Module Properties General Properties
• 01a Editing Module Properties overview
• 00 Module Creation Overview

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