In today’s tech Tuesday article, let’s discuss field names.
I’m currently auditing a client’s data model. The team created the following roll-up fields:
- Number of Occupied Spaces
- Number of Unoccupied Accessible Spaces
- Number of Unoccupied Female Spaces
- Number of Unoccupied Male Spaces
- Number of Unoccupied Spaces
- Total Spaces
A couple of issues strike me immediately:
- The naming convention isn’t consistent. Some start with “Number of” while the last one is simple “Total”
- The fields aren’t front loaded. This is a UX principle that says labels should start with the most important word(s). They should also avoid repeating words, as it’s harder to distinguish fields.
I proposed replacing them with standard “{Type of Space} Spaces {Space Status}”, where {Type of Space} is “Accessible”, “Female”, “Male” and {Space Status} is “Occupied”, “Unoccupied”.
The results are:
- Spaces Occupied
- Accessible Spaces Unoccupied
- Female Spaces Unoccupied
- Male Spaces Unoccupied
- Spaces Unoccupied
- Total Spaces
The takeaway
Having a clear field naming standard is important for clarity and understanding. Be sure to have a well-defined standard before creating custom fields.
Category:
Salesforce