What should this site be called now that it's getting a design?

Question

UPDATE: New site name chosen!

This site is now "Code Golf & Coding Challenges"

Thank you all so much for participating in this discussion!

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As we're designing the site, we are considering the name and how the logo/wordmark of the site will look (be excited, that means we're actually in-progress!!!). In our discussions internally, there was a question of what y'all actually call this site. As an outsider, I tend to refer to it as "PPCG" but I think a lot of people call it "Code Golf". I'm not sure many people write out the full name in most cases because of the length.

So, as part of this site redesign, since the design and its logo will be your branding for (hopefully) forever we want to ask you to choose:

1. Keep Programming Puzzles & Code Golf
2. Change to Code Golf

There is a third option - a new name entirely - but this comes with a lot of complications such as changing the site URL and completely rebranding the site which will delay this process quite a bit (6 months, probably) as it will require a lot of internal work and discussion (see the many-year process for switching Programmers to Software Engineering). Because "Code Golf" is pretty commonly used already and it's the URL for the site currently, the thinking is that it won't be too much of a change for the site identity.

Before you start deciding, I'd like to bring up a few thoughts I've had while talking with mods on this site and our design team:

Design concerns

I'm starting here with what may be the most pragmatic of the concerns and what brought this discussion up on our end... we have about 400x70 px (width, height) to work with for both a logo and wordmark for our site. Fitting "Programming Puzzles & Code Golf" (31) in that space can be done - it's definitely an option - but it will likely limit our choices as we balance fit with design.

Some examples of sites with long names (which are all at least slightly shorter than PPCG):

Geographic Information Systems (30)

Theoretical Computer Science (28)

English Language Learners (25)

What I see is that we've solved the long name problem in the past by either using narrower fonts or less spacing between letters, or putting the site name on two lines. Both of these solutions have the effect of making the wordmark seem a bit scrunched but, importantly, they don't look bad.

Oh, and if you're wondering about the max width - because of the responsive design, on mobile, we need to support phones as narrow as about 320px wide. If a wordmark is wider than that it will have to get sized down to fit on those screens without going off the side. A small amount of this looks fine, since the viewing distance is shorter but too much and it can start to be more difficult to read.

Scope & Branding

I've poked around a bit and talked to your mods a little and what I've found in the past is that there's been some discussion about the site name here for reasons of scope accuracy and branding. This seemed to be a big part of the discussion in 2015 about the site name.

The current top three choices there are:

1. No change - 39 (+59/-20)
2. Code Sport - 38 (+51/-13)
3. Code Golf - 31 (+45/-14)

Now, it's been a few years since that was posted and I'm not sure that the points about programming puzzles vs code golfing discussed in some of the answers are still accurate. What I do see is that the recent voting on that post indicates that the more recent votes (since 2017) are split about 50/50 on keeping PPCG (+6/-5) but unanimous on shortening to Code Golf (+11) or changing to Code Sport (+8) and Code Games seems to be gaining popularity, too (+11).

I do understand the concerns about site name descriptiveness. It's a complicated issue that is unlikely to ever have a perfect solution. As they say, naming is hard. Other sites on the network have to deal with this; Arqade isn't only about arcade games, Movies & TV isn't a place to ask questions about setting up your television. Bitcoin (for now, anyway) accepts questions about many different cryptocurrencies in addition to Bitcoin specifically.

There will always be a struggle with balancing scope with a descriptive site name, which is why I think so many companies choose non-descriptive words for their company names - and we've done it in a few places like Seasoned Advice.

So, considering the above - and anything else you've been thinking about...

What should this site be called and why?

Answer 1

Code Golf with a subtitle

The site's main purpose is code golf, but not its only purpose (really, this is a site about competitive programming in general, it's just that code golf is by far the most common sort of competition for good reason). It would make sense to have the name of "code golf" emphasised in the title, but to include a subtitle on the word mark to make it clear that the site isn't (yet) entirely consumed by shortening byte counts. (The readability of the subtitle would be comparatively unimportant; people would still get mostly the right idea from just the title.)

My best idea so far is

Code Golf

and other programming challenges

Admittedly, CGAOPC is pretty terrible as an acronym, so the site's title would still have to be "Code Golf", but I think that'd look fairly good on a wordmark and make it clear what the site is about. Code Golf works fine as a name within Stack Exchange; it's only outside it that the name has trouble referring to a particular site (just like, say, softwareengineering.stackexchange.com has "Software Engineering" as its wordmark, but is named "Software Engineering Stack Exchange" in its <title> as "Software Engineering" would be too ambiguous as the name of a website).

Answer 2

Code Golf

As in our previous discussion, I think we should shorten our name to Code Golf.

Design or not, Programming Puzzles & Code Golf is simply too long. We rarely ever spell it out, so we end up with a cryptic abbreviation outsiders don't understand. While Code Golf doesn't cover all of our topics, it's certainly more descriptive than PPCG. Even the full name does a rather poor job, as pure programming puzzles (opposed to programming challenges) are not completely on topic.

Branding is important too, so I don't think we should switch to an entirely different name. While Code Games and Code Sports do a better job describing our scope, Code Golf was the original name of our Area 51 proposal and has been the subdomain of our site—and the name other SE communities have been using to refer to us—for the past eight years.

Finally, I think Code Golf does a fine job hinting what our site is about, like Stack Overflow does for our Q&A that isn't just about stack overflows. Most of our challenges are code golf anyway, it's certainly more recognizable than Code Games and Code Sports, and anybody who interacts a bit with our site (by looking at the tags, for example) should be able to tell that we aren't Only Code Golf.

Answer 3

Keep

Programming Puzzles & Code Golf

I would like to continue using the name we've had for the last few years because that is what we all are used to now and that is what we all refer to it. Using the abbreviation PPCG is now quite established and unambiguous, even if it maybe isn't the most descriptive name you could think of now after it has developed itself so much since the start of this SE site.

Answer 4

Code Golf & Challenges

(22 bytes)

I thinks this alternative is a brief solution to the problem many people take issue with. Yes, our current title is decidedly too long. This answer, however, maintains the essence of the old title without all the unnecessary characters.

For reference, following this paragraph is a list of the 10 longest official site names, obtained from this list. Under the new name, in terms of length, we'd be shorter than Gardening & Landscaping (23), same as Electrical Engineering (22), and longer than Computational Science (21). I think that would nestle our site quite neatly in the length hierarchy. After all, shaving 9 bytes can go a long way.

Software Quality Assurance & Testing (36)
Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair (34)
History of Science and Mathematics (34)
Programming Puzzles & Code Golf (31)
Geographic Information Systems (30)
Theoretical Computer Science (28)
Stack Overflow em Português (27)
Genealogy & Family History (26)
Computer Science Educators (26)
Science Fiction & Fantasy (25)

^{(Paste.ee containing the list, ordered by character length ascending and descending.)}

Answer 5

This is golfing trichoplax's subtitle, also as a specific proposal to ais523's idea to have a subtitle in the wordmark.

Code Golf

& coding contests

• The "other" is omitted to make the text snappier. While, yes, technically code golf is a subset of coding contests, I think people will understand this and we don't need to spend words in the logo to address it.
• The ampersand & is shorter than and. It's commonly used in site names, like "Science Fiction & Fantasy" and our current one.
• The second "code" is changed to "coding" to avoid having the word "code" twice. I like how "coding contests" matches in rhythm and alliterates -- I think the whole title sounds nice when read.
• The "Golf" is capitalized, as is in our current logo. The subtitle is not.

Answer 6

"Code Golf" is the largest group of questions here (91% of non-closed questions since 2017 according to xnor), but they are certainly not the only questions. So while codegolf makes sense for the subdomain, having a longer full site name makes a lot of sense.

In order to keep "Code Golf" primary, while keeping the overall name descriptive:

Code Golf and Programming Challenges

This would be a flip from the original name, but fit with the general "just call it Code Golf" concept.

For a logo, Code Golf could be BIG - like ENGLISH in English Language Learners with Programming Challenges smaller. See also the https://music.stackexchange.com/ logo.

Answer 7

A few answers use the word challenge, and although that word is used in meta quite a bit as more accurate than question it doesn't seem to me to have the right connotation. To me it connotes a difficult goal where what matters is achieving it at all. There is a word which connotes the aspect of competition between answers, and as a bonus is shorter: contest. So if we're going to abandon PPCG I propose:

Code Golf & Contests

Code Contests would be snappier, but I agree with the arguments for keeping golf in the name.

Answer 8

Since other people are posting minor variations of existing answers, here is my take which is a combination of two previous answers:

Code Golf

& challenges

or alternatively:

Code Golf

& coding challenges

or

Code Golf

& other challenges

First of all, I think @ais523_permanent_community_wiki's suggestion of using a subtitle is great. We emphasize the term 'Code Golf' as our main title, and add a relevant sub-title below it. His answer already explains the reasoning behind it, which I can only agree with (and given the amount of upvotes in his answer, others agree with as well).

Second, I think we should get rid of the term 'programming', so new users are less likely to come to us thinking it's a Q&A. Although I've seen some answers use the term '& coding contests', I personally prefer @ConorO'Brien's answer with 'Code Golf & challenges.
The term 'challenges' is already a commonly accepted term in the PPCG community. When new users post a question that would belong on StackOverflow, we explain that PPCG is about programming challenges and we direct them to SO. When a new user posts a challenge that can be perfected, we direct them to the Sandbox of Proposed Challenges. When we search for the term 'challenge' we -currently- get 165 pages of results, whereas with the term 'contest' we -currently- only get 11 pages of results. The only time I hear the term 'contest' is with popularity-contest challenges, which are rather off-topic in our current meta (unless it's a cops-and-robbers challenge). If we look at the newest [popularity-contest] challenges and select the first which isn't [cops-and-robbers] nor [closed], it would be this one from the start of 2018.

So, although 'contests' isn't a bad term either, my preference would go to 'challenges' since it's already a commonly accepted term within our community.

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EDIT: In addition, as correctly pointed out by @trichoplax in the comments below. The term 'contests' suggest a ranked system and a competition. Whereas the term 'challenge' suggests something to achieve. Although they are rather similar, I see one key differences: in 'contests' people compete against each other; whereas in 'challenges' one (or multiple people with each other) accomplishes an achievement.
If we were really competing against each other, people would also rather post a shorter answer themselves in the same language, instead of suggesting a golf on an existing answer.
I personally do these code-golf challenges for my own enjoyment, and whether I have the shortest answer in an 05AB1E answer, or the longest answer in a Java answer is irrelevant. Which is why, in combination that it already is a pretty common term within our community, I prefer the term 'challenges' over 'contests'.

Answer 9

I agree with the answer suggesting "Code golf and a subtitle" but it's difficult to tell whether people are voting for that general concept, or for the specific example of a subtitle given there.

I'd like to see a subtitle but I'd prefer this one:

Code golf

and other code contests

Answer 10

Competitive Programming

It's short, simple, descriptive, and encompasses all of what we do here.

Answer 11

Code Competitions and Golf

We need to mention "Code Golf" in the title because it makes up a large portion of all open questions (as manassehkatz quoted xnor). We still should address that we are okay with other programming competitions, since 9% is still a notable percentage, hence the name ("Code Competitions/Golf").

EDIT: edited the name to address manassehkatz's concern

EDIT: edited the name to address Jo King's concern.

Answer 12

Programming Puzzles

What if you don't know the rules of golf? How would you then interpret the term 'code golf'? For all you know, 'code golf' doesn't need to mean the shortest amount of bytes. If you're a match player (although rare to find in international tournaments), then winning is not determined by the number of strokes.

And even if you do, what does Python, for example, have to do with club hitting a golf ball? It's not immediately clear. Or are you coding a golfing video game?

What you are in fact doing is constructing programming to achieve a certain goal. But you do not necessarily take into consideration its actual usability. You're not coding software for your job, it's for fun. The term 'programming challenges' can be applicable to serious work requirements as well. It does not explain that you should probably not be using CJam for say, aircraft firmware.

A puzzle is defined as 'a game, toy, or problem designed to test ingenuity or knowledge', and it is applicable here, because it does take skill to win a code-golf

Answer 13

Code Underflow

PROS:

• Fixes the issue with just "Code Golf" being too ambiguous.
• Every reason in the "Code Golf" answer (except "Code Golf was the original name of our Area 51 proposal and has been the subdomain of our site—and the name other SE communities have been using to refer to us—for the past eight years." (Dennis 1).)

CONS:

• Code Underflow has (only) a vague reference to Code Golf.
• It doesn't mention other programming puzzles.
• (Integer) underflow suggests a very large positive number, and only ever occurs in an attempt to represent a negative number – this doesn't really make sense with regard to any challenge common on the site.

EDIT: I am making this answer community wiki so other users can update the pros/cons