Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Need some suggestions

Does anyone have any suggestions for a better name for the Home Theater Wizard? Something that might be clearer to new visitors - something that still explains *what* it is, but doesn't have more letters than Home Theater Wizard?

Axiom Advisor
HT Whiz
Audio for Dummies



Straws, grasping at.

You're asking a lot, Home Theater Wizard is pretty clear and concise. If you're looking to save space you could call it "configurator" or "assistant" add then add "HT", "product" or "speaker" in front of it if you want to be more specific.

Of course if space is the problem you could always replace the words with a symbol like that of "the artist formerly known as Prince" and people would click on it out of curiosity.

B.A.R.T. (Bank account reduction tool).

Speaker Wizard
Speaker Configurator (sp?)
Speaker/HT Guide

Gees, this stuff is hard.

Upon reflection Home Theater Wizard can't be beat.

Why does it have to be fewer letters? If it's more space you need on the menu then you could always change "Message Boards" to "Fora".

H.T. Spec-Meister

System Advisor
Setup Doctor
Gear Guide
?????????

Speaker Consultation
Home Theater Consult...(or not - too many letters...)
System Consultation
Speaker Recommendation (too many
Custom Consultation


I also like Home Theater Wizard. It was one of the first things I checked out when I came here a long time ago. I was not confused by the title at all. I pretty mush knew that it was going to ask me some questions and recommend a set-up. After a while, you just got to go with what you have - word-smything the site won't make it better necessarily. Work on the content (which is already great) instead.

HT Consultant
HT Configurator
HT Build To Order
Speaker Consultant

Stream of thought...

WhatFurrer

"Ask Amie"

(tongue firmly in cheek) ...

Genetic Drift's Corner

Ailimental's Advisory ...

Yikes - the mandatory French classes made my latin very weak indeed - is Fora the plural of Forum?

I was hoping for something the same length or shorter to fit on the menu bar, so you guessed it. We've had people say they don't know what the home theater wizard *is*, so yes, I was trying to figure out if there was an easier way of communicating it. Some great suggestions so far, thanks.

I have the sense that if you're looking for help from the wizard, you may not know that HT means home theater.

Amie, my initial reaction was the same as most of those offered so far - that I immediately understood "Home Theatre Wizard". Axiom may simply have to accept the notion that, with ever increasing numbers of customers, the law of averages is bound to catch up with you, and that you will NEVER be able to satisfy a every single website visitor.

If you must change, I'd lobby for something like "System Advisor".

But I really favor the existing verbiage; it makes me think of an Automated-Alan.

In reply to:

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Yikes - the mandatory French classes made my latin very weak indeed - is Fora the plural of Forum?

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Yes, but if people don't understand "Home Theater Wizard" I wouldn't advise using it.

Perhaps you could keep the name, but give the link a DHTML pop-up "tip" (as demoed here), so when a curious person hovers their mouse over the link, a longer description appears.

I'm a firm believer in what I refer to as "Idiot Proofing." That doesn't mean I thing someone is an idiot. The object is to explain something so even an idiot could understand. I've found this goes a long way toward avoiding miscommunication

I gotta admit that, if someone doesn't understand "Home Theater Wizard" we might very well be dealing with folks who fall into the aforementioned category.

For oversimplification how 'bout "Design Your System," or "Design A System," or "Create A System," or the like.

Original (for length comparison):
Home Theater Wizard

Brain Dump:
System Recommendations
Speaker Package Assistant
Full System Assistant
Need Help Choosing?

I would have to agree that Home Theater Wizzard is pretty much as simple as it gets.I do however like Jacks suggestion of Create A System,with one little change,Create Your System.

a little generic but how about

Build Your System

"Build Your System" is perfect!

That too is good.I think generic is what Amie is looking for.If someone can't understand Build or Create Your System then there's no helping them

how about-
HEY STUPID CLICK HEAR IF YOU NEED HELP PICKING SPEAKERS!!!

it has a few to many letters but i think it may be what your looking for.

I'd go for the "Build"

"Do Not Click"

Ah, Mark, you stole mine! I just got home and was reading through the posts all the while thinking "Don't click here" and I finally get to the end and boom you stole my thunder!

Doh!

It's alright. I forgive you.

"Sound Advice"

AXIOMAX

or

AXIOMMAX

"Build a System", and have a nice cartoon wizard version of Alan guide you through the steps. (Kinda like Tarun's avatar, but with Alan's face)

How about

"Speaker Selector"

Shoot Amie, I think what you have is pretty self explanatory. I’d stick with it. If someone doesn’t understand what a wizard is, they’ll probably be calling anyway, that is if they can figure out how to use a phone.

Speaker Wizard ?

So it seems as though about half of you figured we should stick with the original name. And does anyone think we should just highlight it a bit on the menu bar so new visitors see it?

Hey, now there's a good idea. Just put one of those touchably smooth blue boxes around it and it'll be irresistable.

I keep waiting for you to do it!

And he keeps waiting to get hired...

It's never polite to keep a lady waiting.



The button definitely calls attention to itself, but it looks a little of place. It also may not a good idea to use the same shape as a button here, since similar shapes are not buttons elsewhere. Don't want any UI confusion!

Now that I see it on the page like that, I guess I could see a newb getting a little confused by the name.

I realize this is not a discussion about the wizard itself but IMO it would be a lot more useful if one of the two following changes could be made :

1. After picking price range and being presented with a combination, have the ability to go back and change something without re-entering from scratch.

2. Don't bother asking about price and just present a range of options. Anyone I have talked to about the wizard offers a comment along the lines of "gee, I'm trying to figure out what I get for spending extra... if I knew how much I was going to spend I would have already bought 'em".

I've passed that input on to the *actual* wizard; thanks.

The button does totally stand out more like that - thanks Peter! We're making gradual changes to the wizard right now and thought that the name might be a good thing to change too. Right now we've enabled a feature where you can email the wizard results to yourself, and you can also email them to an audio expert. Tim is in Hong Kong right now on summer holidays (that's gotta be hot!!) but when he returns he'll be coming up with an HTML template for the email. We would also like to take it out of its existing pop-up and put it on its own pages - that would be a good time to enable a little running history at the bottom that shows you your answers and lets you change them.

>>We would also like to take it out of its existing pop-up and put it on its own pages

Great idea !!

Well, phase one of this project is done now. If you go through the wizard today, you have the option of sending yourself the results in HTML, or of sending the results to a home theater expert to ask questions. Next step: removing the pop-up. (These things take *so* many dock meetings to decide on in the summer . . .)

Yeah Amie, I'm sure those dock meetings are a real drag. . .


Man, I envy you guys!