PcbNew: what's the name?

In Kicad’s main window it is “PCB Editor”.
In Erschema’s toolbar button tooltip it’s “board editor”.
In the bug tracker it’s “Pcbnew” most of the time.

What’s the consistent official name in this day and age :slight_smile:?

PCB editor and board editor are both fine when discussing. I think there was some discussion that using “PCB” everywhere in the UI is clunky (which I agree with) – i.e. “open board editor”, “board setup” etc sound nicer than “PCB setup”. However, PCB is more formal so we went with that in the titlebar.

“PcbNew” is used internally by the development team (and on the bug tracker) to refer to a section of the codebase. We no longer want to use it in user-facing areas as we are trying to move past the historical KiCad that was a collection of mostly-independent programs, and each program having its own “branding” is a potential source of confusion to new users.

You forgot “Layout editor”. :slight_smile:

There’s one advantage with “pcbnew”: it can cover both the layout and the footprint editor more easily than PCB or Board or Layout Editor. Many features (and bugs) are shared between the layout and the footprint editors because the code is shared.

I’m not sure I’d call that an advantage. In the codebase they are not that shared – they are separate enough that we want separate labels in GitLab. For the user, I would rather they be explicit about whether they are in the footprint editor or the board editor.

Is “layout editor” used somewhere?

Thx. Going forward I’ll use “PCB Editor” in the bug tracker or in discussions.
And I was sooo used to good ol’ pcbnew. /sob/
:slight_smile:

I should clarify, using pcbnew on the bug tracker is fine. And, I don’t think anyone minds if people refer to it as pcbnew anywhere. We’re trying to fix the “what is pcbold then?” and “wait I thought I installed KiCad, why is it talking about eeschema?” for new users, but that doesn’t have to impact existing users with nostalgia :slight_smile:

(half the time that someone posts asking what is going on with the names “eeschema” or “pcbnew”, someone repliess with some version of “ok so KiCad is actually this loose collection of different applications…”, and that’s really not true anymore)

Ok, [\kidding]
I was also a mild hint to make the wording consistent in the GUI throughout the application(s) at some point in time.

Probably not in the application or official documentation. Informal discussions here are of course a different thing.

It’s really difficult to get rid of it. I jumped into KiCad before v5.0 and IIRC the attempt to get rid of the names had started or at least discussed, or it was discussed and decided soon after. I think it’s a good decision and tried to get rid of the names in my own writings, but they had already stuck and it feels impossible to avoid them now. It’s not just about habit but also the positive emotional attachment. Something unique is lost when we talk about PCB editor (very generic name, could be any EDA) instead of Pcbnew (totally unique).

Well, as I described, we actually discussed if it should be consistent everywhere or not and decided perhaps not (PCB vs board was deemed formal/informal and both acceptable in the English strings; other languages may decide otherwise). You’re welcome to open an issue about it and we can revisit it…

If there are usages other than PCB/board, we should clean those up though.

Something unique is lost when we talk about PCB editor (very generic name, could be any EDA) instead of Pcbnew (totally unique).

This is fair, although I would say the full name is “KiCad PCB Editor” not just “PCB Editor”, so if there is a possibility of confusion with other EDA tools I would use the full name, and just “PCB Editor” when everyone knows you are talking about KiCad.

That said, I don’t think it will be a problem to continue referring to PcbNew for a long time if desired, you’ll just have to explain to new users if they ask :slight_smile:

Yeah, somewhat unique, that’s true.
I feel the same ( i’m using KiCad since 2017 I think).
But does that have any value “marketing-wise” or in the user experience? I think that’s what will count in the long run. Unless KiCad wants to stay unique ;-).

The direction KiCad is going, the PCB and schematic editors will just be two of many windows you can open from KiCad. We don’t have unique marketing or a cool name for the “Run DRC” dialog either :wink: I think improved marketing for KiCad as a whole is a better plan than having “sub-brands”.

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10 messages in the first hour. Gosh.

I’ve been using “Pcbnew” for years. It’s been the name printed in it’s title for several mayor KiCad versions including KiCad V5.1.x

KiCad-nightly V5.99 has been rebranded to “PCB Editor” as craftyjon already wrote.
So for now I use both names in forum messages, depending on which KiCad version is used.
If there is no version mentioned in the post, I default to V5.1.x, and thus “Pcbnew”.
After KiCad V6 is released I will probably forget about “Pcbnew”.

NOOOOOOOO!!! :scream: :grimacing: :cry: :sob:

Let the old go to make room for the new (New-Age hint).
Or maybe some Luise Hay affirmations?
Like “I like using PCB Editor. It is easy to let Pcbnew go.”
:slight_smile: :slight_smile:

Must be old age.

I still have a memory of some KiCad version stacking all footprints on top of each other upon the first import in Pcbnew. So some things stick around, even if they’re not my fondest memories.

Stockholm syndrome. At some point you start loving your torturer

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Are the binaries going to be renamed too? I.e. pcbnew.exe

We have no plans to rename the binaries or other places the names are used in the code.

Standalone binaries may be disappearing in v7

At the moment at least the official Windows installer puts Pcbnew etc. into the Start menu. That’s quite prominent place for the end users to see those names.