A senior dev told me my component naming was garbage and I fought back until I tried their method

Been using Figma for about 4 years and always named my components however felt right at the moment. Last project in Chicago, a senior dev I was handing off to spent 10 minutes going through my file and said my naming was gonna cause them hours of extra work. I told them it was fine because I understood my own system. They made me sit there while they renamed 3 of my components using something like Button/Primary/Large instead of BigBlueClickThing. I realized after that one change how much easier it was to find things. Now I use a strict Category/Type/State pattern and my handoffs are way smoother. What naming convention do you guys use that actually works for your dev team?

2 comments

2 Comments

elliot_harris251h ago

Wait, shouldn't state come after type like Button/Large/Primary?

bailey.xena25m ago

Honestly, I've been thinking the same thing but it kind of reminds me of how we organize stuff in real life. Like when you're picking out clothes, you'd never say "Large/Blue/Button-down" first, you'd start with the type of shirt, then the size, then the color. It just makes more sense to go from the biggest category down to the smallest detail, you know? So yeah, I totally get why state after type feels more natural, it's like we're wired to group things from general to specific without even realizing it.