page-object API should be more similar to watir API

I have just created issue 102 for page-object gem. After I wrote it, I thought it would be a good blog post too, so I am reposting it here. If you agree, or not, please comment at GitHub issue, not here.

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I am pretty sure I am not the only one that has experience with watir API, and gets confused because page-object gem uses different names for some page elements.

Examples:

HTML	watir	page-object
td	td	cell
hidden	hidden	hidden_field
img	img	image
a	a	link
li	li	list_item
ol	ol	ordered_list
p	p	paragraph
input type="radio"	radio	radio_button
select	select	select_list
td	td	cell
textarea	textarea	text_area
ul	ul	unordered_list

I am all for making the API human-friendly, that is what watir tried to do in the beginning. After a few years we have noticed that people are getting confused with the API that sometimes uses the same names as HTML, and sometimes does not.

I would suggest that you leave the existing API as is and to create aliases for the people that are familiar with HTML and watir APIs.

Example: we should be able to access unordered list with both unordered_list and ul.

For more people thinking page-object API should be more similar to watir API, take a look at Alister's Roll your own page objects blog post (and comments).