Vscode-extension-for-zowe: Zowe conformance, logo etc

[Colin-Stone]

Three points John Mertic has highlighted to me regarding the entry on marketplace
1) The name is just 'Zowe' - we should instead be more accurate as in 'VS Code plugin for Zowe' or 'Visual Studio Code plugin for Zowe'
2) The logo, if we want to incorporate Zowe, should use the proper logo. I can help get a new logo for you that is a combination of the Zowe logo and the offering name
3) And we should get this Zowe Conformant :slightly_smiling_face:. Or if that doesn't make sense, at least incorporated into the OMP landscape.

[Colin-Stone]

@zFernand0 Do you know how we would go about changing the marketplace information?.

[zFernand0]

Hey @Colin-Stone, a few comments about each point:

1. The name is just 'Zowe' - we should instead be more accurate as in 'VS Code plugin for Zowe' or 'Visual Studio Code plugin for Zowe'

Are you referring to the Publisher information, or rather the extension itself.

• It's fairly easy to update the Publisher information (display-name, Doc sitt, GH link, support info...)
• It's not possible to change a Name of a published extension without losing all the metadata (downloads, ratings...) since it's tied to publisherName.extensionName. See https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/25988#issuecomment-304358692

We could change the display name on package.json, no problem with that.
https://github.com/zowe/vscode-extension-for-zowe/blob/5ba603067465a2d7451336625ec1db02017d6c47/i18n/sample/package.i18n.json#L2

1. The logo, if we want to incorporate Zowe, should use the proper logo. I can help get a new logo for you that is a combination of the Zowe logo and the offering name

The logo can be changed as well, since it's part of the publisher information.

1. And we should get this Zowe Conformant 🙂. Or if that doesn't make sense, at least incorporated into the OMP landscape.

We do not have any direction/guidelines on what is and isn't required to for an IDE extension to be conformant. I believe it's a good idea to establish these standards, that way we can incorporate IDE extensions into the Conformance page and also encourage people to create their own 😄

[Colin-Stone]

Thanks Fernando. I think it should be quite straightforward then. Update the display name, incorporate the revised icon John Mertic provided me with and decide what conformance rules we want to apply

[MikeBauerCA]

This extension has significant adoption under its current name and logo. I would propose any name and/or logo changes go through appropriate UX & ZLC approvals.

I'll add that long names are not displayed well in the marketplace. In the README, the extension is referred to as the "Visual Studio Code Extension for Zowe"

Since it is hosted on the Visual Studio Code marketplace, I also think stating that it is a Visual Studio Code Extension in the marketplace name would be unnecessary.

[jelaplan]

Well, there is a lot here to consider. I'm partial to Mike Bauer's response about publishing something in the store / marketplace with a name that begins with VS Code for the reasons he states. But where we are presenting it at a conference or to a customer, it makes sense to refer to it that way to provide context and it seems we already do that in the README. I just don't see it making sense as the official name. It seems from Fernando's comments that you are looking to NOT change the name in the marketplace but rather just how it appears in the IDE. Therein again, I'm not a fan of VS Code plugin for Zowe' because if it is a Zowe Plugin (actually the term is extension) and you are in VS Code then that is all redundant. Maybe you could make the name more specific - Zowe Extension, Zowe Explorer, Zowe Finder, Zowe Browser. The example explorer, is the name of the built in file system panel so it has a certain consisetncy and since Microsoft uses that name for their Windows file browser it makes sense. That said, MS might have copyright to the term explorer.

WRT the logo, I'd reserve judgement until John M created something. I've talked to @Jason Enzi in the past about the Zowe logo and I don't think it was a super refined process. But, generally with logos, branding people tend to cringe at creating ad hoc variations. Is John M suggesting that we place a logo alongside the name of the extension? So something like X Zowe or X Zowe Explorer where X is the logo?

[solsu01]

My recommendation would be to call it "zowe explorer" akin to "windows explorer" which lets you look at files on windows. I do think calling the extension just "zowe" is a bit too broad.

We can call it whatever we want in the Zowe/OMP space, but please do not call it 'VS Code plugin for Zowe' or 'Visual Studio Code plugin for Zowe' in the VS Code marketplace. This extension exists in the VS Code marketplace. So it would be like saying "Microsoft VS Code plugin for VS Code plugin for Zowe".

[RASakach]

I second the recommendation to call it "Zowe explorer". By making it available in the VS Code Marketplace it is implied to be VS Code applicable. Calling it Zowe, translates to "Mainframe" or even "Open Mainframe", so I would expect folks would begin to understand it to mean "a mainframe exploration tool that works with Visual Studio Code". Simple, concise, applicable.

[Colin-Stone]

Okay so we could change the display name to "Zowe Explorer", maybe create a graphic combining the zowe icon with say a tree decorator

..I'm not an artist though.
And from a compliance point of view could any extenders built on top of the Zowe Explorer reference that name and graphic?.

[MikeBauerCA]

I propose just changing the display name and leaving the logo alone. I agree with @solsu01 that calling the extension just "Zowe" is too broad. @jelaplan, thanks for the mock-up!

[jelaplan]

Here is a proposal for the VS Code Marketplace. I reviewed this with Mike Bauer and we agree. We aren't changing the logo which I would prefer to avoid since brand identity is a delicate thing. I touched up the text to be better get to the point.

I wonder if we might simply write 'Zowe Explorer extension' and drop the 'for Visual Studio code' because the latter is redundant.

[MikeBauerCA]

I think we should just call it the Zowe Explorer in all documentation and drop the "extension for Visual Studio Code" from the official name.

[Colin-Stone]

So from my perspective all we need to change is the displayName value in package.nls.json to Zowe Explorer and we can ship with the new name in our next version (0.27) The name of the package will have to stay the same "name": "vscode-extension-for-zowe" which is the unique id that I think all of our download and stats are associated with. @MikeBauerCA do we still need agreement from the ZLC/John Mertic or can we go ahead and make this change now?.

[MikeBauerCA]

@jmertic @MarkAckert based on this thread, we would like to formally propose changing the name of this extension to the Zowe Explorer. I believe changes like this should be run by the ZLC and agreed upon. Could you please raise this to the ZLC as soon as possible and let us know the result here?

[jmertic]

Hey! One thing that this project should is ensure that the naming is inline with the Linux Foundation Trademark Guidelines.

In terms of ZLC, I'm not sure what jurisdiction they have here. Naming should be something handled by the individual project as far as I know.

[MikeBauerCA]

@jmertic since this component is part of Zowe, do you see any issue with the name "Zowe Explorer"?

[jmertic]

I'm uncomfortable providing advice here - from everything I've seen the only components of Zowe are the CLI, API Mediation Layer, and App Framework. There's not a lot of clarity of how these other components fit in or are governed, so it would be best to get that clarified first.

[jelaplan]

Hey! One thing that this project should is ensure that the naming is inline with the Linux Foundation Trademark Guidelines.

In terms of ZLC, I'm not sure what jurisdiction they have here. Naming should be something handled by the individual project as far as I know.

John, I reviewed the trademark guidelines. For the reason quoted below, the spirit of the doc, and general branding best practices, we decided to not do any tweaks to he logo. The change to append the term explorer to Zowe Explorer is not different in spirit to Zowe CLI, or Zowe App Framework.

• "A trademark should not be altered or amended in any way. A mark should not be combined with any other mark, hyphenated, abbreviated or displayed in parts."

[jmertic]

I definitely understand where you are coming from and agree with your logic.

My big challenge is understanding how this project fits into the Zowe overall governance - it's not all that clear. I think if that could be resolved then the point you are making becomes much easier.

[solsu01]

Sounds like we need Zowe Explorer to be a ZLC topic, so it can be put in context alongside the other major Zowe components.

BTW here's where the Zowe Explorer lives in the Zowe ecosystem:

[jmertic]

That likely makes sense - clarity on projects and tools like this would be super helpful for me and others.

[MikeBauerCA]

@MarkAckert could you bring this up as a topic of discussion with the ZLC? We could also link to it in the Zowe downloads, but may want to wait for the 1.0 release.

@Colin-Stone I believe we are okay to make the display name change in preparation for the 1.0 release.

[jelaplan]

Can we change the subject line on the Marketplace? It currently is written as Visual Studio Code Extension for Zowe. Can we make it Zowe Explorer Extension for VS Code?

Who has the authority to make these changes?

[BrandonJenkins14]

@jelaplan - The content on the marketplace is an exact copy of the Readme.md in https://github.com/zowe/vscode-extension-for-zowe

@IgorCATech has been taking care of the Readme lately. Are we still waiting on some sort of vote/approval, or shall we make the change ASAP?

[zFernand0]

FYI, the "description" (i.e. VS Code extension, powered by Zowe CLI...) comes from the package.nls.json

[Colin-Stone]

Based on @Colin-Stone I believe we are okay to make the display name change in preparation for the 1.0 release. The name change was made to coincide with version 0.27.

Reopening this issue to satisfy Can we change the subject line on the Marketplace? It currently is written as Visual Studio Code Extension for Zowe. Can we make it Zowe Explorer Extension for VS Code?

[MikeBauerCA]

@jmertic since this a component of Zowe itself, do we have any flexibility on the naming? For example, we call the CLI component of Zowe, the Zowe CLI rather than the CLI for Zowe. Can we refer to this component of Zowe as the Zowe Explorer Visual Studio Code Extension in documentation rather than the Visual Studio Code Extension for Zowe?

[Joe-Winchester]

@MikeBauerCA - Looking at other https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/vscode others don't seem to include Visual Studio Code or Extension in their names. The name is useful for folks searching and being short means it won't be clipped. What about Zowe Explorer for z/OS or just Zowe ?

[MikeBauerCA]

@Joe-Winchester in this thread, there were comments on Zowe alone being too broad. Zowe Explorer seems narrow enough and I would prefer to not make another change to the display name if possible. Inside the README though, we could refer to the extension simply as the Zowe Explorer. For external documentation on zowe.org though, my understanding is that we should initially provide the VS Code context so that viewers do not confuse the technology with the various explorers that are part of the Zowe Web Desktop.
For search-ability, I opened #299 to update the tags on the marketplace.

[jelaplan]

@BrandonJenkins14 what is the process for changing that readme text? Does it need to change on a branch and then a pull request? Does someone own that text?

[BrandonJenkins14]

@jelaplan The deed is done! Check out the Readme here https://github.com/zowe/vscode-extension-for-zowe