Blueprints: Find new name

[adamziel]

As Matt said during WCEU 2024 keynote, the name „Blueprints" will change. Let's find that new name.

Some names that came up:

• Paths
• Adventures
• Quests
• Journeys
• Mixtapes
• Playbooks
• Recipes
• Presets
• Puzzles

CC @sfougnier

[bgrgicak]

Puzzles would be my favorite from the list.

[sfougnier]

Playbook makes sense in both the Playground metaphor and as a translation of the original intention of Blueprints:

• A Playground is the sandbox where you can play with WordPress, and a Playbook is the output of that play session.
• Similar to a Blueprint, a Playbook still implies the idea of a sketch or plan.

[adamziel]

@sfougnier thank you! One thing that came up with Playbooks is how Ansible already uses that name. Do you think that's an issue at all?

https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/playbook_guide/playbooks_intro.html

[thetinyl]

Out of the list above, I agree with @sfougnier about "Playbook" as a solid contender. It's quick to understand and connects on the levels that Saul already mentioned, as well as doubles down on the sense of "play" (literally).

One thing that came up with Playbooks is how Ansible already uses that name. Do you think that's an issue at all?

This is always the struggle when using language that's easy to grasp because it's universal. Is Ansible something that the largest Playground audience segment will be very well aware of? If so, and the desire is to be more unique and memorable, then that could be a reason not to use "playbook" for Playground.

Some additional naming thoughts for consideration:

• Tracks: Tracks, for me, came from traces or tracing which feels like a similar starting point (as a blueprint) vs. starting from a blank page. Tracks also nods to following someone's footsteps/previous work—this works both ways, cause we make tracks in the sand for others to follow. Lastly, if we want to get extra deep on a brand level... "tracks" also connect us to the jazz/musical influence that beats at the heart of WordPress.
• Jots or Scribbles: Thinking about the early stages of drawing, stick figures, unfinished thoughts, empty structures, etc. Someone has an idea or an experiment, they jot it down in Playground for someone else to build on or remix.

[sfougnier]

Thanks @thetinyl!

Is Ansible something that the largest Playground audience segment will be very well aware of?

@adamziel How familiar is our target audience with Ansible? From a technical perspective, Is the mental model too similar to Playground?

[akirk]

Thinking along the lines of Playbook, what about Playlist (since we had already mentioned mixtape)?

[adamziel]

I don't expect most of them to know what playbooks in Ansible are.

Probably the most advanced technical part of the audience, so extenders and people potentially contributing to Playground Core. But most of them, as in educators, testers, designers, everyday users, I don't suppose most of them will have that knowledge.

The extender audience is super important, but it won't be the majority of the users in the long term. What do you think? And what would be the downside of them being familiar with Ansible playbooks? Why would that be a bad thing?

And by the way, Alex, thanks, I love "playlists".

[sfougnier]

Okay, thanks for clarifying that. As long as Ansible isn't a direct competitor, it's likely okay if the name is the same. Based on your description of the audience's familiarity, the term Playbook is not specifically owned by Ansible.

I vote for Playbook as a more branded name and Presets as a second choice.

Playlist could work, but it's a slightly different metaphor, and the term is already closely associated with music players. If we are having difficulty landing on a branded riff on "play" for this, Presets could still feel clear and utilitarian enough to work.

[adrianduffell]

How about calling it a "build file" or Playgroundfile? I think the naming needs to be kept simple and intuitive for newcomers to understand. Playgroundfile might work because it keeps the playful name while sticking to the conventions seen in similar tooling.

[adamziel]

@annziel recently brought up "Craft books"

[adamziel]

I think the naming needs to be kept simple and intuitive for newcomers to understand. Playgroundfile might work because it keeps the playful name while sticking to the conventions seen in similar tooling.

Playgroundfile is really interesting from the developer perspective, although I'm not convinced about sentences like “Playgroundfile community space”.

[adrianduffell]

Playgroundfile is really interesting from the developer perspective, although I'm not convinced about sentences like “Playgroundfile community space”.

No I wouldn't suggest a sentence like that 😅. I think it would be better as "Playground community space".

[kspilarski]

What about:

• Playlab
• Playpad
• Playspace
• Playzone

[brandonpayton]

"Playbook" is one of the few options that evokes a pre-existing sense of meaning for me, a sense that there is a plan.

"Playbook" feels close. But maybe we can be more precise while keeping the same general sense and imagery.

In American football, a playbook is not a specific plan but rather a collection of plays one may choose from. Plays are grouped according to purpose. At game time, when the offense needs to pass the ball, they choose a play from a set of known, rehearsed passing plays.

A playbook is like our documented set of available Blueprint steps.

A team's strategy for a specific game is called a game plan. There are many jobs on a football team. Each player has a different role, and all come together to execute the game plan, one play at a time.

What do you think of "gameplan" or "game plan"?

[sfougnier]

Interesting ideas! Appreciate all the contributions so far.

Some things to consider:

• If we're going with a branded name, I recommend keeping the term within the "Playground" metaphor. This name should make this feature feel ownable and easily recognizable as part of the Playground ecosystem. My concern is that a name that leverages a different metaphor doesn't feel like it's helping to drive recognition and build brand equity.

• This name should clarify that this is an outcome of what you created in the Playground. It doesn't need to include "play" in the title, but if it's going to be branded, it should be clear that it is the output (and, again, fit within the world of playground terminology).

• The name should also clarify that this output is a work in progress or a sketch and, therefore, not final.

Frankly, I'm not sure any suggestions are as clear as "Blueprints" (the current name). Out of the alternative names that have been proposed, Playbook or Playset are the only options thus far that satisfy all the above requirements.

If those feel too playful and don't resonate, my recommendation would be to use a functional term, such as Playground Presets or Playground File (or any other ideas we can think of along these lines).

Hope this helps!

[brandonpayton]

Frankly, I'm not sure any suggestions are as clear as "Blueprints" (the current name). Out of the alternative names that have been proposed, Playbook or Playset are the only options thus far that satisfy all the above requirements.

Thanks for laying that out!

If those feel too playful and don't resonate, my recommendation would be to use a functional term, such as Playground Presets or Playground File (or any other ideas we can think of along these lines).

I like how a term like Playbook can also be applied like "Running a Playbook on WordPress". It's related to Playground but can be applied more broadly if we wish (since we've been planning things like implementing a Blueprint execution library in PHP).

[karmatosed]

Just a few terms to add to the mixture here and some work, some less so:

• Maps
• Guides
• Plans
• Charts

I would vote against things that have strong meaning connected to those making, for example Playbooks and journeys are already really hooked into things. I kind of like 'quests' but I adore the gaming concept. I don't know if it's too disconnected for many.

[kellychoffman]

What about Playground Models?

[brandonpayton]

What about Playground Models?

This touches on an unspoken question I've had about this discussion. What is the scope of the new term?

Do we envision Blueprints being applied to WordPress outside of Playground?

We've previously discussed implementing the next version of Blueprints as a PHP library, and I believe we've casually discussed running Blueprints to configure regular WordPress installs.

[sfougnier]

I love Playground Models! It feels tied to the Playground branding and has slightly less of a learning curve for people unfamiliar with the concept. It also feels evergreen enough to work in the larger WordPress ecosystem if we ever decouple this feature from Playground.

[lancewillett]

Adding a few more suggestions not already covered:

From “File” — funfile or playfile
From “Plan” — playplan
From “Blueprint” — funprint or playprint
From “JSON” — PlaySON file as a silly & fun variation (say it out loud 😉)

[bgrgicak]

Please share your ideas before September 23rd. After that, we will create a pole with all the suggestions to collect feedback.

[StevenDufresne]

Although I don't have a specific name to add, it's a shame that .playground (dotPlayground) and .play (dotPlay) file extension formats already exist in the wild.

[StevenPartridge]

"Stagehand" as a product, "Stagehand Config" or ".stagehand". I feel like it fits decently with the product suite, though not perfectly in line with 'Playground', the syllable structure is similar.

'Stage' and 'Play' have association. The term Stagehand in the theatre would generally be used to describe the individuals responsible for setting up the stage, and props/environment to a specific layout for scenes. 🎭

[tpaksu]

How about "groundwork"? As in ready to use template, "we did the groundwork for you". But playground groundwork doesn't rhyme good together, because of the repetition.

[TimBroddin]

My contender: composition

[dphyled]

Thinking about a broad term for all the things you find at a playground (swings, slides, seesaws, sandbox, etc), and searching online for synonyms, I see:

• playground equipment (uncountable noun, so might be awkward in a sentence)
• playground structure
• playground apparatus
• playground ride 🤨
• playground activity
• playground game

[stoph]

I'm a little biased coming from the automotive industry, but buildsheet comes to mind. It lists all the components of a car and can be used as a way to recreate a specific build

[alexkemmler]

I saw the message in the #automattic channel, although I have no direct connection to this project, I always like a good naming exercise.

Having spent a few minutes to understand the product, I think playbook does make sense, especially if we want to keep to the "play" theme.

One thing I like to do in naming exercises is start with the most boring / obvious / basic name for something, and use that to understand our reasons for calling it something more interesting. This can help find the best name by clarifying why we are naming it.

So in this case, a blueprint for playground seems (to me) most analogous to what might be called a "preset" in any other piece of software.

So for the sake of discussion, why don't we just call it a "preset" or even more painfully, a "configuration file"?

[n3f]

Partial to Playground Model myself but had a couple suggestions:

• SitePlay
• PlayCase

[ronaldgijsel]

"Scaffold"
Add to my playground scaffold frame/design/work a ready-made scaffold, the scaffold on the playground, and a beginner's scaffold. Look, their scaffold is beautiful to build on top of; your scaffold can't be updated easily, so replace x on the scaffold. You get it.
PS, love your playground scaffold idea

[jblz]

SpringBoard

[vajrasar]

Omni

[davidperezgar]

In WCEU someone propose as Recipes. It's wide used in Drupal.

[tobifjellner]

At some point, Playground probably needs to be made available in different languages.
Then there is a possibility that some locales will choose to translate terms like "Playground" and the successor or "Blueprint",
We could recommend locales to keep "Playground" untranslated if possible, but for various reasons some languages may need to translate it. Inventing something that in English sounds a bit similar may still make it harder to understand and translate.

For "blueprint" I'd suggest something lie "Playground recipe", "Playground drawing", or "Playground layout", to make it immediately clear that this is a sub-term.

[sejas]

I like referring to the blueprints starting with the word "Playground XXX," as it makes it clear what we're referring to.

My suggestions are:

• Playground Scripts
• Playground Recipes

[rachelbirda8c]

The concept of a scaffold feels the most accurate, but not as 'on brand' with the theme of a playground.

Playset

Playset comes to mind as an option. A playset has several pre-built playground equipment items bundled together, but doesn't restrict adding additional items. Pulls in some of the meaning of a scaffold, but within the playground theme.

[n8finch]

I'd +1 "playset", or even just "plays".

The word "games" also comes to mind (even better, the Spanish "juegos").

On the Playground, you play "games/juegos", and they have different rules and pre-defined components (though I can't imagine a 5-year-old talking about "components" to a game they're playing 😏).

Similarly, if you're playing a sport on the playground, you might have "plays" that you run with your team to score a goal.

Use it in a sentence:

• "Use these Playground Plays to set up your site."
• "Check out this collection of Playground Juegos and see how you can quickly set up your site."
• "There are a variety of Playground Playsets to pick and choose from to get you started building quickly."

[justintadlock]

I like referring to the blueprints starting with the word "Playground XXX," as it makes it clear what we're referring to.

From my understanding, Blueprints (or whatever they end up being called) won't always be directly tied to Playground. They could potentially be used to set up a new WordPress install, for example. Basically, Blueprints would be their own thing, and Playground would be a separate thing that makes use of Blueprints. So I think we'd want to avoid coupling the name.

@adamziel can probably add more insight into that and whether it's an idea that's still being explored. If this is still the case, it might be worth mentioning above because it'd likely change how folks think about naming ideas.

[bgrgicak]

From my understanding, Blueprints (or whatever they end up being called) won't always be directly tied to Playground.

Correct, we would love for Blueprints to become a part of WordPress in the future. This is why we started working on migrating blueprints to PHP.

[ashfame]

Can we still vote for "Blueprints" i.e. not changing the name? And based on the fact that it's going to decouple from playground at some point, I can't think of a better fitting name than Blueprints.

My +1

[bgrgicak]

Can we still vote for "Can we still vote for "Blueprints" i.e. not changing the name? " i.e. not changing the name?

I'm not sure, but we can add Blueprints to the list with all other suggestions.

[threadi]

I would also be in favor of not changing it. I wonder why anyway, like @brandonpayton above:

What is the scope of the new term?

This ultimately ends up in the same dilemma as the name Gutenberg, which still persists, although it has long been called Block Editor or Site Editor and Gutenberg is “only” the development plugin for it - unfortunately not everyone gets it either. I see that coming here too. Blueprints is now a very catchy term for me in connection with the Playground.

Also keep in mind: currently all (or hopefully many) plugin developers upload their blueprint.json to a directory called blueprints. I already see a guide that describes how to put a “Recipes” as blueprint.json in a directory called blueprints. You would then actually have to adapt this directory in the repository accordingly and communicate this to all developers at time X.

If a change is needed, I would be more in favor of “Playground JSON” as this describes the task exactly (and there are no linguistic problems with translations into other languages).

[asirota]

If you are set/firm for using Playground as the overall concept, how about the word "Set"

Use your Playground Set to start your WordPress pre-configured site.

After all this is what the collection of items on a playground are usually called - a "set".

I think the word Set also easily translates into other languages quite easily

• a set of items
• a set of options
• a set of steps

I realized it subtly also fits with the jazz theme of WordPress - a set (setlist) is the list of songs a band plays at a gig.

Seems to work for me as I think about it.

[adamziel]

A lot of great suggestions here, thank you everyone!

Let's start shifting the discussion towards choosing one option.

To help with that, here's a few upcoming Blueprints features. Let's make sure the new name is flexible enough to can accommodate for those:

• First class support for running Blueprints in WordPress core – either via the command palette or as an API for plugin authors
• Collections, like the Blueprints directory, but personal or shared with your team or the public.
• Single-click sites based on Blueprints from these collections
• Building a Playground from many Blueprints, applying a Blueprint to an existing Playground
• A directory of custom Blueprint steps for the community to share
• A Block-based UI for building Blueprints in the block editor

[sfougnier]

Thanks for contributing all the names! We've started a poll of some selects we've made, filtered based on criteria. Take a look and cast your vote here: #1846

[adamziel]

As @sfougnier mentioned in the poll, the consensus is to keep the name Blueprints – and that's what we'll do. CC @bph