Adding description field - similar to applicationName

[emillod]

Hello yuri
could you add similar field as applicationName in settings, just for description?
Now when user override description of his instance in /html/main.html, it is not safe from updates.

It would be great change!

[item]

Please vote
telecastg
crmclients
Nishan Perera
esforim

@everybody

[esforim]

Oh that make sense! Is that same description is being shown for all EspoCRM installation?

I suppose it would be 'embarrassing' in a sense when you post your "Portal" link and you get that as a description instead of (I joke) "Cool Business Portal Here; log in to access your invoice".

[emillod]

Yes. Same description on all instances.

[Nishan Perera]

This is good feature for whose using customer portals. This would be very helpful feature.

[crmclients]

I would use it for notes for when I pass on the to another Admin, Yes this would be very helpful!
E.g. I renamed it because, there is a formula in this entity, etc....

[marcusquinn]

Did anyone figure this out?

[esforim]

Hi guys, look like this is fixed in v7:

https://github.com/espocrm/espocrm/issues/2041

[emillod]

esforim oh, that's great! Even if it's only in file Great change.

[marcusquinn]

Nice, seems weird to only make it in the config files, when the Page Title is in the User Interface Settings. These sorts of advertisings in open-source software generally put me off as inappropriate, I just prefer that credits for the application go into their naming and a backlink to their website for unpaid versions.

[yuri]

"EspoCRM - Open Source CRM application." is an advertising? It's the new value of the string, you can see it in the commit. I don't want having all parameters be exposed in admin UI. This parameter does not deserve being on UI in my opinion. The more useless params on UI the more overwhelmed users will be. Before this post I didn't even know we have this meta-tag, didn't notice it at all.

It's not a catastrophe that we'd like that users of EspoCRM actually knew that they use EspoCRM rather than some white-label-like product with a zero-effort replaced name and being sold as their own product. It happens quite often and it really puts off.

[marcusquinn]

yuri I love your work, I really do!

Please don't worry about anyone "copying", they would never have been customers you would want anyway!

Think about the quality of the community, contributions and supporters you do have.

For my situation, there are some improvements we would like to see on espocrm.com that are a lower priority for us, but might be a higher priority were user's visiting there for support instead of our internal IT team for more direct support of our specific implementation.

I suppose you know that all chat apps, like Slack, Teams, Skype, Discord, Rocket Chat all show this Meta Description for every link posted.

There is also an element of suspicion of all links nowadays as we encourage users to beware of phishing attempts.

I genuinely get people asking if it is safe to click on these links because they do not understand the mixed and apparently conflicting messages.

To me the Meta Description correct usage is in the page content, it's for a the preview test for the Name & Description of the record or page being linked to, as a helper to the user seeing the link in a chat application as to what they will find if they click this link.

The way it is right now, they have a monotonous message that appears to be an advert for something they could not be a customer of even if they wanted to - they are a user, not a systems implementor.

I hope to have given you some food for thought.

We can help with these things too in upstream contributions - but we need your blessing as the gatekeeper, and we will always respect your invention and innovation, and promote your good work, but at the right time and in the right places to the right people.

We've posted hundreds, perhaps thousands of links into messages, and every time they see your advertising text, but blanket messaging everyone in every chat every time, just won't yield you any customers form our users, because they are no the target audiences.

And any systems implementor that I know that is worth their job, already knows to look at the source code to look at the Author Metatag anyway, and would probably be more likely to be a customer because of this discretion and respect for convention too.

Truly hope that helps - and please accept out thanks and good withes for your good work, and respect for time away from these lengthy debates too.

We need your trust, so I hope that comes from us winnings your trust in us.

[esforim]

I was going to ask for a Pull Request to add it to the admin GUI, but after reading Yuri post, I agree that leaving it as a file config is more appropriate.

I see nothing wrong with the default text being as it is at the moment, you can now remove that if you like in your version(?)

[emillod]

esforim i agree with you. For now, anyone can define his own description meta tag if he wants. It's just matter of changing html file. And from version 7, it'll be easier, because there will be parameter in config which anyone can change and upgrade will not override this. I think there is nothing wrong if default description advertise open source script if anyone can change it. Thanks to this, someone can start using this script and the community will grow.

[marcusquinn]

For me the Meta Description would be mist useful coming from the URL content. I think we'll work on something for that. Happy to collaborate or compare ideas if you like that idea too?

[emillod]

I think we exchanged few emails. If so, then you know, that i'm more than happy to chat about espocrm related staff

[marcusquinn]

Ahh, yes, we've recruited another 1 and a half developers, likely openings for more when you see the roadmap we want to bring to the party!!

Let's find time for a call, I'm a big fan of your work, and would love to share with you what we've done too.

Thanks again for the lively debate - I feel indebted to this application and community, and we will do all we can to bring many more resources and features to the core.

[shalmaxb]

I agree with this solution. I do not hide, that I am using espoCRM, not even for clients, that use my customizations. I think, this is a very small re-contribution for being able to use such a great piece of software for free.

[marcusquinn]

100% Agree - which is why we have the "About" page proudly linked to from the top-right menu!

User feelings about Espo must be about the product though, for the brand to shine, and this is a functional issue, not one of recognition.

A very small percentage of users are also influential in decisions making, and they don't need to see advertising messages on every link posted in every chat or link-expanding app to make positive decisions, and we need to make sure we avoid anything that may make them question this line-crossing too.

I'm all for anything that brings Espo more paying clients, and more experienced developers.

I don't think this area does that, and perhaps lets make separate posts on how we can also make Espo's brand visible and well-regarded by taking inspiration from other software brands that become household names for their subtle but effective awareness design mechanisms.