Overview
As part of the effort to visually differentiate the paid versions of Mattermost, we are working on a few concepts to address the free/paid confusion and provide greater value to our Enterprise customers.
Resources
Phase 1: Mattermost branding and ‘free edition’ label
For free users, the proposal is to place the Mattermost logo in the header next to a FREE EDITION label.
The goal here is to make it clear to all users that they are on the free plan and to make way for future work that more clearly differentiates Enterprise from free.
Login page
On the login page, the Mattermost logo would be enforced and cannot be removed. Next to that, a FREE EDITION label displays.
For servers with Enterprise or Professional licenses, the FREE EDITION label will not show. The Mattermost logo will show unless replaced with custom branding.
If a custom site name is configured, that will display below the Mattermost logo.
Global header
Once logged in, the Mattermost logo and FREE EDITION label displays in the global header bar.
For servers with Enterprise or Professional licenses, the FREE EDITION label and the Mattermost logo label will not show.
Product menu
In the product menu, we can also show the FREE EDITION label with a short descriptor. In Team Edition, no call to action will display, but in E0, we will display a call to action to start a trial. If they've already completed a trial, we will hide the trial button.
Phase 2: Move custom branding tools to Enterprise
Currently, all licenses have access to custom branding capabilities including site name, site description, custom brand image and custom brand text. For this phase of work, the proposal is the hide all these features for
Phase 3: Offer more robust custom branding for Enterprise (WIP - Needs Validation)
To provide even greater value to our Enterprise customers, we’re also looking at more robust controls for custom branding and theming.
Enhanced custom branding tools
In the system console, this feature will be locked unless you have an Enterprise License. The following card will display in place of the custom branding features.
Once an enterprise license (or trial) is activated, the custom branding tools will be available.
Enable custom branding
When custom branding is disabled, the other options within are hidden.
In this case, the Mattermost logo, site name and fonts will be the default branding elements that display (without the FREE EDITION label if it’s an enterprise license.
If custom branding is enabled, the rest of the options will display.
Custom branding in the global header
Below is how the ‘App header logo’ image will appear. This should be either an SVG or transparent PNG.
Custom favicon
Admins can customize the icon that displays in the browser tab.
Site name
Used to customize the name shown in the title bar of a browser window.
Custom fonts (TBD)
Custom brand themes
Enterprise admins can also create one or more default themes to be available for users in the system. In addition, they can enforce which themes are provided to their user base.
By default, all preset Mattermost themes are set as available themes, but that can be changed for admins to select which themes they wish to offer.
For creating custom brand themes, the proposal here is to offer a simplified set of base colors that we can automatically build the themes from. Advanced settings would offer full control (similar to current custom theming ability with JSON support).
NOTE: custom themes will still be available for free users/servers. This enterprise feature provides admins with the ability to create and enforce specific themes for their whole server.
Settings for custom brand themes
Custom branded login page
We currently offer custom branding on the login page, but this proposal adds additional elements. Below is an example of the control Enterprise customers could have over the login page.
Settings for login page customization
Admins would have control over the title, subtitle, logo, colors and background. We could even offer custom CSS for more specific control.
