Proposal: A github badge to show that the project is following keep-a-changelog rules

[Cinezaster]

I like to propose a badge to add to our readme, that shows that the project is following this changelog rules.

[olivierlacan]

What do you think the badge would provide as key and values beyond indicating the presence of a CHANGELOG.md file or something similar?

[Cinezaster]

Good question.

The main reason to use a badge would be to indicate that:

• We have a changelog
• Our changelog follows a standard in this case "keep a changelog V1.0.0"

My motivation for wanting this badge is to spread the use of a more standardized way of using a changelog. In our organisation the use of a changelog has been accepted although a good standard was missing. A badge could potentially create more awareness.

It could also be a more designed badge although some might not like this.

[olivierlacan]

Ooh, that's interesting. It feels a bit long/redundant. You're absolutely right that awareness is a big key in adoption.

I'm not sure we need dashes separating the type of changelog here though. What do you think of:

You can even match Keep a Changelog's orange

You can reproduce this with: https://img.shields.io/badge/changelog-Keep%20a%20Changelog%20v1.0.0-orange. %20 (space) is a completely valid entity and is supported by Shields.io. 😃

Actually why not match our colors perfectly with:

https://img.shields.io/badge/changelog-Keep%20a%20Changelog%20v1.0.0-%23E05735

[oliv3r]

To be fair, the badge should only be applied if linting passes :) ergo a linter is needed. Linter fails, then
for example.

But then it may be preferable to do

as

looks a bit weird.

Having the exact color I think is good, but doesn't allow for pass/fail in green/red (which color blind people will appreciate anyway).

[Cinezaster]

@oliv3r at this point I don't think linting exist for keep a Changelog

[olivierlacan]

I'm not really interested in overloading a potential badge with linting information.

Linting is an understandable pursuit (discipline, etc.) but frankly unnecessary. If a project has a changelog it's already great that they're vocal about it. It's even better if they're thinking about it enough to follow our guidelines (because it shows they're being thoughtful or that they care about the output).

Wanting linting is the mix is not a surprising thing, but it's an implementation detail. Keep a Changelog doesn't recommend linting (or any automated process to produce changelogs) and things shouldn't show up publicly as failing (in my opinion) simply because your changelog doesn't pass a linter. Now if we're talking about a new tag or release without a corresponding changelog entry, you have me on board. 😄

If we're pursuing discipline I think a system that compares published versions to versions listed in a changelog would be much more interesting. Similar to how documentation percentage badges work.

[Potherca]

I love adding a badge to my project's documentation but, I dislike the orange/red as it can be misconstrued in the context of a badge as a failure of some sort.

On the other hand, I was reluctant to let go of the color as that is part of the Keep a Changelog identity.

My solution is to use an SVG of the logo:

(Click to toggle code)

![](https://img.shields.io/badge/Keep%20a%20Changelog-v1.0.0-brightgreen.svg?logo=data%3Aimage%2Fsvg%2Bxml%3Bbase64%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)

An alternative is to get rid of the version. I think that information is too detailed to be relevant for the badge itself (if the version is important, it can be added in the link to the keep-a-changelog site)

(Click to toggle code)

![](https://img.shields.io/badge/Keep%20a%20Changelog--555.svg?logo=data%3Aimage%2Fsvg%2Bxml%3Bbase64%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)

That would also allow using the brand color as background color:

(Click to toggle code)

![](https://img.shields.io/badge/Keep%20a%20Changelog-f15d30.svg?logo=data%3Aimage%2Fsvg%2Bxml%3Bbase64%2CPHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCAxODcgMTg1Ij48cGF0aCBkPSJNNjIgN2MtMTUgMy0yOCAxMC0zNyAyMmExMjIgMTIyIDAgMDAtMTggOTEgNzQgNzQgMCAwMDE2IDM4YzYgOSAxNCAxNSAyNCAxOGE4OSA4OSAwIDAwMjQgNCA0NSA0NSAwIDAwNiAwbDMtMSAxMy0xYTE1OCAxNTggMCAwMDU1LTE3IDYzIDYzIDAgMDAzNS01MiAzNCAzNCAwIDAwLTEtNWMtMy0xOC05LTMzLTE5LTQ3LTEyLTE3LTI0LTI4LTM4LTM3QTg1IDg1IDAgMDA2MiA3em0zMCA4YzIwIDQgMzggMTQgNTMgMzEgMTcgMTggMjYgMzcgMjkgNTh2MTJjLTMgMTctMTMgMzAtMjggMzhhMTU1IDE1NSAwIDAxLTUzIDE2bC0xMyAyaC0xYTUxIDUxIDAgMDEtMTItMWwtMTctMmMtMTMtNC0yMy0xMi0yOS0yNy01LTEyLTgtMjQtOC0zOWExMzMgMTMzIDAgMDE4LTUwYzUtMTMgMTEtMjYgMjYtMzMgMTQtNyAyOS05IDQ1LTV6TTQwIDQ1YTk0IDk0IDAgMDAtMTcgNTQgNzUgNzUgMCAwMDYgMzJjOCAxOSAyMiAzMSA0MiAzMiAyMSAyIDQxLTIgNjAtMTRhNjAgNjAgMCAwMDIxLTE5IDUzIDUzIDAgMDA5LTI5YzAtMTYtOC0zMy0yMy01MWE0NyA0NyAwIDAwLTUtNWMtMjMtMjAtNDUtMjYtNjctMTgtMTIgNC0yMCA5LTI2IDE4em0xMDggNzZhNTAgNTAgMCAwMS0yMSAyMmMtMTcgOS0zMiAxMy00OCAxMy0xMSAwLTIxLTMtMzAtOS01LTMtOS05LTEzLTE2YTgxIDgxIDAgMDEtNi0zMiA5NCA5NCAwIDAxOC0zNSA5MCA5MCAwIDAxNi0xMmwxLTJjNS05IDEzLTEzIDIzLTE2IDE2LTUgMzItMyA1MCA5IDEzIDggMjMgMjAgMzAgMzYgNyAxNSA3IDI5IDAgNDJ6bS00My03M2MtMTctOC0zMy02LTQ2IDUtMTAgOC0xNiAyMC0xOSAzN2E1NCA1NCAwIDAwNSAzNGM3IDE1IDIwIDIzIDM3IDIyIDIyLTEgMzgtOSA0OC0yNGE0MSA0MSAwIDAwOC0yNCA0MyA0MyAwIDAwLTEtMTJjLTYtMTgtMTYtMzEtMzItMzh6bS0yMyA5MWgtMWMtNyAwLTE0LTItMjEtN2EyNyAyNyAwIDAxLTEwLTEzIDU3IDU3IDAgMDEtNC0yMCA2MyA2MyAwIDAxNi0yNWM1LTEyIDEyLTE5IDI0LTIxIDktMyAxOC0yIDI3IDIgMTQgNiAyMyAxOCAyNyAzM3MtMiAzMS0xNiA0MGMtMTEgOC0yMSAxMS0zMiAxMXptMS0zNHYxNGgtOFY2OGg4djI4bDEwLTEwaDExbC0xNCAxNSAxNyAxOEg5NnoiLz48L3N2Zz4K)

Or with the logo the same color as the text:

(Click to toggle code)

![](https://img.shields.io/badge/Keep%20a%20Changelog-f15d30.svg?logo=data%3Aimage%2Fsvg%2Bxml%3Bbase64%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)

I'm not sure which one I'll end up using, but I though it might be good to share...

[Cinezaster]

@Potherca I like the second or the third the most.

[DerPurp]

Reincarnation as this thread is one of the first links on Google.

DEAR PEOPLE FROM THE FUTURE:

If you want a more standardised approach to badges (such as at the top of your changelogs), the following:

• includes the SemVer version which should be included in the changelog according to the standard
• is "keep a changelog" default branding compliant (i.e. RGB #e05735, not "orange" #e9643b)
• is "SemVer" default branding compliant (i.e. #3F4551) - for flare over standards purity, "blue" is a good secondary complimentary colour to choose to contrast with the orange.
• use the correct icon "slugs" from the simple-icons project (no longer any requirement for inline base64 in URL)
• maintain a Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 compliant contrast ratio >= 4.5:1 in the label (#e0e0e0/#e9643b is 2.5:1)
• use only pure markup with shields.io
• link to the correct specification pages
• use up-to-date versions (as of the the date of this post)

Markup

[![Keep a changelog](https://img.shields.io/badge/Keep%20a%20changelog-1.1.0-E05735?logo=keep-a-changelog&labelColor)](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/)

[![Semantic versioning](https://img.shields.io/badge/SemVer-2.0.0-3F4551?logo=semver&labelColor)](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0)

[charphi]

I just found this nice thread and here's my take on it.

I've created a linter (https://github.com/nbbrd/heylogs) that can be used to generate badges using a GitHub workflow.
My current use for it is to show the number of unreleased changes in the development branch at the top of the README.md.

[buhtz]

Interesting. The first use case for a badge that make sense to me. How do you count unreleased changes? Number of commit since the last release tag? Or commits with a specific tag (e.g. feat: commit msg) or entries in the first section (unreleased) of the CHANGELOG?

[charphi]

I'm just counting the entries in the first section (unreleased) of the CHANGELOG.md