Rename "Chrome" to "Site Frame" — concept, labels, and code identifiers

[georgeolaru]

Summary

The new desktop frame system currently called Chrome (landed via #443, #451–#455) should be renamed to Site Frame before it ships in a public release. This issue proposes the rename, the knock-on copy changes that fall out of it, and the scope of the code change.

Why rename

The name Chrome was picked on the shorthand from software UX terminology (as in window chrome / app chrome), but in customer-facing copy it creates three problems:

1. Collision with Google Chrome. "Open the Chrome panel" is genuinely ambiguous in conversation and search. WordPress chrome customization returns browser results.
2. Generic UX jargon. "Chrome" reads as an internal category, not a product feature. Nothing for a customer or prospect to hold onto.
3. The copy itself disproves the name. The first docs draft read "Chrome is Pixelgrade's name for the desktop frame system — the reusable shell that wraps your content in a set of framed rails." Every metaphor in that sentence is stronger than the noun it defines.

Proposed name: Site Frame

• Matches WordPress's own Site X convention (Site Icon, Site Logo, Site Editor, Site Title) — customers already read this pattern fluently.
• No product collision.
• Immediately self-explanatory — no "what does that mean?" on first read.
• Brandable in marketing: "Every Anima-based LT site ships with a Site Frame…"
• The first style is already called Editorial Frame, and inside an umbrella now named Site Frame the first style reads more cleanly as just Editorial (no redundant "Frame Frame").

Copy changes that follow

Current string	Proposed string
Customizer panel: Chrome	Site Frame
Customizer control: Chrome Palette	Palette (context is already the Site Frame panel — no need to repeat)
Customizer control: Chrome Color Grade	Color Grade (same rationale)
Menu location: Chrome	Site Frame
First style: Editorial Frame	Editorial (umbrella is now Site Frame — Editorial is the style name inside it)
Future styles follow the same pattern	Minimal, Gallery, Studio, Archive — each a peer of Editorial

This also gives us cleaner marketing surface area: "Pick your Site Frame style: Editorial, Gallery, Studio."

Scope of the code change

Rename everywhere, not just the labels — otherwise we ship with a mismatch between what users see and what developers read.

• Rename chrome → site-frame (or site_frame) in PHP identifiers: the Customizer panel section slug, option keys, the menu location slug (register_nav_menus), theme-mod names, CSS class names on the outer shell.
• Rename the same in JS identifiers (components, props, data keys) for Customizer live-preview and front-end behavior.
• Rename SCSS partials and CSS class names that carry chrome in their name.
• Update register_nav_menus so the Site Frame menu location shows up under Appearance → Menus with that label.
• Update __() / _e() translatable strings and the .pot file.
• Update all [specific]-aware theme checks if any hardcode the chrome slug.
• Update any theme demo data / sample content that references "Chrome" in copy.
• Update inline code comments and the internal spec docs in this repo.

Back-compat considerations

• Existing installs during beta: If any Anima LT theme already shipped a build with chrome theme_mod keys or option names, add a one-time migration in an activation hook that copies the old keys to the new names (and removes the old ones). Otherwise beta users silently lose their saved palette/color-grade choice.
• Saved menus: the menu-location slug change needs a migration that moves any menu assigned to chrome onto site-frame.
• No public release shipped yet — per the 2026-04-22 check this feature is post-2.0.16 and not yet in a tagged release, so external back-compat (customer-site data) is bounded to whoever has been running anima main between 2.0.16 and the rename commit.

Out of scope for this issue

• The Color Grade control itself could probably use a pass — "12 tonal grades plus Accent" is clear but the labels of the individual grades weren't reviewed with the rest of the system. Flagging as a follow-up rather than bundling here.
• Future Site Frame styles (names, specs) — track separately per style.

Docs impact

Customer-facing docs have already been renamed ahead of the code change so the article reflects the product's final language:

• https://pixelgrade.com/docs/mies-lt/design-and-style/site-frame/ (renamed from /chrome/, with a 301 redirect in place)
• Cross-linked from https://pixelgrade.com/docs/mies-lt/design-and-style/intro-animations/

Ask

1. Confirm the rename and sign off on Site Frame (vs. any preferred alternative).
2. Once confirmed, bundle the code rename into the pre-release batch so the next tagged Anima release ships with the corrected naming.