diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/api/browser/viewsExtensionPoint.ts b/src/vs/workbench/api/browser/viewsExtensionPoint.ts
index fbeeb50326f..ff95e5d8b02 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/api/browser/viewsExtensionPoint.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/api/browser/viewsExtensionPoint.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import { coalesce } from 'vs/base/common/arrays';
 import { forEach } from 'vs/base/common/collections';
 import { IJSONSchema } from 'vs/base/common/jsonSchema';
 import * as resources from 'vs/base/common/resources';
+import { isFalsyOrWhitespace } from 'vs/base/common/strings';
 import { URI } from 'vs/base/common/uri';
 import { localize } from 'vs/nls';
 import { ContextKeyExpr } from 'vs/platform/contextkey/common/contextkey';
@@ -310,12 +311,12 @@ class ViewsExtensionHandler implements IWorkbenchContribution {
 		}
 
 		for (let descriptor of viewsContainersDescriptors) {
-			if (typeof descriptor.id !== 'string') {
-				collector.error(localize('requireidstring', "property `{0}` is mandatory and must be of type `string`. Only alphanumeric characters, '_', and '-' are allowed.", 'id'));
+			if (typeof descriptor.id !== 'string' && isFalsyOrWhitespace(descriptor.id)) {
+				collector.error(localize('requireidstring', "property `{0}` is mandatory and must be of type `string` with non-empty value. Only alphanumeric characters, '_', and '-' are allowed.", 'id'));
 				return false;
 			}
 			if (!(/^[a-z0-9_-]+$/i.test(descriptor.id))) {
-				collector.error(localize('requireidstring', "property `{0}` is mandatory and must be of type `string`. Only alphanumeric characters, '_', and '-' are allowed.", 'id'));
+				collector.error(localize('requireidstring', "property `{0}` is mandatory and must be of type `string` with non-empty value. Only alphanumeric characters, '_', and '-' are allowed.", 'id'));
 				return false;
 			}
 			if (typeof descriptor.title !== 'string') {
@@ -326,6 +327,10 @@ class ViewsExtensionHandler implements IWorkbenchContribution {
 				collector.error(localize('requirestring', "property `{0}` is mandatory and must be of type `string`", 'icon'));
 				return false;
 			}
+			if (isFalsyOrWhitespace(descriptor.title)) {
+				collector.warn(localize('requirenonemptystring', "property `{0}` is mandatory and must be of type `string` with non-empty value", 'title'));
+				return true;
+			}
 		}
 
 		return true;
@@ -337,7 +342,8 @@ class ViewsExtensionHandler implements IWorkbenchContribution {
 
 			const icon = themeIcon || resources.joinPath(extension.extensionLocation, descriptor.icon);
 			const id = `workbench.view.extension.${descriptor.id}`;
-			const viewContainer = this.registerCustomViewContainer(id, descriptor.title, icon, order++, extension.identifier, location);
+			const title = descriptor.title || id;
+			const viewContainer = this.registerCustomViewContainer(id, title, icon, order++, extension.identifier, location);
 
 			// Move those views that belongs to this container
 			if (existingViewContainers.length) {