Wild about Add-ons

It’s been a great few days for Firefox Add-ons.  Last week, we reached a whopping billion downloads of add-ons!  This equates to 1.5 million downloads a day and really attests to the power of the amazing community surrounding Firefox.  Just before we reached this milestone, we rolled out “Fashion Your Firefox.”  Fashion Your Firefox pulls together some of the most popular and broadest appealing add-ons and makes it super easy to tailor Firefox to what you do on the Web.

On the heels of all this goodness, we’re gearing up for Add-on Con which is taking place on Dec. 11th here in Mountain View.  The conference aims to bring developers together who are interested in improving their capabilities to produce professional add-ons.  I’m hoping it means even more cool add-ons for Firefox (not that I need anymore!).

In addition to sponsoring it, we’ve got a several Mozilla and Firefox talks taking place:

• Business Track:
  • 10:20 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. – State of the Mozilla Add-ons Universe with Brian King.
  • 11:10 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. – Firefox Add-ons: Unlocking platform opportunity with Bijan Marashi of Xoopit.

• Technical Track:
  • 11:10 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. – Add-ons and Mashup Development: How to Leverage 3rd Party APIs Effectively with Mark Finkle.

• Keynote Panel:
  • 4:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.: Future of the Web Browser with Mike Shaver

We’re looking at hosting an add-on developer open house the night before (Dec. 10) at Mozilla HQ.  Stay tuned for more details and hope to see you at Add-on Con.

Getting our Green Fest on!

We’re gearing up for a great three days at the Green Festival in San Francisco this weekend!  Literally — we’re in the process of setting up refurbished computers for the Green Web Pavilion.  Green Festival is the largest green conference in the U.S. and looks at clean technology, green building, socially responsible investing, eco-fashion, renewable energy, and more.  It’s cool to see the mix of organizations sharing the same common purpose — preserving shared resources and bringing people together to make change.
We have a host of activities lined up:

• We’re participating in the Green Web Pavilion with the ACCRC (Alameda County Computer Resource Center).  The ACCRC saves computers from landfills, refurbishes them and gets them into local Bay Area schools.
• Asa Dotzler, our favorite storyteller, will be covering the history of the Mozilla project, and how a small community of activists is building an inclusive Internet on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. PST.
• Paul Kim will be taking part in a Green Web Pavilion panel on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. PST.
• Clint Talbert will be demo’ing Firefox in the Green Web Pavilion on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. PST.
• Mozilla community members and employees are hosting a booth to educate people about Mozilla and Firefox.
• Rolling out a new set of 100% Organic Software web site badges.

Please drop by and see us or better yet – come participate!

Spread Firefox Redesign…comps just in!

I’ve had the opportunity to help guide a light redesign of the Spread Firefox home page.  The main goals are to really simplify the home page, make it more engaging and show some of the personality behind Firefox grassroots marketing.  We are also trying to make it a lot clearer for users on what to do and where to go next.  I’m working with The Royal Order, the folks behind the new mozilla.com, and they’ve provided some initial designs.

Comp 1:  This aims to be super straightforward and clear.

Comp 1 - SFx Redesign

Comp 2:  The aim here is to showcase some personality and be more human.  The concept is a community board.

Comp 2 - SFx redesign

Comp 3:  This is actually a design from the Mozilla.com redesign process.  It’s a little more futuristic, but also aims to show the folks behind Spread Firefox.

Comp 3 - SFx redesign

If you’d like to provide feedback please leave a comment or join our design review call tomorrow, Monday, Nov. 10th at 9:30 a.m. PST.  Dial-in is 650-903-0800, ext 92, id 248 or 800-707-2533, password 369, ext 92, id 248.