Make Firefox support moz://a • Hacker News Board

Re: Make Firefox support moz://a

#41

Post by Someone1234 » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 2:09 PM UTC

xg15 wrote: post #21

DangerousPie wrote: post #16

One of the comments there makes a good point - they should really register `moz://` as a protocol, otherwise someone will grab that at some point and cause endless confusion. On the other hand, "we used this for branding" is really not a great justification for registering a new protocol, is it...

It may not be the best reason, but aren't there already dozens of highly product-specific schemes in use? (such as steam:, unreal:, chrome: in Firefox, chrome: in Chrome - with completely different semantics -, view-source: etc etc)

Are any of those registered with the IANA?

Re: Make Firefox support moz://a

#42

Post by toxican » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 2:10 PM UTC

While I don't like the branding move at all, I think the concern that people will start calling them moz-colon-forward-slash-forwadslash-a is a little ridiculous. Is Sony's line of laptops Analog Wave One Zero? Is Verizon Verizoncheckmark? Is Johnson & Johnson Johnson ampersand Johnson? Is Comcast CComcast? No, because people aren't complete idiots. Those that are going to know/care about Mozilla will be able to tell it's a little web reference nestled inside the logo and that it still reads "Mozilla".

Re: Make Firefox support moz://a

#43

Post by toyg » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 2:12 PM UTC

Everything around this redesign is just a clusterfuck: the process, the winner, the hacks introduced to cope with it, the SEO fail, the loss of identity...

Re: Make Firefox support moz://a

#44

Post by nstr10 » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 2:12 PM UTC

Apparently our friends at Mozcolonslashslasha don't realize how many more important things they could be working on than this.

Re: Make Firefox support moz://a

#45

Post by laumars » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 2:12 PM UTC

datenwolf wrote: post #23

Until now I didn't realize Mozilla changed their logo. Now I've seen it the typographer in me cries… The whole purpose of text is to _unambigously_ convey information. So either Mozilla now rebrands themself as moz-colon-slash-slash or they now live with a significant portion of typography-anal nerds who dislike that logo.

Logos fall more in the realm of graphic design rather than typography. They're an avatar thus logos don't necessarily need to be readable - albeit there is a modern trend to use the company name in an interesting typeface as their logo. However there are plenty of examples where a company logo contains no text what-so-ever - including Mozilla's previous logo[1]. So I wouldn't get too hung up on its typographic design. At least not unless Mozilla start using 'Moz://a' in normal correspondence. ;)

Personally I quite like it. It's memorable and well suited to the business they're best known for. Which is essentially the crux of a logo.

[1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Mozilla_...)

Re: Make Firefox support moz://a

#46

Post by TazeTSchnitzel » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 2:15 PM UTC

The :// thing is cute, but… did Mozilla really need a new logo? Their existing wordmark may not be especially distinctive, but it is familiar. And they have a distinctive symbol, too.

The new logo looks more contemporary. I'm not sure if that's good. Mozilla can be proud of its history, no?

Re: Make Firefox support moz://a

#47

Post by justusthane » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 2:17 PM UTC

dkresge wrote: post #34

ishaanbahal wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would a search engine index something that is just a local easter egg in the client software? It's not a real protocol, it will definitely redirect to an http website.

It is, however, a valid observation for the use of the string within text. It likely means every search engine needs to now add another exception to their parser to treat moz://a as a word entity.

I think y'all are overthinking this. Mozilla is not changing their name to "Moz://a". It's a logo, that's it. No one has said "Moz://a" is going to be used in text.

Re: Make Firefox support moz://a

#48

Post by onion2k » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 2:23 PM UTC

nstr10 wrote: post #44

Apparently our friends at Mozcolonslashslasha don't realize how many more important things they could be working on than this.

Of course they do, and that work continued while other people worked on the rebranding. Also, and more importantly, maintaining an up-to-date brand keeps Mozilla relevant and (hopefully) stops them looking like a throwback to a past era (like, say, Yahoo!). Mozilla needs to do many things to remain an important force on the web. Keeping it's brand is one aspect of that work.

Re: Make Firefox support moz://a

#49

Post by SonOfLilit » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 2:24 PM UTC

agjmills wrote: post #20

Does this mean that http:// is httpill? httpsill ftpill ircill sshill

That's actually a great idea for how to dictate urls over the phone, I'm adopting it to whenever I need to dicatate a url to someone who doesn't know that URLs start with an implied "httpill" but is familiar with mozilla's logo. erm.

Re: Make Firefox support moz://a

#50

Post by reitanqild » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 2:35 PM UTC

nstr10 wrote: post #44

Apparently our friends at Mozcolonslashslasha don't realize how many more important things they could be working on than this.

They are very aware it seems based on my observations over the last few years and while I don't agree with everything they do I defend their right to spend a tiny fraction of their time on a logo.

- after all it seems logo, ui and pixel polish etc matters a whole lot more to a lot of people than it does to me so it might be well worth updating.

Me? As long as extensions work and they don't copy too much more (bad imo) ideas like hidden menus and hamburger from Chrome and Mac they are still easily my favourite.

Oh, and they have created a new systems programming language that has managed to exite me and a lot of others here on the northeastern side of the Internet.