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Make Firefox support moz://a

bugzilla.mozilla.org

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Re: Make Firefox support moz://a

#91

Post by PKop »

toxican wrote: post #38
mtgx wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't think at the very least older people will see Moz://a and try to type that into the browser's address bar? Also, Moz.com should expect a huge increase in its revenues soon. I imagine they already have the celebration party planned for the weekend.

I don't think older people know/care about Mozilla. Hell these days I'm not sure younger people do either, unfortunately.

In other words, how does this logo help to generate interest in the company Mozilla, then?

If the goal wasn't to generate interest in the company, what was the goal?

Re: Make Firefox support moz://a

#92

Post by vollmond »

StevePerkins wrote: post #86
amooiman wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The general idea is that 90% of people I tell "I work for Mozilla" respond with "Oh, you work on Firefox?" but we're about so much more than that. My understanding of the motives behind this change is that having better branding that explains we're focused on the internet in general will hopefully expand our reach and recognition outside the tech bubble.

I'm not sure how a logo change begins to address that. I'm INSIDE the tech bubble, and apart from Firefox and Rust I can't name a single Mozilla project that isn't canceled (Persona, phones) or on its way there (Thunderbird). If not Firefox, then what DO you work on at Mozilla then? I'm genuinely curious.

I didn't know Rust was Mozilla. I thought it was FF, TB, and "generic OSS projects like Apache but less well-known".

Re: Make Firefox support moz://a

#93

Post by cookiecaper »

toxican wrote: post #42

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…

The difference is that Verizon-Checkmark is clearly an invalid interpretation - the checkmark is obviously decorative.

Mozilla's new logo was chosen specifically due to the double meaning, the similarity between the symbols :// and the glyphs "ill".

The ambiguity is what makes it "clever", and it's kind of an in-joke that most non-tech people, who've never heard of "Mozilla" as such, won't immediately register. They'll read the characters literally and say "moz://a? Is that a new computer thing?"

I don't think that's an idiotic response at all.

This is a bad generic logo merely because it doesn't clearly communicate their company's identity in a unique and obvious way, which is the sole function of a logo in the first place. I could see this rendering appearing at some hacker events or on t-shirts, but IMO it makes no sense to use it as a generic logo.

I don't even want to think about the nightmare of accidentally rendering the string "moz://a" in a typeface that the lawyers consider too similar to that used in the logo.

Re: Make Firefox support moz://a

#94

Post by StevePerkins »

nstr10 wrote: post #44

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

People keep talking about Mozilla like it's the engineering wing of the EFF, that it's tirelessly working on a mission of Internet freedom, etc.

I'm sorry, but I just don't see it. I see:

(1) a team of developers, incrementally maintaining a codebase that that was donated by a 1990's commercial entity, and

(2) some second-tier marketing types, burning through Google/Yahoo money and padding their resumes with random "me too" projects that don't last very long.

The flagship browser has only had one major re-think since Netscape's demise, and that re-think was, "We should make its UI and dev cycle look like Chrome's". The most significant "new" project dreamed up by the marketing types was a me-too Android alternative, which they then almost immediately canceled.

The only noteworthy and truly innovative things I can think of coming out of Mozilla have been Rust and Persona, and the latter was also quickly canceled (which was a shame since it's the only example I can think of that REALLY fits the mission statement they talk about).

I'm glad that Firefox is out there to prevent a Google monopoly, and I'm glad that Rust has a financial patron since it's a pretty interesting language. But if Mozilla want to be seen as some greater "force for Internet freedom", beyond just maintaining an dated and declining web browser, then a logo change won't be enough. Actually DO some other stuff without canceling it.

Re: Make Firefox support moz://a

#95

Post by minikites »

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.

>The whole purpose of text is to _unambigously_ convey information.

I have a pile of novels (e.g. Faulkner, Philip K. Dick) that argue against this very narrow view of text.

Re: Make Firefox support moz://a

#96

Post by dustinmr »

wott wrote: post #67
toxican wrote: post #42

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…

> No, because people aren't complete idiots. Sweet summer child. http://www.gentside.com/le-bon-coin/le-bon-coin-un-ordinateu... http://i.imgur.com/4nMqG8C.png http://www.jofogas.hu/veszprem/Sony_mio_laptop_elado_6040346... http://archiwum.allegro.pl/oferta/sony-mio-pcg-6e1m-laptop-o... https://www.olx.in/item/sony-wio-laptop-ID19koWZ.html

Change languages and you're in a whole other world.

Have an Argentine (for example) pronounce Yosemite National Park for you.

Or for that matter, ask an English speaker to pronounce Habanero (there's no ñ) or someone from the East Coast to say Oregon or Puyallup.

While those are words and names, examples abound in marketing.

But to continue my example, Argentines already pronounce Mozilla differently than an English speaker, or other Spanish speakers for that matter! So this should be nothing new.

Re: Make Firefox support moz://a

#97

Post by Mithaldu »

wott wrote: post #67
toxican wrote: post #42

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…

> No, because people aren't complete idiots. Sweet summer child. http://www.gentside.com/le-bon-coin/le-bon-coin-un-ordinateu... http://i.imgur.com/4nMqG8C.png http://www.jofogas.hu/veszprem/Sony_mio_laptop_elado_6040346... http://archiwum.allegro.pl/oferta/sony-mio-pcg-6e1m-laptop-o... https://www.olx.in/item/sony-wio-laptop-ID19koWZ.html

Tbh, SNSV is a perfectly valid reading for the first two. That one's just a shitty font.

Re: Make Firefox support moz://a

#99

Post by reitanqild »

StevePerkins wrote: post #94
nstr10 wrote: post #44

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

People keep talking about Mozilla like it's the engineering wing of the EFF, that it's tirelessly working on a mission of Internet freedom, etc. I'm sorry, but I just don't see it. I see: (1) a team of developers, incrementally maintaining a codebase that that was donated by a 1990's commercial entity, and (2) some second-tier marketing types, burning through Google/Yahoo money and padding their resumes with random "…

Keeping that thingy running all those years and making sure it is still competitive against Chrome (that has 1000 times the resources + free access to put ads for their browser on two of the highest value ad spots that exists) is an engineering masterpiece as well as a marketing masterpiece if you ask me.

Also you write like Firefox extensions haven't been years ahead of competition (proven by the fact that no other browsers have even come close even Mozilla had proven what was possible) and like tabs where commonplace in browsers before Firefox.

Re: Make Firefox support moz://a

#100

Post by praisewhitey »

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.

You must hate calligraphy.
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