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Branding Mozilla: Towards Mozilla 2.0
sgarrity writes "I've written some recommendations for the branding and visual identity of the Mozilla Foundation's project and product line. I argue that the Mozilla Project should adopt a simple, strong, consistent visual identity for the Mozilla products including consistent icons across applications that mesh with the host operating system. Read Branding Mozilla: Towards Mozilla 2.0 and let us know what you think."
Give it up.
I hope they follow this one. In Mozilla I have to consciously remember that the address bar does not work like every other Windows app I use, because it's not a Win32 Edit control, it's a unique Mozilla widget.
It's true the IE edit box works slightly differently -- you click it once to select everything, then again to select words. And you can double click sections to select just a word. In Mozilla it's totally different; you can't select words automatically, and you click once to select individually and then again to select it all (I think.. today I finally uninstalled it).
Also it's up to 1.5 and they still don't have middle-click scrolling. I've tried mozscroll and whatever the other two projects are. Three projects and they're all painful to use.
If I have to read another 1999-era Red Herring/Business 2.0/dot bomb article about how "Netscape Navigator's success was due in large part to it's strong branding effort blah blah blah" I think I'll go freaking nutzo.
Who gives a crap whether or not an open source project has a good "brand"? It's not like people are trying to sell it. The ones who care, know about it already and aren't going to care whether or not it's a catchy name.
The only thing wrong with Mozilla is that people don't know how to pronounce it. Is it like Mod-zilla rhymes with Godzilla, or is it more like Mozzerella, or is it something else entirely?
Free music from Jack Merlot.
If you're going to compete with other products, you have to play by the rules of the market. There's an established marked for web browsers and email clients, and the people who shop in that market are most easily brainwashed with strong branding, rock- and sports stars, and loud commercials. If you don't like it, you can take your software and share it amongst your little friends, secure in the knowledge that you have a better product. Meanwhile, the thronging masses are screaming for IE and Outlook, which have household names and brand identity.
The world outside the OSS community only works when people buy things, and if you're no good at selling them, then your 1337 coding skills are worth less than the dirt on my shoe.
Disclosure: I'm an employed programmer, and have been for years. I also took some entrepreneur classes in college, and I'm sick and tired of the narrow-minded, holier-than-thou attitude I get around here sometimes. Grow the fuck up.
[/rant]
This post expresses my opinion, not that of my employer. And yes, IAAL.
Look dipshit, Mac UI guidelines mandated different icons for applications and documents back in 1984, and every GUI program written since then does it that way, including Netscape 4. If that's not an obvious (if minor) flaw to you, you need to fix your head.