The Mozilla Blog

Calling all Web developers! We’re looking for developers from all over the Web to help us build the Mozilla Developer Network.   Firefox is an important tool for many developers and as the Web continues to evolve as a platform, we need your input to enable better communication and collaboration to push the Mozilla project forward and make the Web better for everyone.

To learn more about the initial steps we’re taking to connect with Web developers, check out Chris Blizzard’s post on the Hacks blog.

We’re coming up on a pretty incredible milestone — Five Years of Firefox — on November 9, 2009!  In order to celebrate we’re kicking off a special campaign called “Light the World with Firefox.”  We’re putting a call out for the most creative use of the Firefox logo and light.

Here are a few ideas, but don’t feel limited!

• Spotlight: Borrow a projector and shine the Firefox logo on the wall during a Firefox party, or make a logo stencil and place it in front of a flashlight for a cool effect (think shadow puppets). Or, go crazy and get a searchlight to create your very own Firefox “bat signal“.
• Mash-Up: Think of the most interesting way you can combine Firefox and light. For example, create the logo out of candles on a birthday cake, program your very own lite-brite or light show, or create a fun wallpaper! If you’re really have a lot of time on your hands (and skills) you could even create a light show.  The more creative, the better.
• Mobile: Get the Firefox logo on your phone and take a picture holding it in front of a local landmark. Or, organize a bunch of friends for a big group photo with the logo on everyone’s phones.

Please upload all videos and pictures on Flickr with the tag “Firefox5″.  We’ll feature submissions on a special site launching on November 9th and the most creative actions will be rewarded with some cool Firefox swag.  Remember to have fun, but be safe and use common sense.  And, get permission before projecting our logo on public buildings!

If you’re looking for other ways to help celebrate the coming anniversary, here’s how:

• Host a party
• Join our Facebook group
• Sport a twibbon

We’re all looking forward to celebrating five years of hard work on the 9th!

Want to get into the Halloween spirit?  Today the Personas team welcomes over 40 different community-created persona Halloween designs.  Each design is now available on the Personas gallery.  To learn more, see the Mozilla labs blog post and these exciting new designs.

Last week, the Personas community welcomed its 30,000th persona design.  Also, within the new few weeks stay tuned – we’ll be officially launching a Holiday category, which you can start using today!

Today, Mozilla is excited to join the organizations listed below to endorse the Web Open Font Format (WOFF) specification.  We are also implementing this specification in  Firefox 3.6 and beyond.

The official endoresement and supporting organizations can be found below.  Hacks.mozilla.org also has a full post about WOFF implementation for Firefox 3.6 and beyond.

We endorse the WOFF specification, with default same-origin loading restrictions, as a Web font format, and expect to license fonts for Web use in this format.

Bold Monday http://www.boldmonday.com
Commercial Type http://commercialtype.com
Emigre http://emigre.com
Emtype Foundry http://www.emtype.net
Fonthead http://www.fonthead.com
FontShop International http://fontfont.com
Hoefler & Frere-Jones http://typography.com
House Industries http://houseindustries.com
Incipit http://incipit.com
Incubator http://vllg.com/Incubator
The Indian Type Foundry http://www.indiantypefoundry.com
International Typeface Corporation http://itcfonts.com
Jeremy Tankard Typography Ltd www.typography.net
John Downer http://www.aaupnet.org/programs/2007production/Bios/DownerBio.pdf (PDF link)
Klim Type Foundry http://klim.co.nz
KLTF http://kltf.de
Kombinat-Typefounders http://www.kombin.at
LettError http://letterror.com
Linotype http://linotype.com
Lux Typographics http://luxtypo.com
Mac Rhino Fonts http://www.macrhino.com
Mark Simonson Studio http://www.ms-studio.com
Monotype Imaging http://fonts.com
Okay Type & Design http://www.okaytype.com
OurType http://www.ourtype.be
Process Type Foundry http://processtypefoundry.com
Thirstype http://vllg.com/Thirstype
Type My Type http://typemytype.com
Type Supply http://typesupply.com
TypoNine http://typonine.com
Typotheque http://typotheque.com
Underware http://www.underware.nl
Village http://vllg.com

The Personas team at Mozilla is inviting students to enter their persona designs into the Personas Student Art Competition by Sunday, October 18th at midnight, PDT. Winners will be decided by community vote and celebrity judges like Anna Sui with cool prizes from Wacom Intuos and CandyBar for the top designs. Entering is free and easy so enter today!

View the announcement blog post with full details here.

Thank you to each and everyone of you who participated in and helped promote Mozilla Service Week!    The Mozilla community didn’t disappoint – thousands of you got out, and made a difference in our communities and the Web. Kudos to all!

Now it’s time to see how we did.  Please take a moment to report your hours and share your stories by Sept. 25th (we’ll start displaying completed hours on our site tomorrow). We’re throwing in a little memento for those that do this!

Wondering what’s next?  Today is OneWebDay, a global celebration of the Web — which is a wonderful way to wrap up Mozilla Service Week!  Here’s how to celebrate:

• Print and share an ‘I love the web poster’. Or change your twitter of Facebook pic! Create a global wave that shows the Web is a precious public resource.
• Conduct an Internet Health Check. Find computers with Internet Explorer 6, and upgrade them to a more secure browser.
• Find a OneWebDay party or celebration near you!
• Donate to OneWebDay. Every time you donate, Mozilla will too.

Thanks for making a difference this week!  We’re hoping the spirit lives on all year long.

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. Anne Frank

Today marks the last day of Mozilla Service Week.  We hope you’ve had an amazing time this past week, getting out in your communities and helping organizations and individuals better use the Web.  You don’t have to miss out on Mozilla Service Week — there’s still plenty to do!

• On your lunch hour or after work host a Web help desk at a local cafe, at your company or at school.  All you need is a laptop,  a sign and wireless wireless!
• Conduct an Internet Health Audit for a few friends or colleagues.  We’ve made the audit even easier, just visit our Health Check page and you’ll know if you need to update your browser.
• Find a service opportunity on Idealist.org or on Betterplace.org (if you’re in Germany) and start helping a non-profit when you have the time. You can also scroll through some of the stories and projects posted on the Mozilla Service Week website.

If you need some inspiration check out how other community members have heeded the call:

• Nipon Haque of India has set up a website for the The Uttar Banga Anath Ashram orphanage.  The founder Uma Mallick scrapes by to care for, feed and educate 28 girls.  Anjan Kumar Das, one of their supporters, felt the need for a  website to raise funds and awareness for this cause.  Great work!
• Joe McLaughlin has helped bring the Millvale Library (near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) to life by refurbishing computers and getting the library online.  Nice job!
• Abhinav Kishhore of India has taken the Web help desk idea online,  creating a help request form.  He’s volunteering to follow up and help you with your specific tech needs!  Creative take on the Web help desk.

Have a great last day of Mozilla Service Week and get ready to celebrate OneWebDay on September 22nd!

Yale Students for Free Culture help spread the word about the Open Web for Mozilla Service Week

We’ve just got three days left of Mozilla Service Week. It’s not too late to help!  Let’s take this weekend to get out and show people how to use the Web.  It’s easy — all you need is a sign, your laptop and a venue with wireless and you’re an instant Web help desk!

This week isn’t just about helping people better use the Web, but about celebrating as well.  That’s why we’ve paired up with OneWebDay to wrap up Mozilla Service Week.  OneWebDay is like Earth Day for the Internet. It’s a chance to celebrate the awesomeness of the Web, and make it better.

Here’s how you can celebrate your hardwork this week and the Web in general:

• Print and share an ‘I love the web poster’. Create a global wave that shows the web is a precious public resource.
• Conduct an Internet Health Check. Find computers with Internet Explorer 6, and upgrade them to a more secure browser.
• Find a OneWebDay party or celebration near you!
• Donate to OneWebDay. Every time you donate, Mozilla will too.

Have fun meeting and connecting with the other people that care about the Web.  And, as a gentle reminder, please share your stories and hours on Mozilla Service Week!

Today the Snowl team released Snowl 0.3, the third major release of the messaging-in-the-browser experiment. The release features closer integration with Firefox’s existing feed functionality and many improvements to the list view to make it easier to subscribe to and follow feeds.

Visit the announcement blog post to see the Snowl discussion group, or join them for discussion in the #labs IRC channel on irc.mozilla.org.

Its day 3 of Mozilla Service Week, and already so many of you have been making a big difference. We’re now past 11,000 hours of pledged support, with so many great volunteer opportunities and projects posted. We wanted to share a few of those today:

* Urban Sprouts based in San Francisco, USA is looking for a volunteer web designer and CSS/HTML web developer to update their blog. They run a school garden program that serves low-income youth from under-served neighborhoods, teaching and sharing eco-literacy, wellness, and community.

* The BBC have teamed up Find Your Feet in the UK, a charity working with vulnerable families living in rural India and Malawi. They are helping Find Your Feet with redesigning their website, and offering some guidance using social media, plus lots more.

* andrewl is supporting livinghome.org in Minnesota, who enable seniors to remain living in the home of their choice. He’ll be improving their website and producing a short video, so more people get to know about livinghome.org, and help find new volunteers.

* www.breadforthecity.org are looking for help to bring their existing blog site together with their website. Bread for the City provides  assistance to Washington DC’s poorest residents and write daily about the problems of poverty and potential solutions.

You can read about more offers of support and asks for help at the service week Stories and Inspiration area.

There are still so many ways you can get involved with Mozilla Service Week this week. Visit Idealist.org and view opportunities by country and region, and if you’re in Germany please see projects which need help at Betterplace.org. You can also scroll through some of the stories and projects posted on the Mozilla Service Week website.

Thanks for your support, and please know that no matter how big or small your act of good – you are making a big difference.