New Everything!

New releases today:

Update: Since the mozilla.org servers are understandably a little busy today, I've added links to torrent files that I could find below. You can download BitTorrent here.

There's also a new mozilla.org redesign, available now in public-beta. The new site was designed by Dave Shea of mezzoblue.com and CSS Zen Garden. It looks like they stuck with mozilla.org instead of mozilla.com for tax purposes. Dave has written a thoughtful post about contributing to Mozilla and the state of the web. He also lets us know that he had nothing to do with that garish new Mozilla Firebird site. First thing I thought when I saw that was "yikes!". Reminds me of 1998 webdesign when everyone was thinking "wouldn't this logo look so much better if it were on fire? yes it would!". it's 2003, and no it doesn't.

Update: Looks like the new Firebird redesign was removed and replaced with the old one. In the CVS log, Ben Goodger writes:

"OK, OK. Initial feedback was mixed but now it seems the world sees the 0.7 site more suitable advertising a Mexican airline than a browser. Going back to the more tried-and-true 7/15 design. You can't hit a home run every day of the week!"

These excellent new releases, new end-user services and new website are all steps in the right direction to reclaiming market share. What's next? OEM deals. If crappy software like MusicMatch can come pre-installed on new Dells, why shouldn't excellent sofware like Mozilla be included?

» posted by pinder on October 15, 2003 at 10:28 AM

Comments

That new Mozilla Firebird site is indeed awful, all the mozilla project sites should try and fit in with the mozilla.org 'corporate' image. The new firebird page is simply too bright, the colours are awful, first thing I did was hit the back button when I seen the page.

Also the 'Mozilla' in the banner is hardly noticable, remember the branding documents call for the browser to be called Mozilla Firebird, it looks more like just 'Firebird' with that banner.

# posted by Dave

Yikes! That firebird site sucks! Get Dave Shea on the redesign team for that one ASAP! ;-)

# posted by Scott

What, no Mac torrents? Mac users are people, too!

# posted by josh

hey, i know. i just got a new powerbook. i gleemed what torrents were available from this slashdot post. so if you find a mac torrent, please post a link to it (using html) in a comment here.

# posted by pinder

Your Firebird 0.7 Bittorrent link points to Thunderbird, not Firebird. The correct link is here.

# posted by Ryan Watkins

Firebird 0.7 mac torrent and unofficial Mozilla Bittorent page

# posted by pinder

I found the firebird site pretty ugly too - but I'm holding back criticism until I have time to contribute myself.

# posted by Steven Garrity

sorry, but what is torrent ?

# posted by hmm

Basically you install BitTorrent, download a torrent file and double click it. You can then download the program from not only the main server listed in the torrent file, but also from everyone else who is actively downloading the program. The BitTorrent About page has a better description of how it works.

# posted by pinder

Do you have a copy of old site? I didn't get to see it and see why so hateful

# posted by uh

Anyone out there have Linux+Gtk2+Xft builds of Firebird 0.7?

There really need to be more, up to date Mozilla.org mirrors.

Oh and the beta-site is oh so nice on the eyes.

# posted by salmo

Hey, you missed the One-Year Anniversary of my site: http://texturizer.net/firebird/

# posted by David Tenser

I don't understand it. Yesterday, a perfect professional site was available that looked just like the current one for Thunderbird (http://mozilla.org/website-beta/thunderbird/) but with Firebird content. Then today, Ben first used his... ehum, special design, and then reverted back to the old one. Yesterday, http://mozilla.org/website-beta/firebird/ pointed to a site that matched the new Mozilla design at http://mozilla.org/website-beta/

# posted by David Tenser

Nice job on the your new site design.

# posted by laketout

Answering uh
there is a page that contains links to different alternate builds of Firebird for Linux, Windows and BeOS.
http://pryan.org/firebird/

# posted by Fil

SORRY (new to this site, I made a couple of mistakes)
My answer was to reply Salmo's post and not uh's.
The page I was writing about (Linux+Gtk2+Xft builds of Firebird 0.7) is here.

# posted by Fil

Call me crazy but I actually thought the "Firebird on Fire" layout might have been an effective way to convert a few people. It was bright, flashy, and to the point. The download button was right there and the drop-down box had your OS pre-selected. I think that you definitely need to go with this approach to attract the "less-than-web-saavy" users out there. Marketing sites are typically "over-the-top" and "eye-catching".

I think there is definitely a need to have two separate sites: a corporate/developer site with a more conservative design and a marketing site with the singular goal of attracting new users. A better URL than: http://www.mozilla.org/products/firebird/ couldn't hurt either.

# posted by MikeyC

the "Firebird on Fire" design still exists on website-beta.mozilla.org

# posted by pinder

That stupid little flame they use for the Firebird logo/icons and stuff, just simply sucks, and is unfortunately plastered all over that "Firebird of Fire" design. It is one of the worst icons I've seen. Seriously, give me 5 minutes and I could design a better one (or the third party icons in the previous post will suffice).

# posted by dowingba

Re: Scott and Josh's plea for Mac torrents

If you haven't found it already, try...
http://mac.torrentskickass.com

# posted by crenshan

hey, here's a mac torrent, it's AWESOME! lots of different things to d/l: http://mac.torrentskickass.com/index.html . also; go to http://www.dessent.net/btfaq/#links for some great advice, it got me started and it stretches from the rookie to the advanced.

# posted by rudz1985

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