cfrachel wrote:Marketing people at Mozilla surely agree that you must not change the company logo or colors often. If they are wisely chosen, they last for years. This time, not only the Mozilla Suite logo was changed, but the general website palette was completely substituted.
Then again, this is a crucial period in time for Mozilla. They have to make ready for the release of Firefox 1.0, which should be ready sometime this year. I feel safe in expressing my opinion that the old site wasn't too good, and that a change before Firefox 1.0 was in order so as to not scare off new endusers that have become interested in the product.
andkon wrote:As I said, making a new design before the content is finalized is like painting a house before the walls are put in.
I agree that this is very important, as I've expressed before. However, is a design is flexible (as any design should be IMO) you will be able to insert the content afterwards and it will turn out good anyway. Basically, good content and design shouldn't have to be tailored to each other, but should fit seamlessly. That way, it shouldn't matter which comes first.
As for content, I'd suggest making a new topic about it (maybe I will?) but here are some pointers:<ul>
<li>Make sure the enduser understands that Mozilla.org distributes free software, and that donating, or buying products, are not necessary in order to get the full product.</li>
<li>Be truthful. If Mozilla.org claims that Firefox is "faster" or "fastest", then you'll find that there are, in fact, three browsers claiming this: Opera, Avant, and hypothetically Firefox.</li>
<li>Focus on the good bits. Point out that you have a support forum, that you have extensions (show the best/most popular ones), and that Firefox is free.</li>
<li>Encourage feedback to the browser, so that the user feels involved and appreciated. Don't make it too obtrusive or persuasive, , but point it out as an option, and respond politely, not with "I'd rather DIE than implement this in Firefox".</li>
<li>Show the features rather than talk about them. For all I know, flash demos could be on the way. If they aren't, that's a huge mistake. If you don't like flash demos, then that's fine. Use images instead.</li>
</ul>
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