I’m excited to see so many of my old colleagues from Flock there as well as people from Mozilla Messaging, Mozilla Foundation and ActiveState most of whom I didn’t have chance to meet yet.
We were hoping (with Mark and Zak) to craft a little MozCamp+ Net Literacy Workshop around, but it didn’t work out yet. I hope we’ll find time to talk about it more.
In short, the idea of Net Literacy Workshop is to gather a bunch of people from schools, universities or straight from streets and show them how they can protect their privacy, how they can avoid viruses/trojans/phishing and how they can efficiently use the Internet to improve their productivity. How to wisely use social networks, cloud computing, wikis. Show people how easy it is to set up an own blog or custom wiki. Explain the tools they have to stimulate their creativity and guide them through the basic tools that are respecting their privacy, are free and open, and can make their Internet experience richer.
It’s one of the ideas that is on my mind recently. How can we use the market share of Firefox to deliver the promise of Mozilla. Choice and Innovation. How to use it as a tool for broader goals. If we have, say 30-40% of the market share in one country, how can we really use it? Where can we go from there?
I believe that the idea of Net Literacy Workshops, or various kinds of so-called MozCamp+ events is exactly the kind of think we can start investigating in countries like Poland, Hungary, Romania, Finland or Slovenia. Delivering Mozilla Manifesto values using organic communities. You’ll find more on that at Mark Surman’s blog.
So, after over two and a half year since its initial release, my Project Watcher is getting a massive update.
The old version has been “released” on March 7th, 2006. It contained a list of projects I was monitoring (you can see the old list in the post linked above).
in November 2007 in two posts (one, two) I tried to update the list starting from reporting what happened in those projects since the announcement but somehow got distracted (yea…).
So, now I’m finally doing the update and together with a minor selective list of updates on what happened with some of the projects listed there and what are the new ones.
Congratulations to Canonical and Ubuntu community on release of Ubuntu 8.10!!!
I’m proudly using Ubuntu 8.10 on my mbp (it works great) with a beautiful Dust theme, and even more beautiful GDM theme WillWill. (there’s also Willbex theme available).
The most interesting thing from my POV in this release is a great community riot around the theme for the new Ubuntu release which was strengthen by this set of mockups promoted at brainstorm.ubuntu.com and digg.
I find it a good sign of the community health how strong reaction this topic received and I’m a bit disappointed by lack of public discussion between broad community and people in charge of the project. I believe we’re doing a better job on this in Mozilla and I hope it’ll be a lesson for Ubuntu project similar to what we got with Firefox 1.0 Theme switch issue.
Bottom line is that I believe this energy motivated Mark to hire designers, usability and user experience experts. It’s always good to see community getting so energetic around something *they* think is important, and I believe open projects model makes it especially effective in a longer run.
Zbli偶aj膮ce si臋 wydanie Firefoksa 3.1 jest najciekawszym w mojej historii… Troszeczk臋 przypomina wydanie Fx 1.5. Stoimy na stabilnej, szybkiej nowoczesnej platformie jak膮 jest Gecko 1.9 i mo偶emy si臋 skupi膰 na tych drobnych detalach i mi艂ych dodatkach, kt贸re sprawiaj膮, 偶e korzystanie z sieci jest przyjemne.
Zatem w por贸wnaniu z ogromem zmian jakie wprowadzi艂 Fx 3.0, wersja 3.1 b臋dzie zmian膮 znacznie bardziej ewolucyjn膮 i spokojn膮, co nie znaczy, 偶e niepotrzebn膮 馃檪
Cz臋艣膰 to usprawienienia widoczne go艂ym okiem, inne dadz膮 nowe mo偶liwo艣ci autorom stron i autorom rozszerze艅, wszystkie s膮 “spokojne”. Nie wiem jak to inaczej opisa膰, ale nie ma tu wielkich, ryzykownych zmian (mo偶e poza API do pobierania zdalnych czcionek), du偶ych przeobra偶e艅 interfejsu czy ogromnych przetasowa艅 w g艂贸wnych elementach silnika.
Dwa ciekawe elementy, kt贸re spokojnie ewoluuj膮 w Fx3.1 to obs艂uga standard贸w i dodatkowe interfejsy do zarz膮dzania sesjami i prywatno艣ci膮 sesji. I to z tym zwi膮zane s膮 dwa poni偶sze screeny:
Session restore updatedAcid 3 w fx3.1 nightly
Pierwszy pokazuje nowe mo偶liwo艣ci podczas przywracania sesji, drugi to aktualizacja stanu ACID3 w Firefoksie. Te 93% to to co ju偶 wyl膮dowa艂o w g艂贸wnym repozytorium, bo istniej膮 te偶 patche poprawiaj膮ce wszystkie pozosta艂e b艂臋dy, ale nie zosta艂y jeszcze w艂膮czone do g艂贸wnej ga艂臋zi. Z tego co pisa艂 Dbaron, prawdopodobnie na wydanie Fx3.1 uda si臋 podnie艣膰 to do 98%.
Czemu nie 100%? Nie ma powodu do po艣piechu. Acid3, jak ju偶 wielokrotnie pisa艂o wiele os贸b, jest testem do艣膰 “abstrakcyjnym” w tym sensie, 偶e nie testuje najpopularniejszych element贸w standard贸w, tylko w艂a艣nie te, kt贸re nie dzia艂aj膮 np. w Fx. Spe艂nienie wymaga艅 testu ma sens tylko w贸wczas gdy jest elementem prac nad og贸lnym poprawieniem obs艂ugi standard贸w, a nie gdy jest sztucznym pompowaniem zmian, aby tylko zapewni膰 sobie “setk臋” w jakim艣 testowym buildzie, kt贸ry nigdy nie zostanie wydany i wywala si臋 na wszystkim poza testem Acid 3.
To oczywi艣cie nie wszystko, uwa偶ni obsewatorzy planety Mozilli z pewno艣ci膮 zauwa偶yli prac臋 ekipy od Ux nad poprawkami u偶yteczno艣ci, nie wspominaj膮c ju偶 o setkach poprawionych b艂臋d贸w.
W tym samym czasie grupa z labs pracuje nad nowymi wersjami Ubiquity, Weave czy Prism, Mozilla Messaging eksperymentuje z UI i pracuje nad wydaniem Thunderbirda 3, a zesp贸艂 z Mozilla Mobile szykuje si臋 na wydanie Fenneca 1.0.
Ach, zapomnia艂bym, 偶e tak偶e teraz, inna grupa, pod wodz膮 Brendana Eicha, pracuje nad Mozill膮 2 – now膮 wersj膮 platformy, kt贸ra wprowadzi naprawde ogromne zmiany w funkcjonowanie Gecko, a w艣r贸d zakresu prac Gecko 2.0 pojawiaj膮 si臋 takie rzeczy jak wsparcie dla animacji 3D – SVG, Canvas 3D, nowy standard lokalizacji – L20n, instalacja rozszerze艅 bez restartu, Compositor – nowy system prezentacji uk艂adu strony i wiele innych…
Je艣li jednak tego jest Ci ma艂o, masz poczucie niedosytu, albo uznajesz, 偶e Mozilla to co艣 wi臋cej ni偶 grupa programist贸w i ich kod, to… masz absolutn膮 racj臋 Mozilla Foundation oraz Mozilla Europe pracuj膮 nad projektem o nazwie “2010 Goals“, kt贸ry ma za zadanie zdefiniowa膰 rol臋 Mozilli jako aktywatora i uczestnika dyskusji na temat rozwoju Internetu w takich dziedzinach jak edukacja, dost臋p w najgorzej zinformatyzowanych regionach 艣wiata, czy otwieranie rynku mobilnego tak jak zrobili艣my to z WWW dzi臋ki Firefoksowi.
Je艣li masz ochot臋 co艣 porobi膰, rozwija膰 si臋 pomagaj膮c w realizacji naszej misji, to otwieramy w艂a艣nie dla Ciebie nowy portal – contribute.mozilla.org, kt贸ry ma na celu pom贸c Ci odnale藕膰 si臋 na pocz膮tku swojej przygody z Mozill膮. Du偶o si臋 dzieje i jest mn贸stwo miejsca dla Ciebie 馃檪
W 艣rod臋, o godzinie 16 go艣ciem Czaterii (Interia.pl) b臋dzie nie kto inny jak Seth Bindernagel, mened偶er zespo艂u l10n-drivers w Mozilli. Seth zajmuje si臋 zarz膮dzaniem ca艂ym procesem internacjonalizacji i lokalizacji na (ju偶) 63 j臋zyki produkt贸w Mozilli (w tym Fennec, Thunderbird, Firefox).
Seth jest dusz膮 towarzystwa, facetem, kt贸ry cho膰 nie ma 偶adnego do艣wiadczenia technicznego zaje偶dza innych, 偶eby pomogli mu zrozumie膰 Mercuriala (ostatnio sam stworzy艂 pierwszego patcha!), ogarnia ca艂y zesp贸艂, stworzy艂 pierwszy zestaw cel贸w kwartalnych w historii prac nad L10n i stara si臋 otworzy膰 Mozill臋 na wsp贸艂prac臋 z innymi projektami lokalizacyjnymi. Mo偶na z nim sp臋dzi膰 15 minut i rozwi膮za膰 najwa偶niejsze problemy, albo siedzie膰 do 5 nad ranem w siedzibie w Pary偶u przygotowuj膮c 6 nowych lokalizacji, kt贸re zosta艂y dodane w Firefoksie 3.0.4.
Poza tym jest doskona艂ym kompanem do kufla piwa i pierwsz膮 osob膮 w historii mojej pracy w Mozilli, kt贸ra wyci膮gne艂a spor膮 ekip臋 do klubu 馃檪
A, no, i… no i zupe艂nie przypadkiem jest mened偶erem moim i staszka oraz opiekuje si臋 adrianem podczas jego sta偶u w Mozilli Corporation. 馃檪
Jego najwi臋kszym marzeniem jest do艂膮czy膰 do Polish Mafia i w艂a艣nie odwiedza warszaw臋 z okazji Internet CEE.
wondering if that gives me the “longest trip home” award from EuMozCamp crew. William, beer will do this. 馃檪
The event was great, I’ve been at so many mozilla events during last 8 years yet beyond “normal” awesomeness of those events, once againt some elements of what happened were a big surprise (Mix group – you know who you are) 馃檪
For now I’m attaching Silme talk slides, for those who couldn’t make it to the talk. (it’s also the very best documentation we have so far):
Tym razem, na nowym silniku Wiki, b臋dziemy t艂umaczyli i szlifowali zestaw artyku艂贸w wybranych przez Tomka, kt贸ry opiekuje si臋 polskim MDC.
Takie akcje organizujemy specjalnie po to, aby osoby z zewn膮trz zespo艂u mog艂y szybko i 艂atwo przy艂膮czy膰 si臋 na chwile i pom贸c w t艂umaczeniu pod okiem ca艂ego zespo艂u.
W sobot臋, spotykamy si臋 od 10 na serwerze irc.mozilla.org, na kanale #aviarypl. Zapraszamy wszystkich, kt贸rzy chcieliby pom贸c rozwija膰 centrum i przy okazji zobaczy膰 jak wygl膮da praca zespo艂u Aviary.pl 馃檪
Today, we present you a revised Mozilla Community Theme:
Mozilla Community Theme logo
The new logo you can see here is a proposal for a Community Logo in Mozilla world. It means that we will offer it as a unifying branding element for all communities that will operate inside Mozilla environment, and it’s perfectly in line with our Manifesto:
(…) The Mozilla project uses a community-based approach to create world-class open source software and to develop new types of collaborative activities. We create communities of people involved in making the Internet experience better for all of us. (…)
It has been combined, together with other elements into an improved screen of an example website:
Mozilla Community Theme, screen1
We will offer several options for the header bar, several header backgrounds and several color palettes:
This, of course, is still just an option set, since you can go beyond that and use the color set you want.
We’re currently preparing a guidelines document for you, which should help you work with the sources once they’re public. We’re working on the template for other webtools (like forum, wiki), we’re preparing sources for publishing, and we’re open to hear your feedback once again on what do you think about this theme, so let us know what you think!
A quick update on the status of MCT. Tara, Seth and I gathered a solid round of feedback from many of you. We scanned it, analyzed and built a profile of updates we want to make. We noted five main issues raised by you regarding the first proposition:
You are wondering what flexibility you’ll have. What about different colors? Flags? Logos?
You want to know how it’ll work with other tools than Drupal
Details are wrong, wrong flag, left&right menu are the same width, colors are wrong, languages are mixed
The theme is not “mozzilian” enough
The theme is “graphic” heavy.
Let me address those comments.
First, we are commited to create an extremely flexible environment for you with this theme. We are preparing it in the way that will give you ability to choose colors, layout, elements you want to put in the background, virtually anything. Beside, we will provide you Guidelines prepared by the agency that will help you work with those sources. They will just guide you on how to modify the template to keep the consistency. And if you missed that in my last post – we’ll also provide you full sources on open license so that you can modify this as you want! It’ll be a mixture of professional quality and community freedom.
Second. As I said we are preparing the template to work with several webapps out of the box, and with the freedom described above we hope you’ll contirbute with the theme suited for other apps as well.
Right now, we’re preparing, among the others, php template, planetplanet template and wordpress template:
MCT v1, forum viewMCT v1, Planet viewMCT v1, WordPress view
And we also have another mockup with data from a pretty complex Mozilla Community site, in this case mozilla-russia.
Please, bear in mind, that those are all mockups – elements just combined together to present how the website may look like. Of course the width of elements, choice of logo, colors etc will be up to your community, so please, forgive us a mixture of polish, russian, spanish, latin, lorem ipsum and some other languages in those mockups 馃槈
Of course all those mockups are from before we received your feedback (version 1), so I’m attaching them just to show you the variety of cases we’re working on. The new mockups should be ready soon.
We spent some time trying to figure out what does “mozllian” mean in terms of website template (mozilla.com? mozilla.org? developer.mozilla.org?) and we tried to minimize the influence of mozilla.com visual identification to make sure people see it as Mozilla Community – not official MoCo site. It seems we didn’t hit the right balance yet.
Regarding “heaviness” of graphics on the template. We find your comments saying that the template works great for smaller sites (majority of our community websites are in this category), but we could improve how it’ll look on more complex sites. And that’s also what we plan to address with the new round.
So. Did I get you right? Does it answer your feedback? We’re working on the next round and we hope it’ll be near to final so that we can start deploying it for you to use. Expect next round, next week 馃檪
update: Just to clarify – this is an option for our communities to make your life easier. We will not enfore anyone to use it! 馃檪
