Let Mozilla Give Your Add-On's Icon a Makeover
One of the great things about the Mozilla-developed Firefox browser is that its functionality can always be enhanced with an add-on. There are two parts of an add-on that are important. To my mind the most important part is the add-ons functionality. The add-on must do precisely what it says it can do, and must do it flawlessly.
The other important part is the add-on’s icon. The icon is the first thing the user gets to see - before the user gets to read about what that add-on can do, he first sees the add-on. If the add-on is not appealing, the user may never get to discover the functionality said add-on can provide. If the add-on doesn’t even have an icon, the user may also never get to discover what that add-on can do.
According to Mozilla, most add-ons hosted on addons.mozilla.org (AMO) do not even have an icon. “The icon is an important part of any add-on, as it appears everywhere the add-on does both on addons.mozilla.org and in Firefox. Yet only half of the add-ons hosted on AMO actually provide a custom icon; the others just use the default green puzzle piece,” explained the Mozilla Add-ons team.
To help add-on developers out, Mozilla has launched an interesting challenge: nominate your add-on and Mozilla’s graphic artist will give the add-on’s icon a makeover. Developers of a Firefox 3.6-compatible add-on have until the 23rd of July at 11:59:59pm Pacific to nominate their add-on; to do so they must submit this form. Add-ons that do not currently have an icon can be nominated as well. Starting with the 26th of July and until August 6, 2010 at 11:59:59pm Pacific, the community will vote on which add-ons need a makeover. 5 add-ons will be selected one week later and they will receive a makeover from Mozilla’s graphic artist.
The other important part is the add-on’s icon. The icon is the first thing the user gets to see - before the user gets to read about what that add-on can do, he first sees the add-on. If the add-on is not appealing, the user may never get to discover the functionality said add-on can provide. If the add-on doesn’t even have an icon, the user may also never get to discover what that add-on can do.
According to Mozilla, most add-ons hosted on addons.mozilla.org (AMO) do not even have an icon. “The icon is an important part of any add-on, as it appears everywhere the add-on does both on addons.mozilla.org and in Firefox. Yet only half of the add-ons hosted on AMO actually provide a custom icon; the others just use the default green puzzle piece,” explained the Mozilla Add-ons team.
To help add-on developers out, Mozilla has launched an interesting challenge: nominate your add-on and Mozilla’s graphic artist will give the add-on’s icon a makeover. Developers of a Firefox 3.6-compatible add-on have until the 23rd of July at 11:59:59pm Pacific to nominate their add-on; to do so they must submit this form. Add-ons that do not currently have an icon can be nominated as well. Starting with the 26th of July and until August 6, 2010 at 11:59:59pm Pacific, the community will vote on which add-ons need a makeover. 5 add-ons will be selected one week later and they will receive a makeover from Mozilla’s graphic artist.
