11

Mar

Firefox vs FireFox – Logo vs LoGo

Posted by admin  Published in Graphics, Mozilla, Mozilla - Graphics, Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox wordmark and misspelled Firefox wordmark

Firefox vs FireFox

This post is being written to set the record straight and as an (unofficial) addendum to the official Firefox Logo Guide written by Mozilla’s John Slater.

Let it first be known that I am not (and don’t claim to be) an English professor or speeeling bee champion. In fact, if it wasn’t for the built in spell checking feature in Mozilla’s applications (and other non-Mozilla products), you’d think that I was a four year old randomly pressing keys on his dad’s keyboard. However what do I know and that I’m absolutely positive about is the proper presentation of the word Firefox.

To see Firefox spelled as FireFox has always really annoyed me and my attempts to correct people one at a time hasn’t had any impact at all. I’ve seen (and continue to today) popular and reputable news and media outlets run stories with FireFox in the headlines and story’s bodies. This really boggles my mind because most writers and reporters have on-staff fact checkers and proofreaders and if not, their names are going on the articles so you’d think that accuracy would be a top priority but it isn’t.
I’ve also seen many, perhaps 50 or more Firefox add-on developers use FireFox in their add-on’s titles and descriptions. That one really blows my mind even more than it boggles it.
I just don’t understand any of it especially considering that you will never see FireFox on an official Mozilla site (unless used in a similiar context as this post).

“Ken, so what’s the big deal?”
Well, simply put it is the wrong way to present the word Firefox as it pertains to the free and open source software developed, maintained, and distributed by the Mozilla Foundation.
We do not spell and present IE as InterNet Explorer, or Microsoft as MicroSoft, Thunderbird as ThunderBird, Facebook as FaceBook, Whois as WhoIs and so on.
The word Firefox and that spelling of it is a registered trademark of the Mozilla Foundation. I have no idea who owns the rights to FireFox, but it isn’t Mozilla (that I know of). I can’t even force Google to show results for that.
And for users of Firefox in particular, doesn’t the red underline under FireFox tell you anything at all? If you right click on that word, are the suggestions just lies and an attempt to confuse you?

screen shot of a misspelled word in Firefox
screen shot of suggestions for a misspelled word in Firefox

Please, do me, Mozilla, and the World a favor and spell Firefox as it is supposed to be and when you see it presented in any other way, take a second to leave a comment or send an email to the person who is advocating the incorrect use of the word Firefox. Any presentation of the word Firefox other than Firefox is an improper representation of Mozilla Firefox no matter what content is attached to it.
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screen shot of the current and old About Firefox windows

Logo vs Logo

This next section address another misused (and equally annoying) representation of a Mozilla trademark.
All too often around the Internet people are using the old, outdated Mozilla Firefox logo that was introduced in Firefox 0.8. Again, news and media outlets are notorious for this. As you can see below there are quite obvious differences between the two logos but to enforce my point, I am providing a detailed list of the differences that I have found and my visual acuity is actually immeasurable. If I can see the differences (highly zoomed of course), then I see no reason why others can’t.

screen shot of the current and old Firefox logos

Logo Differences:

  • Different color values throughout
  • Land masses – different shapes
  • Outer drop shadows – different values
  • Fox right drop shadows – different values
  • Different head shapes (new head shorter, flatter)
  • Different ears

Current (new) Logo:

  • Added top gloss
  • Added top dark blue stroke
  • Added hair tufts to top of Fox’s head
  • Added more (and detailed) hair tufts to back of Fox’s head
  • Less detail to hair tufts/fur on Fox’s body
  • More emphasis and highlights on flames
  • Deeper shadow to flames (left)
  • Fox face – shorter, different shape, more details, longer snout, different nose
  • Other differences?

So in all fairness, if people around the Internet are going to use the old Firefox logo when referring to and writing about current versions of Firefox, shouldn’t the same apply to others?

old logos and symbols including Google, Mozilla, Internet Explorer, Apple, Mozilla Thunderbird, and the American flag

Again, please spread this, post it, share it so that Firefox gets represented accurately and properly.
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Thanks for reading.
Ken

Official Mozilla Firefox Logo Guide
Includes downloadable, hi-res, large, Mozilla Firefox graphics.

The contents of this post are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license with the exception (of course) of the Mozilla Firefox logos and wordmark. Those are trademarks of the Mozilla Foundation.
You are free and encouraged to use and post the materials here to help spread the word and educate others on the correct usage of two of Mozilla’s trademarks which are not currently being respected.

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