Ben Ward has designed a cool t-shirt based on the semi-ubiquitous web feed icon with the caption “Well Fed”. The shirt is pretty comfortable; It’s not too flimsy or heavy. And the caption has an extra level of irony for those of us who are a bit, er, soft around the middle. Order from Spreadshirt (in North America or Europe)
This update to the stand-alone Pinstripe theme turned out to be more of a redesign than I originally intended. Stephen Horlander sent in a cool concept for the browser tabs. Check out the etched text on the inactive tabs. You’ll see some of the other details in the screenshot below. The theme has some rough edges but should be usable. As always I appreciate your feedback.
Click on the thumbnail for a full screenshot.
Install the Pinstripe Theme (requires Firefox 2.0RC1 or later on Mac OS X)
The Firefox 1.x classic default themes, called Pinstripe on Mac and Winstripe on Windows, are available for your installing and downloading pleasure.
These are simply stand-alone versions of the Firefox themes before the Firefox “visual refresh” landed. The themes require at least Firefox 2.0b1. I will work on them in the coming weeks to smooth out the rough spots. I tested the themes on my machines but they may be buggy. Please let me know if they don’t work for you.
Install Pinstripe FF Classic (Mac only)
Install Winstripe FF Classic (Windows only)
Download Pinstripe FF Classic
Download Winstripe FF Classic
By the way, you can get the Illustrator and Photoshop files used to make these themes here.
Designer Stephen Horlander and I are pleased to announce the availability of the toolbar and UI artwork seen in Firefox on Windows and Mac OS X.
Winstripe has been the default theme on the Windows version of Firefox for over two years. Man, how time flies. To explain the odd name, the Pinstripe project started in 2001 as an attempt to make the appearance of the Mozilla Suite fit in with the Mac OS X desktop. Icon designer Stephen Horlander joined the project and took the icon artwork to a new level of usability and polish. The Windows version of Pinstripe, dubbed “Winstripe”, became the default look on the Windows version of Firefox 0.9.
I’d like to see you take the artwork and remix it, mash it up with your own projects, use the artwork as the basis for your own Firefox themes. If you’re not familiar with Firefox themeing, start with the documentation at the Mozilla Dev Center. There’s an active community over at the Mozillazine Themes forum that’ll help you get up to speed. If creating a theme for Firefox looks daunting but you have a great idea, create a mockup of your idea and share it on the Themes forum. You might find people to help you turn your idea into a real theme. Enjoy!
The artwork source zips contain Illustrator and Photoshop files. The majority of the icons were created by Stephen Horlander with contributions by Kevin Gerich. You can use, modify and distribute them under the Mozilla tri-license.
Pinstripe Browser Art (3.6MB)
Winstripe Browser Art (5.9MB)
I am encouraged to read Mitchell Baker’s posts (part 1, part 2) about the usage of Stephen Horlander’s web feed icon which is seen in Firefox, IE7 and on an increasing number of web pages. She suggests that Mozilla should work with the web community to set usage guidelines for the icon. This is a great idea. Guidelines are necessary to avoid confusing web users about the meaning of the image.
It’s puzzling that Mozilla has already applied for a trademark on the web feed icon: tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=78836825. In light of Mitchell’s recomendation against the formal trademark option, does this mean that the Mozilla’s application will be withdrawn?
There’s also the question of the icon image license. Mitchell’s post implies that the feed icon is not subject to an open source license like the rest of the Firefox code. This is news to me. When Stephen Horlander and I checked in our images for Firefox and Thunderbird, we were told that they are covered by the Mozilla tri-license. In fact part of the move to replace the Qute theme before Firefox 1.0 was driven by the desire to have artwork that is free of proprietary licensing. I hope Mozilla will clear this up soon.
We should move quickly to come up with an icon kit that web sites can use and a clear set of usage guidelines. There has already been some good starts by Khoi Vinh, Matt Brett and others. I look forward to the discussion.
Update: Mitchell Baker posts details about the Mozilla Foundation’s trademark application.