Website/Sprints

Overview

The mozilla.com sprints are a series of two-week projects designed to:

• use the site as a showcase for the latest & greatest open web technologies
• reflect the full scope of the work going on in the Mozilla universe
• create content that gives users reasons to keep visiting even after they've downloaded Firefox
• continue optimizing the site to drive Firefox downloads and support other Mozilla goals

Schedule

Each sprint is intentionally kept on a tight schedule so we stay focused on the main goal (resisting scope creep is key). The sprints will start on a Tuesday and end on a Tuesday two weeks later.

The general day-to-day breakdown is as follows:

• Day 1: scoping, wireframes, planning
• Day 2: better mockups
• Days 3-7: development
• Days 8-10: QA, fixes
• End of Day 10: launch

Q3 09 Sprints

1. Mid August: Download Stats

• refine the existing http://downloadstats.mozilla.com page and integrate it more into the mainstream of mozilla.com
  

2. Late August: We <3 the Web

• a twitter/google map mashup to give people an easy way of spreading things they like about the Internet & the Mozilla mission.

3. Mid September: Buzz Page

• make syndicated content more prominent so people can see what the buzz is. Turn content into a Worldle that's periodically updated.

4. Late September: News Ticker

• small JS-based promo on the homepage to show what's going on...clicking on it would then link to the larger Lizard Feeder.

Q4 09 Sprints

1. Mid October: Community Page

• create more comprehensive directory of Mozilla-related sites...possibly tie in to the feeder/buzz page.

Ideas for Future Sprints

(please add more as you think of them, and be sure to add your name when you do)

• use technologies like canvas, <video>, etc to add non-Flash motion to the site...what if we could animate the homempage illustrations so the hot air balloons floated up & down, for example?
• periodically "take over" homepage with project-specific content...something for Mozilla Service Week, for example
• more user-specific content along the lines of what we're currently doing with the 4 different main Firefox pages
• update site font to utilize @font-face
• geolocation
• integrating add-ons more closely with Firefox
• recurring content (similar to Mozilla JP's monthly Foxkeh content)
• have a regular day when we serve up some twist in our regular content
• integrate community more
• feature other sites that are using open technologies well - Dailymotion (video), Google Maps (geolocation), etc
• a way for people to report when they see Firefox in the wild - on a TV show, or at an internet cafe in a remote location, or someone wearing a t-shirt in an unexpected place, etc
• pulling in content from various microsites - AMO, QMO, SFx, SUMO, etc - and displaying on the homepage
• improving search...fix results, and create pages to match popular search terms (especially when current searches aren't producing accurate content)
• polls...getting people more involved in the site
• more user agent sniffing to serve up alternate versions of the homepage