MT (the real) has updated WordPress.org/about/buttons with official WordPress logos in pngs and vector image formats.

WordPress Logos and WordPress Buttons

There are also WordPress desktop wall paper in various official colors and sizes. The official WordPress colors are given in a variety of code systems. Pantone 7468 anyone?

Fan Art

The fan art page could use some fresh contributions.

These naturalized WordPress logos would be nice additions:

WordPress India Independence Logo by Allan Fernandes

One or more of the WordPress Malaysia Independence Logos by Avijit Paul. My favorite are the one’s with the flower for the O:

WordPress Malaysia Independence Logos by Avijit Paul

I love the WordCamp Philippines logo:

WordCamp Philippines Logo by Andrew Dela Serna

What is your favorite WordPress art?

Lorelle’s category icons are brilliant. For example, she uses this image for WordPress News:

Anyone know the creator of this popular images?

Same day correction: previously the article suggested the font is Dante, but both Matts have come to my rescue. It used to be the WordPress logo font. When Jason Santa Maria designed the new logo a few years ago, he chose the lovely Mrs. Eaves.

Adam Freetly identified the creator of the “lens flare” logo as being Dan Philibin.

WordPress "Lens Flare" Logo by Dan Philibin

If you are interested, let me know and we can set up a private blog on WordPress.com for you to import into. Bonus is that you will have a backup of your blog ready to go live if anything ever befalls TypePad.

This importer wouldn’t be possible without the heroic effort Ronald Heft Jr put into creating a TypePad AtomPub importer for WordPress — it’s not his fault TypePad still doesn’t have a way to export your full blog.

What’s an AtomPub? While working on this importer Noel contacted TypePad support only to have them tell him they don’t know what AtomPub is, and that they don’t support it.

Anyway, as I said, if you are a TypePad customer, and want to participate in open source development by testing this exporter, or would just like a backup of your blog ready to launch on WordPress.com, leave a comment or send me an email.

The last couple of years I’ve had no real personalized experience on this blog at foolswisdom.com. Partly, because it greatly eases testing of the core WordPress software, partly to test Sandbox as it’s updated, and mostly because I’ve been too lazy, and busy helping other people.

Although, numerous times people have generously pointed out that “CSS is missing from your blog”, I’m surprised I haven’t received more nasty comments and emails about how offensive it really is.

What should I do first?

My good friend Chris Messina wrote a very interesting article, which in many ways comes down to a large, influential part of the web development community being disenfranchised from Mozilla.

Doom! Of course John Lilly is playing cool on the outside, because they have long fought giants.¹ Mozilla’s ability to combat goliaths, and live with fear and uncertain contribute to them being the best browser development community there is.

Although Mozilla is the best browser community, like Chris Messina, I consider myself part of the disenfranchised community, tired of the Firefox is the web mentality. But I will readily admit nobody has a better track record than Mozilla for open source consumer software development.²

As impatient consumers, particularly impatient geek consumers, we all want our pet issues addressed right NOW. One of the greatest achievements of Mozilla these last few years is worrying about the right problems at the right time. And one thing they’ve always gotten mostly right is enabling participation in all aspects of Firefox development, promotion and support.

My instincts tell me that it has slowed them down (a lot), but positions them well for the long game.

In many ways their community, their team, is like the guiding principle of the Internet, they can remove a number of members, and the team will continue to function. Firefox development is highly robust and survivable.

Are leaders like Dave Hyatt, Ben Goodger, Blake Ross, Joe Hewitt, and Mike Schroepfer missed? Of course they are, but these are only a few of the many Mozilla champions.

“We build Firefox with an open development process. At Mozilla people earn respect, authority and decision-making ability by demonstrating their abilities. This allows individual people to become full, equal participants, with both authority and responsibility for building a better Internet. The development process for Firefox demonstrates the type of Internet we want to build. (Not perfectly, of course.)”³

Chrome will be the browser built by Google, like Safari is the browser built by Apple. Firefox is the browser built by everyone.

Everyone that can cope in the structured, programmer-geeky rule laden Mozilla open source community. But maybe that is what is required for such a complex and important product.

What track record does Google have in open source development of consumer software? Any?

By extension what track record does Google have in supporting consumer products? Here they do have one, and it’s a poor one. Automation ultimately doesn’t cut it. Also, it’s much more fun when the software is installed, as opposed to a web service that you fix and update any time.

What community leaders has Google assembled for these heady tasks?

What open source tools do these Google leaders have in their arsenals? As great of gifts as the Netscape source code in 1998 were the open source tools to develop and collaborate on development.

Although today using Bugzilla and Bonsai (with Hg Web Viewer a poor replacement) would probably drive me nuts, those are a couple of the tools that makes development of a large, complete product by a large Mozilla community possible.

Google Code seems great for small projects, or non-consumer software projects with small teams, but I’m not convinced that Google Code is up for the challenge of a web browser.⁴ But I suspect it doesn’t have to be.

I don’t expect Chrome to become a leader in the browser space. I expect it to be about writing cool code, solving cool engineering problems, and pressuring Mozilla into solving the problems that Google cares about, or someone else will take Google’s code and solve them.

The greatest gift of open source isn’t the right to fork, but the ability to merge. I expect Apple to be the first to incorporate this generously licensed code (third-party software). But Mozilla won’t be that far behind, because with the top teams collaborating on WebKit, the myth of the masses will be eroded. Sure, Mozilla’s development team may be made up mostly of volunteers, but those contributions are often picking at the surface of problems or polishing generally solved problems. The complexity of code necessitates highly skilled, highly focused, full time developers.

Chrome’s technologies will be powerful forces for the Mozilla disenfranchised. Will WebKit one day power Firefox? What other technologies or experiences will we see Firefox adopt from Chrome?

1. This is probably why they haven’t been the good friends they could be to the illegitimate offspring.
2. Though Ubuntu is starting to challenge Mozilla as the champion of open source consumer software.
3. Mitchell Baker, “Mozilla, Firefox and Google Chrome“
4. Look to Launchpad for a modern system likely up to the challenge.

About half way through her session she talks about “T-Shirt First Development (Guy Kawasaki)”. I have about 7 WordPress shirts. Occasionally, the ones with the WordPress logo will lead to a conversation — even here in quiet Victoria — with a blogger or web developer, but the ones that spark the most conversations are the WordCamp ones.

Here are some photos from Flickr of people rocking each year’s WordCamp SF shirts:

Joshua Wiltshire in WordCamp 2006 Tee

Chris Heuer in WordCamp SF 2007 Tee. Photo by Laughing Squid.

Alan Levine in WordCamp SF 2008 Tee.

Although WordCamps are happening all over the world, understandably, for most, shirts are not in the budget.

Shirt not in the budget for Dane Hurtubise. Photo by Michael Cummings.

I have found only one photo of a WordCamp tee from another WordCamp:

WordCamp South Africa 2008 Tee

When wearing a WordCamp shirt, conversations with strangers often start, “WordCamp, do you do spelling bees?” After I get over my initial little bit of embarrassment, I explain “WordCamps are WordPress conferences. WordPress is the blogging software that I use and contribute to.” It’s a great ice breaker, and lets me pimp the Press.

I haven’t had any particular funny conversations or found myself in any strange situations, but I like to imagine that others have.

Kris Krug captured what looks like master of creating conversations Francine Hardaway giving everyone a flash of WordCamp during her Gnomedex session:

Jokes. Kris’s next photos reveal that Francine was doing an on stage costume change, or maybe transforming from mild mannered Francine (can’t imagine) to part of Generation Y (which her session was about). I can’t wait for the video!

Has a WordCamp shirt taken you to any strange places?

Photos Used (because WordPress captions feature doesn’t yet support links):

1. Joshua Wiltshire self-portrait.
2. Chris Heuer photo by Scott Beale.
3. Alan Levine self-portrait.
4. Dane Hurtubise photo by Michael Cummings.
5. Photo by Flickr member StrategyOnline.
   
6. Francine Hardaway photo by Kris Krug.

Thursday Update: Aiza sent me a link to “WordCamp [Philippines] Preparation”

WordCamp Philippines 2008 Tee.