Celebrating the Web We Want

Benjamin Sternthal

197 responses

promo-1

The latest version of Firefox is a huge milestone for Mozilla and represents the combined efforts of hundreds of people from around the world. To celebrate this launch we revisited Glow, a real-time visualization of Firefox downloads originally used during the launch of Firefox 4 in 2011.

This time we wanted to do more than just show downloads. We wanted to give people a chance to express what they want the Web to be. To this end, users visiting https://webwewant.mozilla.org/ have the option to share with Mozilla and the world their hopes for the Web. These “shares” are displayed on the map and we display information about which issues are most important in each continent and country.

promo-2promo-3

The dots on the map represents people: either someone downloading Firefox or sharing the Web they want. For me, watching the map is both humbling and inspiring. When people use Firefox— a free and open source browser made by an amazing community— and choose to share with the world what matters to them, it shows a global commitment to the future of the Web.

Technical Details

How do we process millions of interactions and display them?

The site processes request logs for Firefox downloads, auto-updates, and users who share via the website. We perform geolocation lookups on the data and aggregate the information for consumption and display by the Web application.

We have a particular love of the Simpsons on our team and elements of our project are named appropriately:

  • Mr. Burns – The overall codebase.
  • Smithers – The “servant” scripts who provide data to Mr. Burns.

Mr. Burns relies on three main scripts to display data:

  • Bart – Parses log files looking for Firefox downloads or auto-updates.
  • Lisa – Geolocates parsed data and aggregates into buckets.
  • Milhouse – Packages data into JSON for consumption by the front-end.

The flow of data can be seen in this diagram:

glow-data

Data is stored in Redis and the JSON files are delivered to the front end application via CDN. The front end app renders the individual “glows” and the stats using D3.js.

To learn more visit our Wiki and explore the code on Github.

Special Thanks

This was a large project with many participants, all of whom deserve thanks. I would like to thank a few people who worked especially hard:

Eric Petitt – Project Sponsor

Paul McLanahan – Senior Developer

Steven Garrity – Senior Developer

Ali Almossawi – Metrics Engineer

John Slater – Creative Director

Sean Martell – Art Director

Matej Novak – Copy Director

The Localization Team & Contributors

And you! Without you the world would have no Glow.

197 responses

  1. Emilio. T wrote on :

    In name of Ecuador thank you

  2. Kathy wrote on :

    Thank you Firefox so very much!! Use Firefox for quite while and this is fantastic!! Keep up the excellent work..

  3. Junior Rocha wrote on :

    Em nome do Brasil, muito obrigado!

  4. Edson wrote on :

    I’ve used firefox for 5 years or more, it’s become greater day-by-day.
    Just amazing.

  5. Pancho Villa wrote on :

    Muy buena esa wea !

  6. Luis CB wrote on :

    I am a fan from Peru since the begining and believe in your ideals. Do not let us down. Go ahead my friends. thx everyone. I will like you use the WebOs in your future cellphones and develop it.

  7. Jordan wrote on :

    I’ve used Firefox since the beginning, but was using Mozilla before Firefox was officially released. Tried Chrome, Opera, Internet Explorer, and Safari, but Firefox is much better. I just wish it was available on iOS, but I won’t be an iPhone user much longer.

  8. Marino Hernandez wrote on :

    Thank you from Bethlehem, PA in USA!

  9. MDG wrote on :

    SUPERB…..

  10. oSiriS wrote on :

    “Put me on control” ==> “Me mettRe au commande” (in French)
    =)

  11. ROHIT wrote on :

    NICE MOZILLA. I LIKE IT.

  12. Placide wrote on :

    Just amazing the new firefox 29. Thanks for your implication on Internet evolution !

  13. Gradito wrote on :

    Thank You Firefox!! The greatest browser ever!!

  14. Guillermo wrote on :

    Your Team is Awesome, perfect work i like 😀

  15. Pepe Medrano wrote on :

    ¡ El MEJOR !
    Si les digo sigan así, no me haran caso (todo lo mejoran). ¡ Sigan mejorando! ¡ Sigan siendo libres! . Y sean la herramienta para que nosotros también lo seamos.

  16. FHRL wrote on :

    AWSOME… Firefox keep working!!!

  17. ricardo montoya wrote on :

    Thank You Firefox and community, i have been using it since “Nescape” days, i always knew Mozilla will be the great overall winner of browsers and “NO”, not all web browsers are the same. For all and all:Thanks.

  18. Arthur wrote on :

    In name of Brazil thank you Firefox.

  19. ChARLES wrote on :

    Yeah keep up the good work Mozilla Yeah!!!

  20. ChARLES wrote on :

    I have used Firefox for 2 months I am 83 I like this new Firefox.

  21. Blue Hat wrote on :

    Thank you very much for the work you do every day to make the web a better place.
    Thank you for your commitment to these important matters that are privacy, freedom, and putting the user in control in every software you release.

  22. Guido Romo wrote on :

    Excelente trabajo señores firefox sigan adelante…

  23. Mae wrote on :

    Thank God for you “brainiacs with ethics”, progressing us all forward.

  24. Ángel Gómez wrote on :

    I selected learning because knowledge and preparation we can get the other options. A village is a village with ready opportunities. Thank you.

  25. Ed Kolis wrote on :

    Everyone seems to want privacy. So what do you do? Collect statistics and display them for all to see, of course! 😛

    All kidding aside, every time I reopen the page I’m prompted to vote again. Hopefully this only changes my existing vote, and doesn’t actually stack the ballot box…

  26. Timmy seta wrote on :

    woah.. already use firefox since 2007. and still use it until now.. what a great layout now. Got many useful tools and looks simple.

  27. Amal wrote on :

    Thank You

  28. Fatoke wrote on :

    I love Firefox

  29. Anis Vora wrote on :

    We all love way you are moving ahead , building safe community and people can trust .. Thanks for great work .. we all use firefox as our default browser.

  30. Sudipta wrote on :

    I’m using firefox since i learned internet 7 it has become more and more resourceful, amazing everyday. I also want the freedom of internet. Thank you Firefox.

  31. Vardhaman wrote on :

    Thanks for making web amazing.

  32. YAHDA wrote on :

    خیلی خوبه عالیه

  33. YAHDA wrote on :

    very gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood

  34. tariq wrote on :

    excellent work

  35. Boubaker wrote on :

    thank all staff of firefox.

  36. Sebs | MaximizingMarriage.com wrote on :

    Congratulations for the latest FireFox release! We want a web that is open, free, and for the good of all people.

  37. Tanmay Dharmaraj wrote on :

    Amazing idea! thanks a lot moz. I now am considering renaming my scripts. Game of thrones it shall be 🙂

  38. Adith wrote on :

    Great.!! Cool.!! Thx 4 Firefox. Greeting From Indonesia 🙂

  39. LiLy wrote on :

    Thank you Mozilla Firefox!

  40. DHAVAL wrote on :

    i have used firefox since i started using pc.! and you guys are doing a great job! keep it up

  41. willemdejong_1 wrote on :

    Ik vind het nu al leuk om uit te proberen en ik denk dat ik deze browser houd op mijn pc.
    Thanx Firefox.

  42. sevennt wrote on :

    Is there a new Firefox . I have 1 is that ok? Margaret

  43. Eliaina wrote on :

    I have been using firefox my lifetime. For me its the best browser i´ve used. Thank you.

  44. Abby Fogarty wrote on :

    faster and trouble-free. I was using google chrome and was much slower

  45. kanon wrote on :

    im using firefox more than 7 years and dont think of switching it yet now.
    keep up the good works…
    cheers from Bangladesh.

  46. Tri Imam Mahdi wrote on :

    Where is Indonesian ???

  47. kevinXD wrote on :

    muy bueno 😀

  48. Cat wrote on :

    Thank you for all your hard work, for all these years of great service and for all your great ideas yet to come. Don’t give up on us, and we won’t give up on you!!!
    Cheers!!!

  49. Lebo:) wrote on :

    I likes to used it often. It was good and browsers. They love to used it! Don’t give it up on your own!

  50. Glen McNiel wrote on :

    Thank you Ben and everyone who works on Firefox.

    You make the world (and the internet) a better place.

    Love and gratitude from Thailand,

    {Zen}Glen

More comments: 1 2 3 4