A couple of other key points:
- l10n will definitely be a top priority. We always keep it as a key consideration when doing design projects, and will certainly do so in this case.
- about process, one key difference this time around is that we’re de-coupling major site changes from major releases. So, instead of having that sudden ‘flip the switch’ quality you mentioned, we’ll be able to test and tweak things until we’re totally happy. I’ve already talked to the metrics team about this, and they’re excited about being involved. Bottom line is that we won’t roll out anything new until we’re confident in how it will do with actual users.

I think it’s timely that we are starting this effort. I think we as a project have made significant strides recently, the Mozilla.org redesign led by David Boswell as one example. The work that was done in order to redesign Mozilla.com for the Firefox 3.0 launch was also significant and has helped to provide us the base that we have today. That being said, I think a lot of the constructive criticism in your presentation is accurate and we do need to make a strategic redesign a goal, certainly in preparation for Firefox 4.0, ideally sooner. There is no question in my mind that we have so many sites, that there is not enough commonality among them, that it is confusing unless you are a regular visitor to our sites, which is probably only a fraction of the users.

A few thoughts in no particular order:

- the mozilla.jp numbers are not reflected in your stats table because that server is in Japan. Kohei can get you stats to update that slide and make the numbers more accurate.

- I love the idea of a common Mozilla footer. That’s absolutely something we should implement. Ideally it could be something that could be extended to our community sites as well.

- Website localization. If we are going to take the time to do this strategic redesign, let’s make absolutely sure that l10n is one of the top criteria driving the work. I believe we are near or past the tipping point where Mozilla has more non-English language users of the software than English (and I believe the fastest growth for Firefox is in non-English language locales), so moving forward, we need to be even more sensitive to website l10n in order to build on the success we have had to date. This is in the face of the faster product release schedule and additional products (like Fennec, Personas, etc.) so our l10n community is taxed as it is. You know this but key sites that can’t be localized are spreadfirefox.com among a number of others.

- Process. With respect to the process of a redesign, my main concern is that we make sure to take the time to makes changes over time, with measurement in place. I remember the big changes we made to our website when Firefox 2 was released and then Firefox 3 was released. That was not ideal because we switched users over to a new site design overnight. Ideally, we’ll have a design we’ll implement and we’ll move towards that over a number of weeks or months, measuring what works and doesn’t work as the changes are implemented. I think the worst thing would be to have a new design, drop it on many of the sites, and have confusion as we all learn how to use it. If we look at the most heavily trafficked websites, they change over time but not suddenly. That’s my primary concern with respect to how we implement any new design.

Hope this helps.