The Mozilla Labs Design Challenge based around redesigning the home tab is just about over.  This contest was put together by the Mozilla Labs team to inspire some new discussion and creativity on how a new home tab might look and feel in future versions of Firefox, such as Firefox 4. 

Now that the contest is coming close to the conclusion, we can all check out the top 10 designs that were voted on the most by the Mozilla fan base.  Here are the top 10 voted on submissions in the first round of voting for this specific challenge.

Alberto Moreno Alecsandru Grigoriu Amine Zafri Chad Pommiss Daniel Goodwin

Manu Kumar Maurice Lam NorCal Design Council Sam Horne Yatrik Solanki

Be sure to check out more (including video tours for each winner) here:

• Mozilla Labs Design Challenge: The Home Tab

Remember to check back on the design challenge site March 15th to see who wins the best in class honors.  I also want to give my own pat on the back to all the designers who submitted their entries and that made it into the top ten.  All of the submissions I checked out were top notch, and I am sure they will all help Mozilla decide on the best new home tab for Firefox 4.

I know I have a lot of creative and opinionated readers here, so I thought this challenge would be right up your alley.  Last week, Mozilla Labs announced the Winter ‘09 Design Challenge.  What is at stake?  You might get to help design how Firefox 4’s home tab looks.

In the future release of Firefox, it seems the home tab will replace your default homepage as the big starting point for the browser.  Rather than having something like MyYahoo or iGoogle, you will have your own personalized home, served locally, just for you.  This page will have access to a lot more of your information since it never leaves the browser — history, add-ons, bookmarks, and pretty much anything you can see in Firefox at the moment.

Here is a little more about the project from Mozilla:

To participate in this Design Challenge you need to create a short video explaining your idea(s), presenting the mockup and showing how your idea works. Your video can contain anything from a napkin drawing, a wireframe, to a polished graphic/prototype.

Here are the important dates you should make note of, if you want to participate:

• December 2009 – Launch of The Home Tab – Winter ‘09 Design Challenge
• February 14th, 2010 – Submission Deadline
• February 15th, 2010 – People’s Choice Voting starts
• March 1st, 2010 – People’s Choice Voting ends
• March 15th, 2010 – Best in Class honors are announced

Good luck to all those who get involved with this challenge.  To learn more about it, be sure to visit the design challenge page over at the Mozilla Labs web site. You can also get updates via Twitter, @mozconcept.

What are the prizes this time around?  Here are just a few:

• Development gear, including a brand new 15" MacBook Pro
• A license for the TextMate IDE by MacroMates
• A license for the Versions SVN client by Sofa
• A license for ExpanDrive by ExpanDrive
• Firefox Ogio Metro Backpack stuffed with t-shirts, stickers, and more

Sure, I got passed up for being a judge again this year, but hey… can’t argue the fact they do have a nice selection of judges to choose from.

Last year’s contest received over 100 add-on submissions, which will be a hard record to beat.  However, with some hard work I think that record can be broken.  Extend Firefox 3.5 is open now and runs through October 2nd, 2009.  Good luck to all that enter!

Best New Firefox Add-ons

• Pencil
• Tagmarks
• HandyTag

Best New Firefox Add-on (the Runners Up)

• Webchunks
• Badges on Favicons
• Devo
• Close ‘N Forget
• Callout
• Reasy

Best Updated Firefox Add-on

• Read it Later 
• TagSifter
• Bookmark Previews

Best Music Firefox Add-on

• Fire.fm

Big congratulations to all of these winners, runners up and everybody who entered.  I am sure the Mozilla judges had a hard time picking the best of the best.  Which is your favorite?

Have a hidden talent of being able to walk people through something?  Coming from the web hosting world, screencast tutorials are nothing new to me – see them used every day.  Now there is a new contest from Mozilla that will get you involved with sharing knowledge via your own desktop tutorial.

Here are a few more details about the contest:

Get ready to participate in the Firefox Screencasts contest! This is your chance to use your talents and passion for Firefox to create screencast support videos for the Firefox Support (SUMO) knowledge base.  We have prepared a list of the top 100 most popular support articles from the SUMO knowledge base and ask YOU to create screencasts for one, two, three, or all of them!  You can enter as many screencasts as you like.

Help your fellow Firefox fans and participate today!

Big congratulations to Tracie Andrews, the winner of the Firefox 3 t-shirt design contest!  I have to say this wasn’t on my radar much (the contest that is) but this design is really awesome.  I would wear it, that is for sure!  If you want to see the other t-shirt designs – check them out at Flickr.  You have to join the group (yes, that even confused me) but there were a lot of cool designs to choose from.

The winner of the contest will get:

• Worldwide recognition for designing the official Firefox 3 T-Shirt featured in the Mozilla Store.
• A free Firefox 3 T-Shirt to show off your winning design.
• $250 gift voucher to Amazon.com.

4 runners up will receive:

• A free Firefox 3 T-Shirt with the winning design.
• A $50 gift voucher to Amazon.com.

Check out the official page for the rules for submission.

Looks like there will be two rounds of voting, one for weeding out the field by Mozilla and the second round will be decided by the public.  Submission deadline is Sunday March 16th 11:59 PM Pacific Standard Time (PST) so get to work! 

Here is an overview of how the contest is laid out:

This edition of the Extend Firefox contest runs until December 31st, 2007. A panel of judges will award three Grand Prizes and twelve Runner-up Prizes based upon excellence in user experience, innovativeness, and use of open standards.

What do you get if you win? Well – the appreciation of the masses for creating a great tool for the Web. Not enough? Well.. three Grand Prize winners will each receive an Ultimate Firefox Developer Kit, including:

• Travel and accommodation to a Mozilla Developer Day of the winner’s choice, anywhere in the world
• Development gear, including a brand new 15″ Macbook Pro with VMware Fusion and ActiveState Komodo
• 1 Year Unlimited Access subscription to O’Reilly’s Safari Library
• Firefox Ogio Messenger Bag stuffed with t-shirts, books, stickers, mugs, and more

Twelve Runner-Up Prize winners will each receive a Firefox Pack, including:

• Firefox Ogio Messenger Bag stuffed with
  t-shirts, books, stickers, and more
• ActiveState Komodo, mug, and t-shirt
• A $200 Gift Certificate for O’Reilly Books

All qualified entrants will receive, while supplies last, a Limited Edition Extend Firefox T-Shirt. So will you enter? Good luck if you do!

+ Read More About Mozilla’s Mascot Naming Contest!

[Read More About the Firefox Flicks Winners!]