January SFx Volunteer Spotlight

Seventeen year old John Karahalis (A.K.A. Johnny K) from Long Island, New York is a fairly new member to Spread Firefox, but he brings with him new excitement and fresh ideas that have begun to invigorate the community. He is a positive, assertive and highly active member who is not afraid to ask questions to learn better ways to get projects going. His latest project proposal Posters has begun to gain momentum and support from SFx members, and his other ideas are just as good. For these reasons, the SFx Team has chosen Johnny K for the Volunteer Spotlight for January, our first member of the month for the new year. We conducted an online interview with Johnny and here’s what he had to say.


How did you discover Firefox? In the spring of 2005 I was working on a website. I'm not exactly sure where I first heard of Firefox, but I knew that it was somewhat popular, so I wanted to make sure my site looked good in it. Of course, the site didn't look perfect because I had been writing Internet Explorer-specific CSS without realizing it. At first I only used Firefox to test out how my site looked as I was fixing up the CSS, but I grew to love Firefox and began to use it as my default browser.

What made you decide to use Firefox as your default browser? What I loved most about Firefox was how fast it was. That's really what did it for me. As I became more familiar with Firefox, I learned about more features and was amazed at how easy everything was to use.

What is your favorite thing about Firefox? By far my favorite thing about Firefox is how easy it is to use. I remember the first time I installed an extension (Web Developer). I clicked "Install" and before I knew it, it was installed. I seriously sat there in awe. "No InstallShield?! I don't have to close all applications?! I don't have to restart my computer?!" Recently, there have been new versions of competing browsers (cough, cough) with new features. But the competing browsers can't seem to add new features without making everything so much more complicated. Firefox 2, however, added similar features and more, but at the same time remained easy to use. That's what makes Firefox great.

How did you hear about Spread Firefox? I'm not sure, honestly. I think spreadfirefox.com came up under a Google search or something like that. I started to get involved with SFX when the commercial project was announced. I was excited to support Firefox and was proud that my name was listed as a supporter on TV.

What makes you continue to visit Spread Firefox and contribute your time? I want people to know that there is a better and easier way to surf the web. I want them to know that they don't have to "click the blue e". I want software in general to become easier to use, and I think Firefox is a step in the right direction. But in order for Firefox to really have an impact on the future of software, it needs support.

You have some great ideas, what do you think that it’ll take to turn them into projects? More than anything, what they need is support from the SFX community. Many people have given positive feedback to my ideas, but haven't put my ideas into action yet. I think people need to find a reason to get excited about spreading Firefox. I think people need to realize that spreading Firefox, either by one of my ideas or by anyone else's, can be fun and worthwhile.

What would you like to see in future versions of Firefox? I'd like to see Mozilla really take advantage of Firefox's edge of being so easy to use. I'd like to see future versions of Firefox really stress the simplicity of the browser while at the same time adding new features.

Congratulations Johnny! The SFx Team