Fork Awesome Technology Intelligence

What is Fork Awesome?

Fork Awesome is a community-maintained fork of Font Awesome 4.7, created when Font Awesome transitioned to version 5 with a different licensing model. It continues development of the original icon font, adding new icons and maintaining backward compatibility for projects using Font Awesome 4.

The project emerged to provide a fully open-source alternative that remains free for all uses without restrictions. Fork Awesome includes all original Font Awesome 4.7 icons plus hundreds of community-contributed additions, including icons for decentralized networks, privacy tools, and open-source projects.

Fork Awesome uses the same class naming conventions as Font Awesome 4, making migration straightforward. It's particularly popular in privacy-focused and open-source communities, providing icons for technologies like Mastodon, Matrix, and other decentralized platforms not found in mainstream icon sets.

Fork Awesome Features

Icon Collection: 800+ icons. Font Awesome 4.7 base. Community additions. Regular updates.

Open Source Icons: Mastodon, Matrix, Diaspora. XMPP, Keybase, Tor. ActivityPub, Peertube. Privacy tools.

Compatibility: Font Awesome 4.7 compatible. Same class names. Drop-in replacement. Easy migration.

Formats: Icon font (WOFF, WOFF2, TTF). SVG versions. CSS classes. Sass/Less variables.

Sizing: fa-lg, fa-2x, fa-3x, fa-4x, fa-5x. Fixed-width option. Stack icons. Rotate and flip.

Accessibility: Screen reader text. ARIA labels. Semantic icons. Decorative option.

Fork Awesome Use Cases

Open Source Projects: FOSS websites. Community platforms. Developer tools. Project documentation.

Privacy-Focused Sites: Privacy tools. Decentralized apps. Security services. Anonymous platforms.

Fediverse Applications: Mastodon instances. ActivityPub apps. Federated social. Matrix clients.

Legacy Projects: Font Awesome 4 sites. Migration holdouts. Compatibility needs. Existing codebases.

Community Sites: Forums. Wikis. Collaborative platforms. Volunteer organizations.

Educational: Open education. Academic sites. Research projects. Libraries.

Fork Awesome Code Examples

Basic Usage

<!-- Include Fork Awesome -->
<link rel="stylesheet"
      href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/css/fork-awesome.min.css">

<!-- Basic Icons -->
<i class="fa fa-home"></i> Home
<i class="fa fa-user"></i> Profile
<i class="fa fa-cog"></i> Settings

<!-- Fediverse Icons (Fork Awesome additions) -->
<i class="fa fa-mastodon"></i> Mastodon
<i class="fa fa-diaspora"></i> Diaspora
<i class="fa fa-peertube"></i> PeerTube
<i class="fa fa-matrix-org"></i> Matrix

<!-- Privacy Icons -->
<i class="fa fa-tor"></i> Tor
<i class="fa fa-keybase"></i> Keybase

Icon Modifiers

<!-- Sizing -->
<i class="fa fa-camera fa-lg"></i>
<i class="fa fa-camera fa-2x"></i>
<i class="fa fa-camera fa-3x"></i>

<!-- Fixed Width -->
<i class="fa fa-home fa-fw"></i> Home
<i class="fa fa-book fa-fw"></i> Library

<!-- Rotation -->
<i class="fa fa-shield fa-rotate-90"></i>
<i class="fa fa-shield fa-flip-horizontal"></i>

<!-- Animation -->
<i class="fa fa-spinner fa-spin"></i>
<i class="fa fa-refresh fa-pulse"></i>

Fork Awesome Benefits

Fully Open Source: SIL OFL license. Free for all uses. No restrictions. Community owned.

FA4 Compatible: Drop-in replacement. Same syntax. Easy migration. Existing code works.

Unique Icons: Fediverse platforms. Privacy tools. Open source projects. Decentralized web.

Community Driven: Open contributions. Active maintenance. User requests. Democratic process.

No Tracking: Privacy respecting. No analytics. Self-hostable. Full control.

Ethical Choice: Supports open source. Decentralized web. Privacy movement. Digital rights.