Firefox 3 Alpha 2 Released
Posted by James | Filed under Future, Geek, Open Source, Web
Mozilla has officially released the second Firefox 3.1 alpha. This release includes support for the WHATWG’s HTML 5 “video” element.
Mozilla has been planning the 3.1 roadmap since before the launch of Firefox 3. Version 3.1 is expected to provide a strong incremental improvement and will include many of the features that were deferred for various reasons during the 3.0 development cycle. The developers are refining the user interface for tabs and tagging and are also working on on important backend improvements to boost compatibility with emerging web standards like CSS 3 and HTML 5.
The latest alpha—codenamed Shiretoko—includes support for the new video element, one of the most highly-anticipated features of HTML 5. The feature didn’t make into the main tree in time for Firefox 3, but now it’s a high priority feature for the 3.1 release.
The HTML 5 video element offers some unique capabilities that can’t presently be achieved with Flash-based video players. For instance, it enables web developers to more seamlessly intersperse video with other web content, manipulate video playback with JavaScript, and access video elements directly through the document object model (DOM).
One of the most compelling demos shows translucent videos playing inside of SVG frames that a user can drag and resize. The demo is implemented entirely using standards-based web technologies and shows how web developers could soon deliver rich interactive video content without Flash.
Another significant feature that landed in this alpha release is support for web worker threads, a new scripting capability that allows computationally intensive JavaScript to be run in the background so that it doesn’t cause the Firefox user interface to hang. This feature and the significant JavaScript performance boost brought by the new TraceMonkey engine (which is still under development isn’t included in alpha 2) will give developers the ability to leverage client-side processing to create web applications of unprecedented sophistication.
Other, minor features were added in alpha 2 as well, including much-improved support for dragging tabs between windows. Dragging a tab from one window to another in alpha 2 will no longer cause the page to reload. This means that users can seamlessly move tabs between windows without disrupting page state or the contents of web forms.
Firefox 3.1 is shaping up to be an impressive release. The latest features in alpha 2 build on the intriguing user interface changes and visual tab switcher that were added in the previous alpha. Users can download the new version from the Mozilla web site.
Tags: firefox, firefox 3.1, html5, mozilla, shiretoko, tracemonkey, WHATWG
Add To Reader for Ubiquity
Posted by James | Filed under Code, Geek, Web
Just wrote a basic “Add to Reader” verb for Ubiquity.
If you don’t know what Ubiquity is then watch the video.
Ubiquity is going to be awesome for Firefox power-users. One of the best things about Firefox is the extension eco-system and Ubiquity is going to make writing extensions much easier.
UPDATE: Modified my script to no longer require the type of feed, it will now just pick the first one it finds. Future ideas include listing the feeds available and allowing the user to choose one before adding it.
Tags: Add-on, firefox, firefox extension, firefox-add on, mozilla, Mozilla Firefox, Ubiquity
Mozilla Labs: Future of the Web
Posted by James | Filed under Future, Geek, Web
On Monday, Chris Beard, vice president and general manager of Mozilla Labs, posted a rather vague, yet optimistic, blog entry about opening up Mozilla Labs projects to the Web community at large. The move comes just a week after the company lost Mike Schroepfer, Mozilla VP of engineering, to Facebook.
Beard has coined it a “concept series” and included three videos of products and services currently at a the conceptual level and not yet ready for public consumption. Of the three embedded in Beard’s post, the most buzz-worthy was the mobile version of Firefox, which surfaced two months ago. The other two are a little more out there, with a bookmarks visualiser and what is seemingly the most complicated-looking interface demo ever done by the folks at Adaptive Path for a project called “Aurora” which was unveiled last night.
To get involved, Beard is asking users to keep their ideas structured into one of three buckets:
- Ideas – It all begins with an idea. A sentence, paragraph, or even bullet-points kick-start the process. Ideas can be simple and non-technical. It should be easy for anyone and everyone to help shape the future of the Web. So throw your notions, inspirations, dreams and visions out to the community.
- Mockups – Turn your idea (or someone else’s) into an image, sketch or video. Words are great, but you know what they say about pictures. Mockups offer up a visual and communicate ideas in terms that are just a bit more polished and real. They draw the next person in, tempting them to pick up the concept and run with it.
- Prototypes – A prototype is interactive. Feel, touch and play with developing concepts. Prototypes get ideas across by showing off the moving parts. They aren’t always fully functional or pretty, but they’re more than a static image or two. They’re a dress rehearsal of sorts, with minimal programming. Make a prototype in HTML, Flash, or whatever puts things into action.
Mozilla is also using tags on popular Web services to let people post up their mockups, the first of which have already shown up on Flickr.
I’ve embedded all three concept videos below. The “Aurora” one is in HD if you watch it directly on Vimeo, so click here to see it in it’s full high-resolution glory.
Bookmarking and History Concept Video from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.
Firefox Mobile Concept Video from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.
Aurora (Part 1) from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.
Tags: firefox, mozilla, Mozilla Labs
Welcome to Jimmahdigital.com, personal blog of James Simm, Wigan/Manchester-based .Net developer.
