| Mozilla preps Firefox upgrade alpha |
Jun. 02, 2005
The Mozilla Foundation will release the first alpha version of an upgrade to its Firefox Web browser within the next few days. The release, called Deer Park Alpha 1, is targeted to Firefox's base of testers and will include developer-focused features such as support for additional Web standards, extensions improvements, and a way to report incompatible Web pages, Mozilla officials said.
Deer Park also serves as a sneak peek into Mozilla's plans for the full Firefox upgrade, due for a broad public beta later this summer. Firefox 1.1 is slated to give users additional pop-up blocking tools and a more visible process for installing Firefox updates, including security fixes, said Asa Dotzler, Mozilla's release coordinator.
"The changes are geared toward the developer community," he said of the alpha. "There's not a lot of things that you will see in front of the end user. A lot of the improvements are behind the scenes."
Dotzler expects the Firefox 1.1 alpha release to be available after the Memorial Day weekend, though he said there was a slight chance it could come out as early as Thursday since the code is complete.
The alpha release is built on the newest version of Mozilla's Gecko rendering engine, Dotzler said. That will provide a performance boost to Firefox as well as add support for such standards as CSS3 (Cascading Style Sheets Level 3) and SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), Dotzler said.
For SVG, which is a next-generation method of rendering graphics on the Web, Firefox 1.1 is supporting a subset of the SVG Full 1.1 specification.
One of Firefox's selling points is that its community of developers created add-ons for it. Those so-called extensions have grown from about 100 when Firefox 1.0 was launched in November to about 650 today, Dotzler said.
In the alpha of Firefox 1.1, Mozilla is expanding the options for extension developers. It will include additional APIs for managing user style sheets and overriding browser proxy configurations and support extensions using translucent windows in their interface, Dotzler said.
One extension being included by default in the Firefox alpha is called Reporter. It lets testers report to Mozilla Web pages that don't render correctly in Firefox.
From those reports, Mozilla will determine whether code tweaks are needed to improve Firefox's compatibility or whether the Mountan View, Calif.-based foundation should reach out to the site about following Web standards to render in Firefox, Dotzler said.
"We want our 1.1 users to never encounter sites that are broken," he said. "If we find in our alphas and beta releases that there's enough data and we make big headway, then we may not need to ship [Reporter] in the final release."
One end-user feature testers will notice in Deer Park is the more prominent placement of the option for clearing all privacy settings, such as Web history and cookies, Dotzler said.
But Mozilla is planning to include most of the significant features for end users in a Firefox 1.1 beta.
For that release, Mozilla is working to counter pop-up ads that can appear for Firefox users. Though Firefox 1.0 blocks pop-up ads, the developers of the pop-ups have begun using Firefox plug-ins such as Macromedia Flash to initiate the ads, Dotzler said.
Mozilla has an extension that aggressively blocks all pop-ups generated from plug-ins, but it is testing approaches that still allow legitimate pop-ups from plug-ins.
"We're going to take our time and do it right, but we expect a comprehensive solution with Firefox 1.1," Dotzler said.
Mozilla also has faced some criticism over the way Firefox handles software updates, particularly when the foundation issues updates to fix critical security issues.
For example, while Firefox 1.0 has a software update feature, it lacks the ability to patch portions of the browser rather than reinstalling the full browser.
With Firefox 1.1, Mozilla plans to fix that and also make the software update notifications more visible to users, Dotzler said.
If you found this eWEEK.com article by Matt Hicks informative, be sure to check out eWEEK.com's Linux & Open Source Center for the latest open-source news, reviews, and analysis.
Related Stories:
(Click here for further information)
|
|
|
Approaching the Linux Desktop
The purpose of this paper is to help organizations evaluate the Linux desktop against their own enterprise needs and discover what benefits the Linux desktop might bring to their organizations.
Migrating To Linux: Application Challenges and Solutions
Several solutions exist to help organizations migrate in an orderly fashion from Windows to Linux desktops. This paper establishes the characteristics of an ideal cross-platform solution and reviews these alternatives in light of this ideal standard. The paper takes a closer look at the pros and cons of various solutions and outlines the business benefits that can be achieved.
Linux Advantages: Publicly Available Information on Linux Software
This paper offers a brief summary of readily-available Linux information to help businesses sort out this widely misunderstood operating system.
Top 5 Strategies for Managing Linux
Despite continuous evolution in the manageability of Linux, a 2006 survey cited manageability concerns as a top reason why organizations are hesitating to adopt Linux. Levanta believes Linux can be as manageable, if not more so, than other operating systems by following key strategies. These strategic recommendations were developed from experiences in numerous customer environments, both large and small.
Why Choose Novell for Linux?
This paper outlines the benefits of switching to the Linux platform and choosing Novell as a high-performance, enterprise solution.
Enterprise Linux Selection Guide
Considering moving your enterprise to the Linux operating system? Since there are so many similar versions, choosing the right one can be tough. This paper offers a clear process to help you make an informed decision and get the features, support, and cost that are right for your business and technical needs.
Overcoming Challenges in Managing Linux
Levanta has created a new administration model with innovative technology that breaks down the barriers to making the most of Linux systems. This paper will provide an in-depth look at the workings of Levanta’s product, the first Linux appliance of its kind.
SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 for Retail Businesses
Discover why major retailers have switched to SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop in the back office. SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 is a low-cost desktop that offers a complete set of productivity applications and interoperates seamlessly with the other Windows, Macintosh and UNIX desktops in your store.
Moving to a Linux Desktop
Migrating from Windows to Linux on the desktop can be a substantial undertaking because it has the potential for touching -- and perhaps disrupting -- every user in your organization. Unlike a data center (server and infrastructure) migration that is largely transparent to users, the cultural and administrative transitions and environment readiness required to support a Linux desktop migration are extensive.
Seven Good Reasons to Exchange Exchange
This paper describes seven compelling reasons why you should switch from Exchange to Scalix.
|
|
|
|
|
news feed