gecko-dev

mirror of https://github.com/mozilla/gecko-dev.git synced 2024-11-01 22:55:23 +00:00

History

ben%bengoodger.com 86f9bed9b1 fix oops		2004-08-29 08:18:15 +00:00
..
app	fix oops	2004-08-29 08:18:15 +00:00
base	255394 - default search query parameter generation, r+sr=brendan@mozilla.org	2004-08-29 08:17:38 +00:00
components	Bug 256968: Minor mismatch between table of contentsand section headers; also fix some broken links.	2004-08-26 15:02:53 +00:00
config	245953 - software update works poorly, including:	2004-07-12 08:57:18 +00:00
extensions	Bug 251767 - Ctrl+Shift+I shortcut for DOM Inspector not shown in menu. r=mconnor	2004-07-21 07:05:36 +00:00
installer	237727 - installer should delete certain files when installing to prevent weird incompatibilities when upgrading, file list from seth spitzer.	2004-08-13 00:54:33 +00:00
locales	255394 - default search query parameter generation, r+sr=brendan@mozilla.org	2004-08-29 08:17:38 +00:00
themes	Bug 235243: Need drag and drop feedback for toolbar bookmarks (and menuitem bookmarks for gtk2).	2004-08-25 20:24:14 +00:00
.cvsignore
LICENSE	forgot this file	2004-02-11 00:57:46 +00:00
Makefile.in	Merge changes from the aviary branch to start centralizing locale files. (bug 250672)	2004-07-12 17:15:10 +00:00
README.html	Firebird is now called Firefox	2004-02-11 00:56:17 +00:00

README.html

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">
<html lang="en-GB-hixie">
 <head>
  <title>Firefox</title>
 </head>
 <body>
  <h1>Firefox</h1>

  <p><span class="LXRLONGDESC">This project is a redesign of the
  Mozilla browser component, similar to Galeon, K-Meleon and Chimera,
  but written using the XUL user interface language and designed to be
  cross-platform.</span></p>


  <h2>Principles, Strategy, Tactics, and Concrete Design Decisions</h2>

  <ol>
   <li>CVS access is restricted to a very small team. We'll grow as
   needed, based on reputation and meritorious hacks.</li>

   <li>This will be a single process for the browser only. Mail
   clients, web editors, etc, will be out-of-process. Hooks for other
   apps will be provided eventually, although that is not an immediate
   goal.</li>

   <li>No profile manager UI on startup, although you can still select
   multiple profiles from the command line.</li>

   <li>The default theme will be based on Classic, utilizing nsITheme 
   to respects the system look and feel. Firefox will not use the old 
   and stale Communicator icons. Additional themes will be supported 
   but will not be part of Firefox.</li>

   <li>The toolbar(s) will be configurable. That includes moving the
   location bar where the user wants it (not just splitting it so it
   takes a whole toolbar width).</li>

   <li>The personal toolbar is the personal toolbar, not the
   whorebar.</li>

   <li>All wallet-like functionality will be rewritten from
   scratch.</li>

   <li>We will have a sidebar, but it may work differently from
   Mozilla's current one.</li>

   <li>There won't be 239 access points for Search and for
   Bookmarks!</li>

   <li>We may drop the throbber.</li>

   <li>The interface will not be "geeky" nor will it have a
   "hacker-focus". Nor will it be "minimal". The idea is to design the
   best web browser for most people. (This doesn't mean every feature
   has to be enabled by default.)</li>
  </ol>


  <h2>Notes</h2>

  <p>We won't be redesigning the editor widget(s) or other parts of
  Gecko as part of this project.</p>
  
  <p>We plan to move this app to the 
  <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/projects/embedding/MRE.html">MRE</a>
  or the <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/projects/xul/xre.html">XRE</a> 
  but those projects are not ready for us so we have not started that 
  work yet.</p>


  <h2>FAQ</h2>

  <h3>Q1. Why?</h3>

  <p>Some of us want to have fun and build an excellent, user-friendly
  browser without the constraints (such as unnecessary features,
  compatibility, marketing requirements, month long discussions, etc.)
  that the current browser development requires.</p>

  <p>Others of us are simply using this as a prototype to demonstrate
  possible optimizations to the trunk, such as stripping overlays or
  separating the application into separate processes instead of
  running one monolithic suite.</p>

  <h3>Q2. Why only a small team?</h3>

  <p>The size of the team working on the trunk is one of the many
  reasons that development on the trunk is so slow. We feel that
  fewer dependencies (no marketing constraints), faster innovation (no
  UI committees), and more freedom to experiment (no backwards
  compatibility requirements) will lead to a better end product.</p>

  <h3>Q3. Where do I file bugs on this?</h3>

  <p>We're still chopping with strong bursts and broad strokes. There's 
  plenty that's obviously broken and we don't need bugs on that. If you 
  find a bug (a feature request is not a bug) and you're sure that it's 
  specific to Firefox (not present in Mozilla) and you've read all of the 
  existing Firefox bugs well enough to know that it's not already reported 
  then feel free report it on the Phoenix product in Bugzilla. </p>

  <h3>Q4: Why are you guys wasting time making a FAQ?</h3>

  <p>Because we would waste tons of time answering these questions, if
  there were no FAQ.</p>

  <h3>Q5: How do I get involved?</h3>

  <p>By invitation. This is a meritocracy -- those who gain the respect of
  those in the group will be invited to join the group.</p>


  <h2>Getting and Building the Source</h2>

  <p>Read <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/build.html">this document</a>
  for up-to-date instructions.</p>

  <h2>Mac (CodeWarrior)</h2>

  <p>This platform is currently not supported.</p>

 </body>
</html>