Browsers Tutorials
Blog Browsers
One Year At Mozilla
When I was a naive but bright-eyed kid attending a small technical college in 2002, I was first introduced to Mozilla. The Mozilla browser looked incredibly similar to Netscape but provided a few additional development tools (like syntax-highlighted source windows)! Developing within Mozilla's browser really sparked my love of web development. Then Mozilla's browser became Firebird, and then eventually Firefox.
Read PostBrowsers CSS JavaScript
Detect Vendor Prefix with JavaScript
Regardless of our position on vendor prefixes, we have to live with them and occasionally use them to make things work. These prefixes can be used in two formats: the CSS format ("-moz-", as in -moz-element) and the JS format ("navigator.mozApps"). The awesome X-Tag project has a clever bit of JavaScript magic that detects those prefixes in the browser environment — let me show you how it works!
Read Post View DemoSquare Search Boxes in WebKit
Browsers Firefox OS Mobile
Firefox OS Simulator
If you haven't heard yet, Mozilla is working on an awesome new phone OS called Firefox OS. From a developer's perspective, highlights include...
Read PostBrowsers CSS
Custom Scrollbars in WebKit
Before each of the browser vendors we like was providing unique CSS controls, Internet Explorer was setting the tone. One such example is IE's early implementation of CSS filters. Internet Explorer was also the first browser that allowed developers to, for better or worse, customize the display of scrollbars. We had a laugh about scrollbar customization back then, but fast forward to today and WebKit allows us to customize the scrollbar with CSS too. Let's have a look!
Read Post View DemoBrowsers CSS
CSS Vendor Prefixes
Vendor prefixes are small strings prepended to CSS properties that will ensure that the property will only be valid and rendered within the given browser engine. Chrome and Safari both use the WebKit rendering engine, Firefox uses Gecko, Internet Explorer uses Trident, and Opera uses Presto. Browser vendors generally don't implement other vendor prefixes but due to the popularity of the WebKit-based mobile browser, vendors like Opera and Firefox have also implemented WebKit's vendor prefixes on their mobile offerings.
Read PostBrowsers Firefox OS JavaScript
Detecting Mozilla App Install Capabilities with JavaScript
If you follow me on Twitter, you know I'm riveting super excited about the forthcoming Firefox Marketplace. A marketplace where you can download desktop, tablet, and mobile phone applications based on web technologies, from a host with a record as awesome as Mozilla, is a dream come true. The initial install process is powered via a JavaScript interface within Firefox, and if you can detect if the user's current Firefox install has app capabilities, you can advertise your own app when they come to your website.
Read PostBrowsers JavaScript
X-Tag Web Components
One of the awesome parts at working at Mozilla is being able to see and use projects from fellow engineers before they are shared with the world. One such effort comes from Daniel Buchner: X-Tag. X-Tag is a cross-browser web component library that uses custom tags and a bit of JavaScript to create components we've been creating for years...
Read PostBrowsers CSS Google
Toggle Element State with Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox
It's much easier to debug CSS than JavaScript since there are many fewer interactions in CSS, and they are much easier emulate. Still, element state debugging isn't simple...until now. Google Chrome's WebInspector and Mozilla Firefox's Firebug have a really sweet feature I just discovered which allows the developer to apply element states for the sake of debugging.
Read PostBrowsers
Thoughts on “Silent” Browser Upgrades
With the release of version 12, Mozilla Firefox joins the Google Chrome ranks of silent browser updates. This topic has gotten a lot of attention over the past few days due to Firefox's release and the fact that Mozilla the second vendor to implement said feature. Microsoft has said they plan to implement silent updates as well. I contend that automatic browser upgrading is a good practice. Let me share my reasons for such, and propose a few ideas for improvement. Full disclosure: I'm a Mozilla employee. That has no bearing on my opinion, however.
Read Post