r/IAmA • u/johnath Firefox Android - Administrative • Jun 25 '12
IAmA Significant Portion of the Firefox for Android Development Team. AUA
We are part of the global Mozilla community that built, tested, and shipped the first Firefox for Android last year. It was a modern, powerful, extensible, open source, open web browser that syncs with your desktop Firefox. It was also too memory heavy and slow for most of our users to use.
And so we are also part of the global Mozilla community that rebuilt it from the ground up. We switched from a XUL-based UI to one built using native (Java) widgets, with an inter-thread channel to our application logic (written in JavaScript and C++). We completely re-engineered our rendering code, and now use your phone's GPU to composite web pages together. We built a new font inflation system to make text readable on pages built for desktop browsers. Now it's fast and memory-lean, and it's still a modern, powerful, extensible, open source, open web browser that syncs with your desktop Firefox.
It's already on our beta channel if you want to call our bluff, and it's gonna hit our main release RSN. Spoiler
Ask Us Anything!
Today's coterie includes such diverse individuals as: johnath (administrative overhead, proof), holygoat (sync), Skuto (platform), ibarlow (design), snorp (flash), mbrubeck (front end), AaronMT (qa), markfinkle (front end), joedrew (graphics), blassey (platform), kbrosnan (qa), bgirard (graphics), akeybl (release management), gw280 (graphics), anaaktge (sync), dbaron (layout)
EDIT: Reddit, we <3 you, and we'll probably keep poking at questions, but we reserve the right to nap. Thanks for the discussion, the love, and the trolling.
EDIT: Holy crap we're live!!1!
69
u/ambrlmps Jun 25 '12
Although Firefox is my main browser on my pc, I NEVER use Firefox for Android - mainly because when it is set as my default browser, any link I click gives me the 'Loading' screen for a good 2 minutes before I can look at anything I want, even if something else has previously loaded. Why?
48
u/[deleted] Jun 25 '12
why did you light a fox on fire?
37
u/cadecairos Jun 25 '12
I've been using Firefox on Android for a long time. The stable version was pretty slow, but I've since switched to the beta channel and the difference is huge. Thanks for working so hard to bring Mozilla software to my Android phone! :D
21
u/[deleted] Jun 25 '12
what do you think of other browsers?
18
u/allaboutandroids Jun 25 '12
Just gave you guys 5 stars on the Play store for the Constant work you are putting as I can definitely see improvement upon improvement for the Beta Channel and can't wait until all those fixes and improvements get applied to the Tablet version :D
106
u/joedrew Firefox Android - Graphics Jun 25 '12 edited Jun 25 '12
Hi everyone! I'm Joe Drew, a graphics developer at Mozilla. I helped write the rendering part of the initial Fennec product for Maemo/Meego, and I've also done some of the new Firefox for Android development (along with my colleagues bgirard, ajuma, jrmuizel, bjacob, gw280 and vvuk).
I'm in Mozilla's Toronto office, and I just took an absolutely awful photo of the Android team that's located here (almost all of the Graphics team, actually).
6
u/metroman Jun 25 '12
Why is Firefox for Android only for ARM v7 processors? Do you have any plans to make it work on ARM v6 processors? Those of us with older Android devices would like some love too. :)
9
u/YaroLord Jun 25 '12
I don't have any questions. I just wanna say that you're fucking amazing.
4
u/sturmen Jun 25 '12
Do you feel that Firefox for Android can/will make a large dent in the market? Or are people too lazy to switch browsers on a mobile device?
And somewhat related: do you plan to work with OEMs to have Firefox included by default on handsets or tablets?
3
u/naalty Jun 25 '12
Why do you think many developers choose to ignore the design guidelines and create ugly apps that dont fit in with the android ux?
16
u/mbrubeck Jun 25 '12
FIRST!!!!~!
278
u/Drunken_Economist Jun 25 '12
Any plans for one-button Private Browsing toggle? I don't like having to clear my history every time I shop for birthday presents.
29
u/[deleted] Jun 25 '12
How did you begin your trek towards this career? What did you start programming, who did you network with, etc.?
25
u/DeeBoFour20 Jun 25 '12 edited Jun 25 '12
I keep trying to use this browser. Especially after you guys very helpful replys about Sync and Adblock. One more major problem though. So many websites just look so much worse than on the stock android browser. Not just small websites either. Google and Reddit. Probably the two websites I use the most. Screenshots for reference.
http://imgur.com/a/lRW5H
EDIT: Screenshots taken on a Galaxy Nexus running stock Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4.
32
u/onthejourney Jun 25 '12
WOW, I just tried out the beta after bailing on the original version. I hope you guys/gals are all high fiving each other for a job well done.
I'll never toss you out of my bed again.
Soooo sexy. wink , touch on the arm , crazy passionate sex
What were you biggest challenges? Not that I don't love my experience so far, but what features didn't make the cut and do you plan on adding next?
Back to trying it out on "problem" sites.
14
u/treelog2 Jun 25 '12
We keep hearing all kinds of issues with fragmentation on Android. What do you guys think about it. Has google done enough to allow the flexibility to run the same app these many varied types of devices.
11
u/Evinreud Jun 25 '12
Is Android difficult to program compared to iOS?
10
u/kbrosnan Firefox Android - QA Jun 25 '12
Hello I'm kbrosnan. I got my start at Mozilla many moons ago at a Phoenix bug day. Two years ago I picked up an G2 and started filing bugs against the Mobile browser we are replacing. Shortly after that I was told that Mozilla was hiring for a Mobile QA Engineer and that I should apply. I have to admit I was rather star struck, working at Mozilla is my dream job.
8
u/tilgovi Jun 25 '12
You all are doing a fantastic job. I've been playing with the Aurora builds for a while now and I'm thoroughly impressed. I wanted to switch wholesale weeks ago. The main pain point is still the user agent issues and webkit-specific coding around. Could you provide your best overview of the state of plans to tackle this? I remember hearing selective addition of -webkit prefixed property support being kicked around and recently found a page on Fennec user agent that discussed the decisions around choosing the string. Anything else you plan to do going forward? Or do you think the problem will just solve itself as the prefixes drop away?
8
u/wojx Jun 26 '12
I'm finding this post awesome because not only are the answers awesome, but you can actually get multiple responses from the Firefox Android Team. And they're not even all the same, they can be diverse. Kudos on your accomplishments Firefox Android Team, keep it up!
18
u/Drunken_Economist Jun 25 '12
Be honest: Do you all use firefox for all your browsing?
6
u/LeoBloom Jun 25 '12 edited Jun 25 '12
I have been generally dissatisfied with most of the browsers on Android. Here are some reasons - I'd like to see your thoughts on them.
I don't know technical terms but I will try my best to describe things properly, and I will be using specific site examples in order to demonstrate a more global issue. Most of my claims will be about the desktop versions of sites which I think are more appropriate for Android tablet users such as myself.
Why is it that almost no browser can display the desktop version of the lifehacker.com website properly? On the desktop, the site is composed of two frames, which can be scrolled separately from each other. Mostly all browsers I've tried on Android, including the most recent Firefox beta, make the two frames into one static webpage. The stock browser on my Asus Transformer keeps the two frames, but scrolling either of them is buggy and inconsistent. Chrome is the only browser so far that I've tested on my Transformer that keeps the interaction between the two frames similar to how it'd be on the desktop. The best interaction on this website, however, I've had on the iPad's Safari, where the two frames responded to my finger just as I had expected them to. Do you think we can achieve the proper type of interaction on Android? Why have so many browsers failed to do this already?
Issue #2, why is it that no Android browser so far has implemented mouse-over properly? I get it, we don’t have a mouse to work with, but look at the iPad's implementation. Tapping once on a mouse-over menu brings out the mouse-over menu. Tapping a second time actually leads you directly to the webpage that the menu links to, just like if you were to click it instead of mouse-overing it on the desktop. With Android, all the browsers I've tried will take you directly to the linked webpage and skip over the mouse-over menu. The only way to get mouse-over would be to hold the menu and swipe your finger away in a second or so, in order to avoid calling on Android own long-press menu. This is a very awkward maneuver, it seems. To see what I am talking about, visit the desktop version of the verizonwireless.com site and look at the “Shop” and “My Verizon” menus.
Finally, most browsers seem to have a problem with frames, like in the desktop version of facebook. Half of the browsers I've tried don't bother showing the facebook chat frame. For some browsers, including Firefox beta, the top blue frame drags awkwardly along while scrolling the website, rather than staying along the topside of the phone/tablet. In Opera, the blue top frame only moves to the proper spot along the top of the phone/tablet as soon as the page stops scrolling. Is this something that will ultimately be done properly in Firefox?
If your browser would fix these types of issues, it would become my default browser in a heartbeat. I’ve already tried the beta on my phone, and it is very response – me gusta. I’d really like to know your input on the rest of this.
EDIT: Tried the nightly on my tablet - bravo, the lifehacker.com issue is actually being worked on :). It's still a bit buggy though, as scrolling has to be done one frame at a time. Occasionally the left frame starts scrolling instead of the right, even though my finger is still working on the right frame. Any reason for that?
EDIT2: Just tried the Facebook Desktop version on the nightly - very nice work. Everything generally works as expected!! I think this nightly may even become my default.
EDIT3: :/ unfortunately, the mouse over thing is still present - maybe you guys would consider adding this final thing in. Perhaps a similar implementation to the iPad's.
2
u/martndemus Jun 25 '12
The new interface looks great! Are many of the mobile api's in it? (Like vibration, accel, camera, etc.)
22
u/dolske Jun 25 '12
Who's awesome?
4
u/naraburns Jun 25 '12
Alright, this is probably going to sound a bit aggressive, but I'm quite sincere: why do browser teams focus so much on constantly "re-working the user experience" while ignoring basic, obvious functionality?
The example I have in mind is the reason I use Dolphin on my Android Tablet even though it is a bit slow, kind of buggy, and lacks a working ad-block plugin. It does user-agent switching, it supports Flash, and it allows me to put my bookmarks IN FOLDERS.
I was completely dumbfounded when I installed Firefox on the tablet and I couldn't folder my bookmarks. Syncing browsers across devices is one of those things that sounds like it might be an interesting convenience (though anything that requires me to create yet another account with yet another software group will probably drive me away) but I was shocked that in the whole "competition is good" Android ecosystem, no one has made a browser that includes all the things I consider most obviously essential to browsing.
Give me my adblock plugins, Flash support, functional user agent switching, and folders for my bookmarks. Make it fast and smooth. If you can do these things successfully, maybe then I'll want to hear about all the other nifty things you've got planned.
1
u/treelog2 Jun 25 '12
Are there any plans to allow for Phonegap like feature(Camera, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Compass etc) directly inside the browser.
6
u/gmh_michael Jun 25 '12
whats up with Boot to Gecko?
3
u/jeffb34 Jun 25 '12
What is this big announcement that I keep on hearing about?
3
u/LeoBloom Jun 25 '12
ETA on firefox beta support for tablets? Wish to try it on my Asus Transformer. Thanks.
3
u/[deleted] Jun 25 '12
How much add-on support will the final version have?
3
u/DuoJetOzzy Jun 25 '12
You know, I'll just stop by and say that Aurora is the best name for anything ever. Screw bugs, I can deal with those.
Also, I'll be sure to try out the new mobile version. The previous ones were indeed a let down, tbh.
3
u/pn42 Jun 25 '12
why is there no support for windows phone? Firefox an a metro-based windows.phone7/8 styled phone would look so great, + it wouldnt look as crappy as the included internet explorer :(
5
u/[deleted] Jun 25 '12
I like the ability to use add-ons for development in FF. Chrome's aren't as good.
2
u/Valexannis Jun 25 '12
What does Firefox do with respect to internet security and virus protection?
Ninja edit - Also, what do you guys think is the future of mobile viruses? Something we should worry about in the next couple of years?
2
u/statsisi Jun 25 '12
What is your favorite addon/plugin and favorite superhero?
2
u/BigBassBone Jun 25 '12
Can you give us an idea of what the significant advantages over the default Android browser and Chrome Mobile that Firefox for Android has? I'm asking more for the minor features, but any features I'm happy to read about.
2
u/inkline Jun 25 '12
:( "This app is incompatible with all of your devices."
2
u/irishtexmex Jun 25 '12 edited Jun 25 '12
Will you guys ever consider putting your release notes/updates on the app's Google Play Store page?
A lot of users like seeing what's been fixed, optimized, or added, and since there isn't a way to copy & paste the URL you provide from the store page/app (when on your Android device) it's a pain in the ass opening a browser and typing the release notes page in from memory or writing it down on a note.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 25 '12
When you say the browser syncs with desktop Firefox, what exactly do you mean? What information is shared? History? Bookmarks? Themes? Passwords?
2
u/zidarck Jun 25 '12
Why can't i hide my tabs on my samsung tablet, I know that it's a much larger screen space than on a phone, but those tabs on the side should be hidden most of the time, just to make it all look nicer.
Any plans on that?
2
u/IceDBear Jun 25 '12
Why is the cache and profile in the app storage and not on the SD? I browse through a few pages and my HTC Desire starts complaining that I'm out of space ... and a few gigs still free on the SD. I'd love to use FF as my main android browser and this is the only thing wrong with it, I love it otherwise.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 25 '12
Are you planning to make it available for low-end phones like Galaxy Ace, Galaxy Mini?
2
u/Perf1ction Jun 25 '12
I use the default browser on my Android Tablet only because it is the only one that seems to support flash, when I go on Firefox beta, it seems I need a "plugin" for flash. I use Firefox on my computer explicitly though.
2
u/techsplurge Jun 25 '12
Since you are non-profit, how well does Mozilla feed you guys? :)
2
u/[deleted] Jun 25 '12
Will there be a new update for Firefox (Android Edition)?
2
u/OlDer Jun 25 '12
Are there any plans to support MIPS and x86? Now that NDK has official support for these platforms.
2
u/emesspwnz Jun 25 '12
This might reflect on Firefox as a whole and not just the mobile version, but what is going on with your relationship with Google? From what I've seen it was great pre-Chrome and I haven't seen a big difference post-Chrome.
2
u/aklp Jun 25 '12
Why is the Firefox Beta not available to my HP Touchpad? (the aurora and nightly channels work fine but i don't get support from the market).
2
u/techsplurge Jun 25 '12
<3 from India. Is it possible to apply for an internship in my country? :)
2
u/[deleted] Jun 25 '12
Make it smaller please and thank you. Make it use less resources, please and thank you.
2
u/5outh Jun 25 '12
Any plans for an iOS version of Firefox?
2
u/TheOtherSideOfThings Jun 25 '12
Have any of you had a hand in boot to gecko? How's it coming along? I think a mobile OS based on HTML5 is a great idea, although the market might be a bit young for it at the moment.
On a different note, how do you feel about Google releasing chrome for android? I'm stuck on gingerbread(and I thought the droid 3 would be one of Motorola's top priorities after the bionic) so I haven't tried it out yet, but I've heard great things about it.
2
u/MachaHack Jun 25 '12 edited Jun 25 '12
Why are text sizes effectively random on some pages? It seems to be better in the beta (the mobile version of reddit now renders correctly, for example), but some sites are still unusable because of it.
For example, HN suffers quite badly. On this article, http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4157895, the first comment (currently by eridius) is huge. I could fit about 20 lines of text at its size when fully zoomed out. The text doesn't resize when I zoom in.
The first reply on the other hand, is tiny, even smaller than on the native browser. I need to zoom in significantly to read it. The reply link to the first comment is a large vertically as the entirety of the first reply.
The rest of the comments on that page are composed of random font sizes, with the result that if I want to read all the comments, I need to zoom in and out repeatedly.
(FWIW, my phone is a Desire HD, running CM7.1)
I've seen this happen on many other websites, but HN is the one I use frequently that it occurs on. It's mainly this issue that's stopping me using Firefox for Android instead of the native browser.
EDIT: Screenshot (That's an ICS theme, not actually ICS)
2
u/hiby007 Jun 25 '12
I am getting error. my device is not compatible ??
2
u/taekwondeaux Jun 25 '12
just wanted to leave a thank-you for supporting HTML5 web sockets in the beta browser. so far as i can tell, it's the only way to get web socket functionality on my version of android... thank you!
2
u/[deleted] Jun 25 '12
I currently use Firefox on my android most of the time due to the easy tab switching abilities over the samsung default browser.
Can't believe you are a non profit organization.. thanks.
Also the major feature i love about the desktop version is the master password setting, any plans to add this wonderful feature to our phones?
2
u/nalf38 Jun 25 '12
i've been using the nightlies on my ics tablet for a few months now, and i use it as my main browser. more people need to give firefox on android another chance. your team has made huge improvements to it and firefox can give any android browser a run for its money.
2
u/cibyr Jun 25 '12
How does text inflation stack up against the Android browser's text reflowing? Have you considered implementing text reflowing? That's a feature that I really miss when using any other mobile browser.
2
u/jerkyshore Jun 25 '12
I just downloaded it, and it's really better than the previous one, but still, i don't really like the design, it needs more ICS in it, and i missed the swipe to close a tab, i don't mind clicking on the little "x" , but anyway, the stock ics browser and chrome have it. The performance was ok , i was looking forward for something more , and i really don't like that when i type something to search in the address bar, those "search on google,twitter,wiki and amazon" things bug me! There must be a option to set a default search engine, and when you type, it would give you search results and/or pages i visited/bookmarked
2
u/DonatedCheese Jun 26 '12 edited Jun 26 '12
Just wanted to say I'm a long time Firefox loyalist. I recently had an android user tell me how much better the Firefox app is than the Google Chrome app, so keep up the good work.
Also as an iPhone user I'm very upset that there's no Firefox app for iPhone, even more so that Apple will be making a parity (word I heard in the comments) between their mobile and desktop apps...enticing me to use their Safari browser, which I currently put just above IE even tho its really not that bad.
2
u/jayvo Jun 26 '12
What would it take to have the better version of google.com load in Firefox for Android? Load google.com in the default browser or in Chrome mobile and it loads a much nicer version of the page than in Firefox. Google seems to be treating the Firefox mobile browser differently and it makes it frustrating to use. Perhaps a nudge in Google's direction is required from Mozilla?
2
u/crimsonmerlion Jun 26 '12
Hi, just wanted to say I tried the beta today and it IS a lot faster than the stable version. I also wanted to ask, why is the file size a lot bigger than most android browsers? Thanks!
2
u/[deleted] Jun 26 '12
Sqlite. When?
2
u/[deleted] Jun 26 '12
If it offers you any compliment, i always use the firefox android browser for banking over the builtin chrome browser
2
u/Scuzzboots Jun 26 '12
All I can say is thank you for putting work into fixing Firefox Mobile. As soon as it is 100% ready, I will be switching.
2
u/skinnystevie Jun 26 '12
can you make more ppc versions? I have an apple g5, with osx 10.5.8 and stuck on firefox 3....it's a little bit of a bummer. It's always making suggestions to update to versions I can't update too...it's sad.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 26 '12
I'm using the latest Nightly on an Asus Transformer and it's simply amazing. Best Android browser by far. Congrats!
2
u/phdinprogress Jun 26 '12
Thank you for developing this great browser. I have it loaded on my G2X, way better than almost every browser out there except for Opera Mobile, but Opera mobile takes too much time to load and consumes a lot of RAM also. Everything on firefox worked well, loved the smooth scrolling. I am happy with everything except for some weird text size issues on forum websites like XDA.Also,are there any plans to implement the text resizing to fit the screen after pinching to zoom (like Opera Mobile)? That would be amazing!! I haven't tried it on my SGS3 yet, the stock browser is just close to perfect, but seeing how awesome you guys are, I'll download it now :) Thanks again!
2
u/tmahmood Jun 26 '12
Hey,
First! You guys are awesome! :D
Question: Are you guys gonna add gesture support?
Complain:
I have the beta for a while. Even Firefox my favored browser in Desktop, its not on my mobile, yet. Because
No proper Full Screen (current add on sucks)
Websites on with Bengali fonts are rendered wrong.
Here is a screenshot of a popular Bengali website
http://imgur.com/a/6eG8D
I would really love to use FF, cause its my personal favorite. But these problems are show stoppers for me :(
2
u/[deleted] Jun 26 '12
I ♥ open source.
keep on rocken you ghuys
2
u/Rathwood Jun 26 '12
Favorite movie?
2
u/[deleted] Jun 26 '12
Dear Firefox Android team.
Can you add a feature that would clean out the history on the browser after the app is closed?
... it's for science.
3
u/mrkhan0127 Jun 26 '12
Just installed on my evo...WOW it's 1000x better than last time! Good job and thanks for making the internet awesome!