updates Meet the browser: Firefox Next

[+Zlip792 MVC]

Do you know the differences between Azure and Cairo? Do you know why they're using one over another?

Yes, I do..

Cairo is backend used to provide layer acceleration in Firefox since long and Azure API is just a cover to make communication between Windows and API better and reduce stateful funda of Cairo API.

http://blog.mozilla.org/joe/2011/04/26/introducing-the-azure-project/

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

Cairo predates layers, it's just a 2D drawing API with backends around other APIs (Like GDI/Quartz/Direct2D, written by the Mozilla guys). The Gecko codebase doesn't even use plain Cairo, since Cairo provides a C API (Gecko wants C++), so it's wrapped in another API called Thebes internally.

Gecko > Thebes > Cairo > Pixman/GDI/Quartz/Direct2D

Cairo's API design is quite specific, and doesn't match up well with the platform APIs (Like Quartz or Direct2D), it works but it's not very efficient (Cairo is stateful, Gecko wants stateless, etc.). Azure is the replacement of the Thebes/Cairo layer for the platform APIs, and a replacement for the Thebes layer where there's no (good) platform API (Linux/GDI).

Gecko > Azure > Quartz/Direct2D/Cairo/Skia

Simply changing from using Cairo to talk to Direct2D to using Azure provided a bunch of speed ups for benchmarks, and also helped real world use cases (Like webpages with repeating linear gradients as backgrounds). It also allowed Mozilla to switch from using Cairo on Android to using Skia, which is what pretty much all of the APIs there want (Android plugins even use Skia to draw, so they needed it for plugins to render). It turned out Skia outperformed Cairo pretty much everywhere, so Mozilla seems to be transitioning away from Cairo to Skia on Windows (XP, and when there's no hardware acceleration).

[+Zlip792 MVC]

Cairo predates layers, it's just a 2D drawing API with backends around other APIs (Like GDI/Quartz/Direct2D, written by the Mozilla guys). The Gecko codebase doesn't even use plain Cairo, since Cairo provides a C API (Gecko wants C++), so it's wrapped in another API called Thebes internally.

Gecko > Thebes > Cairo > Pixman/GDI/Quartz/Direct2D

Cairo's API design is quite specific, and doesn't match up well with the platform APIs (Like Quartz or Direct2D), it works but it's not very efficient (Cairo is stateful, Gecko wants stateless, etc.). Azure is the replacement of the Thebes/Cairo layer for the platform APIs, and a replacement for the Thebes layer where there's no (good) platform API (Linux/GDI).

Gecko > Azure > Quartz/Direct2D/Cairo/Skia

Simply changing from using Cairo to talk to Direct2D to using Azure provided a bunch of speed ups for benchmarks, and also helped real world use cases (Like webpages with repeating linear gradients as backgrounds). It also allowed Mozilla to switch from using Cairo on Android to using Skia, which is what pretty much all of the APIs there want (Android plugins even use Skia to draw, so they needed it for plugins to render). It turned out Skia outperformed Cairo pretty much everywhere, so Mozilla seems to be transitioning away from Cairo to Skia on Windows (XP, and when there's no hardware acceleration).

So we are going for Skia library and Azure API combination or sauce but if Australis lands then it is meaningless for me. You might say why I am making fuzz on Australis but in my opinion, it is personal preference issue.

Lets see where all browser go in near future.

[ViperAFK]

So we are going for Skia library and Azure API combination or sauce but if Australis lands then it is meaningless for me. You might say why I am making fuzz on Australis but in my opinion, it is personal preference issue.

Lets see where all browser go in near future.

I honestly don't get all the fuss about Australis. Besides the gaudy curved tabs it looks pretty nice. It shouldn't be hard to square the tabs with a stylish script once Australis lands. The firefox interface is very customizable whether it be through themes or user css, its hardly the end of the world because the tabs are curved by default.

[+Zlip792 MVC]

I honestly don't get all the fuss about Australis. Besides the gaudy curved tabs it looks pretty nice. It shouldn't be hard to square the tabs with a stylish script once Australis lands. The firefox interface is very customizable whether it be through themes or user css, its hardly the end of the world because the tabs are curved by default.

Brother, you are quite knowledgeable yourself so you may know that Firefox do slow down with addons and such stuff. Even Persona (new Theme) slow down Firefox startup. So I don't like personally using theme or scripts.

[ViperAFK]

Brother, you are quite knowledgeable yourself so you may know that Firefox do slow down with addons and such stuff. Even Persona (new Theme) slow down Firefox startup. So I don't like personally using theme or scripts.

In my experience firefox doesn't slow down noticeably at all with stylish + some small stylish scripts.

[ShMaunder]

Hmm, looking at the last few pages gives me the impression that Firefox is loosing quality, and poor decisions are being let through.

Personally, I think the "Enterprise" edition of Firefox should be the main consumer edition - with new major versions introduced yearly (and 18 months of updates - giving a 6 month consumer upgrade window). They should rename the current fast release cycle to "developers edition" which purpose is for testing, feedback & alternations of new features and preparing extension/web developers for any API changes.

This will ensure that Firefox has a mature code base through better testing, calibration of developers/community on major features, and allowing developers to have longer cut off's for code commits.

Since Firefox 10, the current "Enterprise" edition, there haven't been any ground-breaking improvements that would see Mozilla unable to compete in the browser market - so I don't understand why they don't wait until version 18 (or whatever it'll be in January 2013) to release a new major consumer edition. They just need to ensure they stick to a schedule, like a 12 month one, to ensure Firefox 3 to 4 never happens again.

[Kyang]

Latest nightly, Aero snap, and YouTube. Anyone else unable to drag the window down from maximized? When I try to, the window just snaps right back up.

Sometimes, when the page first loads, the drag down works. Second time though, it fails, and every time after that.

EDIT:

Seems like the Aero Snap still works when first switching to a tab with the flash content on it. But if the tab stays in focus, then subsequent attempts to use Aero snap do not work, at least until the user switches back and forth to another tab then back again.

Anyone?

Seems like it's a problem with flash and not Firefox?

[mancode20]

I honestly don't get all the fuss about Australis. Besides the gaudy curved tabs it looks pretty nice. It shouldn't be hard to square the tabs with a stylish script once Australis lands. The firefox interface is very customizable whether it be through themes or user css, its hardly the end of the world because the tabs are curved by default.

There's already a userstyle out for it. I even use it without Australis, because it makes the tabs bigger and easier to read the titles. http://userstyles.org/styles/51663/australis-classic-tabs?r=1312288377

[Brandon H Supervisor]

today's Aurora build seems to have broken forecastfox for me, anyone else experiencing this?

[Kyang]

today's Aurora build seems to have broken forecastfox for me, anyone else experiencing this?

I don't use Aurora, so I can't answer that. Have you had the above mentioned flash issue? It seems to happen mainly on YouTube. I'm asking because I'm not sure if it's a Nightly issue, or is it due to the latest Flash 11.3.300.257.

[ArialBlue]

I don't use Aurora, so I can't answer that. Have you had the above mentioned flash issue? It seems to happen mainly on YouTube. I'm asking because I'm not sure if it's a Nightly issue, or is it due to the latest Flash 11.3.300.257.

If it has something to do with Firefox painting webpage on top of the flash element, then it is Firefox issue IMO

[Kyang]

If it has something to do with Firefox painting webpage on top of the flash element, then it is Firefox issue IMO

After one more test, it seems the problem started with something in the new Flash, that Nightly doesn't handle properly or something.

I recently downgraded flash to the previous version and Aero snap, more notably on YouTube, now works properly on Nightly again.

[kilara1988]

today's Aurora build seems to have broken forecastfox for me, anyone else experiencing this?

Look here.It was a known bug with nightly and the addon developer has to make some minor changes to forecastfox code to make it work again,but some ppl at mozillazine forums did that for the impatient ppl like me :)

[Brandon H Supervisor]

Look here.It was a known bug with nightly and the addon developer has to make some minor changes to forecastfox code to make it work again,but some ppl at mozillazine forums did that for the impatient ppl like me :)

thanks for the link, the modified .jar file he posted worked perfectly :)

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

In my experience firefox doesn't slow down noticeably at all with stylish + some small stylish scripts.

I am running Nightly with a theme and 33 extensions and it is just as fast as out of the box. FTDeep Dark 3.2.3 seems to play nice with it. Comapitable as well.

[tiagosilva29]

Native support for Opus on Firefox 15 is nice.

[bogas04]

Ion is landing in few weeks now! Test it's nightly builds now and file bugs ASAP :D

I have been using it since few hours now and trust me Firefox feels little faster and doesn't crash or lag as such.

[dysgenics]

What exactly is Ion? I've been using nightlies for years now and they almost never crash on me.

[bogas04]

What exactly is Ion? I've been using nightlies for years now and they almost never crash on me.

IonMonkey is the next generation JavaScript JIT compiler for SpiderMonkey. It is a whole-method JIT with the ability to perform type specialization. It has two goals: a cleanly engineered design that makes future optimization work possible, and excellent performance.

http://arewefastyet.com/?a=b&view=regress

[dysgenics]

sounds good, trying that test build out now

[torrentthief]

ion is faster in kraken but slower in sunspider and v8. Lets hope mozilla improve it before it is included in a stable firefox.

[macmax]

Can we manually configure websites for the new tab page? I am currently running FF 16.0a1

[bogas04]

Can we manually configure websites for the new tab page? I am currently running FF 16.0a1

[macmax]

Fantastic. I was trying dragging and dropping the tab itself. Cheers.