IBM Donates Code to Firefox 355
OS24Ever writes "Internetnews.com is reporting that IBM has donated new DHTML code to the Mozilla foundation specifically targeted as accessability and rich interactive applications (RIA). These new features are expected to be in the next major update of Firefox (v1.5). Is this the first OSS application to get RIA/DHTML support for accessability? I would think this could open some doors for Firefox to replace IE in many Windows environments."
Re:Sounds like . . (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Don't take your eye off the ball (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What about... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Not unless (Score:3, Informative)
Using XML Data Islands in Mozilla [mozilla.org]
This is a problem which plagues Mozilla overall (Score:5, Informative)
- At some point you're going to need to know how to do [X random thing] that your sample code doesn't already do. Your only options at this point are to start scouring the internet for firefox extensions, looking for extensions which do something kind of like what you want to do, and then looking at their source code to see how they did it; or mercilessly bother the IRC channel until somebody who's already done this comes by
- At some point, inevitably, you're going to hit a point where the sample code deceives you! All code contains implicit contracts. You cannot learn those contracts simply by looking at source code. Without documentation to make those contracts explicit, you are left either breaking contracts-- and thus your entire program, when some other part of the program expects something to be X at a certain time when it is in fact Y-- or doing a crazy kind of cargo cult programming, terrified to change anything unless you break the magic incantation that makes the component or preferences or whatnot system recognize your existence. I lost about two weeks on my project because I looked at the sample code, saw it always did a certain thing a certain way, concluded I could do the same thing the same way elsewhere, and was entirely ignorant as to the fact that there was another file in a totally different part of the package which I had to modify for every instance of this specific thing. What this meant was that I made extremely simple alterations to the file I was working on, and the entire extension broke-- for no reason I was aware of-- because I had accidentally caused a mismatch between the file I was working on and a totally different file.
And this is just for extensions, a VERY common thing many people have done. As I started to poke my nose into more intricate and obscure things-- say, components-- I found the amount of available information on how to proceed went from inadequate to absolutely nonexistent. I can only imagine what you are going through trying to embed the entire engine.Re:IBM == Good code. (Score:5, Informative)
It's worth noting that IBM built one of the most popular browsers for blind people, IBM Homepage Reader [ibm.com], which is currently based on Internet Explorer. Perhaps this is a move to help them switch to Firefox in the future?
I can't help but point out though, that in a landmark website accessibility case, SOCOG were fined A$20,000 [contenu.nu] for not having an accessible website for the Sydney Olympics. Guess who built their website? Yup, it was IBM :).
Re:I don't follow... (Score:5, Informative)
Many organisations are legally obliged to make their internal applications, including web applications, accessible to the disabled.
Two of the most popular applications that can read websites out to blind people, JAWS [freedomscientific.com] and IBM Homepage Reader [ibm.com], are both based on Internet Explorer.
This code will supposedly make it easier for web applications using DHTML to work in Firefox for disabled people.
Re:As a nerd... (Score:4, Informative)
No, I dont think its in CVS yet. The ZDNet [zdnet.com] article has a few more details than the one the submitter gave. It says that IBM "will donate", not that they have donated.
The ZDNet article also states that IBM is giving 50,000 lines of code. Pretty cool stuff!
Re:Sounds like . . (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Firefox was a great idea. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I don't follow... (Score:3, Informative)
4) They visit pages that make use of DHTML effects which on firefox would suck all your CPU, cause your laptop to burn a hole in your leg and the menus to become unresponsive.
On IE the same DHTML normally takes 1-4% CPU usage. Fixing the efficiency of DHTML in firefox would be useful. Sometimes I think my computer has gone AWOL and it turns out to be a scrolling dhtml advert in a firefox tab.
Re:Anyone have a non-buzzword version? (Score:3, Informative)
RIA's are what Java was supposed to be years ago - something you could deploy universally via a browser, and would run just enough code locally (e.g. the view part of an MVC system) that the program would feel reponsive, but be able to get data in a more complete and granular way than most current web pages do. For example, we've all seen Javascript by now that can fill a combo box based on another combo box, without refreshing the page. What RIA toolkits do (or at least are headed towards) provide is all that event communication between widgets (and simple widget to server communication) that makes client-side apps comfortable, like having one widget listen for changes in another, or in an attached dataset, and reacting to those changes, rather than the developer having to do all that cascading of events themself. It's not unlike the ALT attribute on an IMG tag example you mention, except that it handles all that client-side plumbing so you don't have to do it.
There are several variations emerging, and DHTML is an attractive one because the infrastructure exists, aside from stupid Javascript incompatibilities in browsers. So an RIA toolkit from IBM could indeed make Firefox a good choice for delivering applications.
Re:Don't take your eye off the ball (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Improved developer documentation... (Score:3, Informative)
That is a bit of a contradiction in terms. One can be unemployed or be employed by a University to carry out research towards a PhD but not both.
In any case here are some design docs.
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/embedding/PublicA
A simple introduction
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/embedding/embedov
The status of the API freeze (i.e. what APIs you can rely on not to change).
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/embedding/EmbedIn
In any case, actual trivial embedding code is the best documentation IMHO. I detect an attempt at personal abuse suggesting that I'm not a professional developer and would know nothing in this regard. It isn't worth getting into an e-penis size discussion in this regard but if you don't view the wealth of Gecko stuff available as enough then you've no business calling yourself a programmer.
RIA = Rich Internet Application (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I don't follow... (Score:1, Informative)
Re:This is a problem which plagues Mozilla overall (Score:5, Informative)
The documentation has been lacking historically, but things are quite a bit better now.
Re:Sounds like . . (Score:1, Informative)
Re:As a nerd... (Score:2, Informative)