Design Principles Behind Firefox OS Explained 69
At MozCamp Warsaw, a presentation was given on the design principles behind the core Firefox OS experience. Layering of applications (if you're wondering why the Firefox mobile interface has that weird curve by the tab control, you'll find answers here), an emphasis on content over visual frills for their own sake, consistent iconography, and clean typography dominate.
Re:Smoking crack (Score:5, Insightful)
lockPref("app.update.mode", 0);
lockPref("app.update.service.enabled", true);
lockPref("app.update.enabled", true);
lockPref("app.update.interval", 14400);
lockPref("app.update.auto", true);
lockPref("app.update.autoUpdateEnabled", true);
pref("toolkit.telemetry.prompted", 2);
pref("toolkit.telemetry.rejected", true);
pref("toolkit.telemetry.enabled", false);
Yeah, I think I got that memo. Now, I want you to find a single source me on their website that explains all of those settings, what they do, their values, what file you put them in, their context and how to implement them for all users at an enterprise level.
For enterprise deployments, your need to be able to set your configuration for any number of settings with ease. You can't do that with Firefox in the enterprise, I'm sorry but you just can't. I might need to configure any number of well over a thousand some settings, of which auto update is only one of them.
This is what Firefox needs to be able to stand a chance in hell of making it in the enterprise. Understand that the enterprise /wants/ to use Firefox - badly. /not/ programmers need to be able to readily research and configure Firefox the way they want it.
1. Enterprises need a single file that they can easily manipulate to change as needed for all users. Mozilla.cfg sort of handles this, but only in a limited capacity.
2. Central sources for documentation. Why does about:config only have some entries defined? I shouldn't have to troll developer forums or bug reports to find out how to manipulate something.
3. Easier support. The fact that it's open source is meaningless when programmers are not the ones supporting and distributing Firefox into production. IT professionals who are
4. Don't make judgement calls for my organization. You feel wonderful about browser rights, that's nice. I'm not confusing 75,000 users with a prompt about their 'browser rights' and crap-flooding the helpdesk. I should be able to easily disable this kind of thing without spending a lot of time trying to find the right setting.
5. Whoever came up with a six week release schedule needs to be placed into a monastery where they measure time by the seasons to gain some perspective. This places a heavy burden on enterprises and is a support burden. No other software product has this kind of release schedule and it goes against industry best practice.
Re:Memory is Cheap (Score:3, Insightful)
These are not design principles. (Score:5, Insightful)
These are styling principles.
Yes, I know the entire commercial world in 2012 has decided to remap the dictionary and call "design" what the world of commerce in 1982 would have called "style", and "architecture" and "engineering" what the world of 1982 would have called "design". And product designers no longer actually design things but just draw sketches of what the colouring of the pictures on the skin of the 3D printer will look like, while the product architects, who don't have architecture degrees, build flowcharts for the engineers, who don't hold engineering degrees, to build.
But darnit, I still remember when "design" meant how a product works at a technical level, and that's what I came to the article expecting to read, and that's the opposite of what I got.
Get off my perfectly manicured ironically Le Corbusier-inspired post-post-postmodernist lawn.