Mozilla Launches Browser Built For Developers

HughPickens.com writes "Mozilla announced that they are excited to unveil Firefox Developer Edition, the first browser created specifically for developers that integrates two powerful new features, Valence and WebIDE that improve workflow and help you debug other browsers and apps directly from within Firefox Developer Edition. Valence (previously called Firefox Tools Adapter) lets you develop and debug your app across multiple browsers and devices by connecting the Firefox dev tools to other major browser engines. WebIDE allows you to develop, deploy and debug Web apps directly in your browser, or on a Firefox OS device. "It lets you create a new Firefox OS app (which is just a web app) from a template, or open up the code of an existing app. From there you can edit the app's files. It's one click to run the app in a simulator and one more to debug it with the developer tools."

Firefox Developer Edition also includes all the tools experienced Web developers are familiar with including: Responsive Design Mod, Page Inspector, Web Console, JavaScript Debugger, Network Monitor, Style Editor, and Web Audio Editor. At launch, Mozilla is starting off with Chrome for Android and Safari for iOS. and the eventual goal is to support more browsers, depending on what developers tell Mozilla they want, but the primary focus is on the mobile Web. "One of the biggest pain points for developers is having to use numerous siloed development environments in order to create engaging content or for targeting different app stores. For these reasons, developers often end up having to bounce between different platforms and browsers, which decreases productivity and causes frustration," says the press release. "If you're a new Web developer, the streamlined workflow and the fact that everything is already set up and ready to go makes it easier to get started building sophisticated applications." Mozilla released a teaser trailer for the browser last week.

Comments

Re:Dupe.

[halivar]

I thought so too, but it's not. They link the previous announcement in TFS; this is the actual release.

Chrome for Android and Safari for iOS?

[ArcadeMan]

So, they're running Android and iOS on your computer to run the same binaries as those platforms? If not, it's only emulation and when someone says they're emulating another browser the result is usually not worth it and nowhere close to the actual results on the other platforms.

Re:Chrome for Android and Safari for iOS?

[BZ]

> So, they're running Android and iOS on your
> computer to run the same binaries as those
> platforms?

No. "They" are allowing you to connect your Android or iOS device to your computer (likely via USB), then debugging the on-device browser using the Firefox debugger running on your computer. That way you're debugging the thing you actually want to debug, but using the same developer tools you're using for your other debugging, and which therefore you're already familiar with.

Re:Chrome for Android and Safari for iOS?

[tepples]

So you still have to buy an iPhone, an iPad, an Android phone, and an Android tablet to test on them, unless you're on a Mac with a running iOS Simulator and a way of simulating multitouch input. And according to this page, the connection to Safari for iOS does not work on Windows, and an essential Linux component has to be built from source.

Re:Not going to happen

[Microlith]

The whole Brendan Eich situation and your cowering to the social justice warriors makes me not only avoid your products, but actively remind people that you are a sleazy political organization first, with a browser tool far second

Yeah, how dare an organization that is, essentially, politically minded in the first place take a principled stand for acceptance, respect, and equality instead of falling on Eich's sword for him.

Also:

social justice warriors

Yeah, fuck them for even thinking about changing the status quo. People should just accept their lot in life, even if that means they get shit on for no good reason. Just so long as you don't have to care!

Google's heart isn't much better but at least they have tact in their public relations.

Yeah, a better organization would defend bigotry and turn a blind-eye towards abusive behavior. /s

Self-XSS blocking is only the beginning

[tepples]

Now the Firefox team can remove all the developer crap from the regular browser.

Removing even the most basic JavaScript console from the standard browser would be a bad idea. It'd encourage some developers of prominent web sites to block users of the developer browser as a "security" measure. Facebook and Netflix, for instance, already block use of the JavaScript console out of "self-XSS" worries; removing even "view source" would make it even worse.

Re:Self-XSS blocking is only the beginning

[narcc]

RMS predicted this in The Right to Read.

Re:please remove al the developer crap from the re

[Anonymous Coward]

Please don't. Even non-developers are increasingly using the basic devtools to manage the modern web (defeating right-clicks, removing elements that get in the way, etc). And far more practically, the dev tools let devs diagnose bugs with users as they happen, without having to frustrate them with lots of extra steps that might lose their session entirely. At this point it would be like removing images from the browser core just because blind people have no need for them.

Native apps are easier to reject than web apps

[tepples]

Native applications of course.
A halfway decent programmer would make your "whiteboard" cross platform.

Use of native applications leads to three roadblocks, and I'd be interested in how you would recommend to solve each:

• First, the developer has to buy the devkit for each of 15 platforms, which can be several dozen times more expensive than just buying a computer and starting a web browser. If the developer can't afford the devkit, you end up with no application to use. So it's your concern because it's the developer's concern.
• Second, the developer has to get his whiteboard app onto each platform's monopoly app store. If Apple rejects it, you won't be able to run it on your iPhone or iPad or on Macs whose Gatekeeper settings are set to Mac App Store only. If Microsoft rejects it, you won't be able to run it on Windows RT, Windows Phone, Xbox 360, or Xbox One. If Sony rejects it, you won't be able to run it on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, or PlayStation Vita. If Nintendo rejects it, you won't be able to run it on Wii U or 3DS.
• Finally, you will have to ask the computer's administrator to install the application before it can be used.

Or if you're a really shitty programmer, you use a virtual machine language like java.

Is there a way to get an application onto Xbox 360's Xbox Live Indie Games or Windows Phone 7 at all without using a virtual machine language?