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Firefox for iOS on GitHub

github.com

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Re: Firefox for iOS on GitHub

#91

Post by pm90 »

darklajid wrote: post #64

I'm a Mozilla and Firefox fan, running Aurora on my desktop, tablet, mobile. Love the project and it's the best browser out there for me. That said.. As far as I understand the 'real meat', the engine, is now webkit. Which defeats the process for me. The UI was always what Firefox was lacking in and even the very latest design decisions are - well - not quite my cup of tea at least and potentially questionable. I wou…

Firefox is still a non-corporaty project. I mean, I know they take money from Google, and now Yahoo, and stuff. But the point is that they simply want to make the web a better place, rather than make it a better place for Google users or Apple users and so on.

Also, I don't know how this works, but I'm guessing that some of the revenue they make goes towards supporting the Mozilla Foundation? These guys put out a lot of really awesome stuff, especially evangelizing web programming in impoverished communities in India and such.

Well, I don't mean to appeal to charity. But its just one of the results of this project and experiment. At my last job, we used their open source JS library for handling video content to make a really awesome training application.

Seeing as how it has been so useful, just yesterday I set up a recurring donation of $10/month. I figured, well, I pay that much for Netflix anyways, and use Firefox so heavily. So, it made perfect sense to show my support this way.

Re: Firefox for iOS on GitHub

#92

Post by JohnTHaller »

rimantas wrote: post #78
JohnTHaller wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still a Safari wrapper with sync support. Not sure what they'll call it yet. I really hope they don't just call it Firefox since it definitely isn't.

Is Chrome on iOS Chrome? If it is, why Firefox cannot be Firefox? Or should they ditch "Firefox" and just call everything Gecko, because you think that's the most important?

Nope. It's a skin that can sync passwords and bookmarks to Google with some Google Chrome branding on it over Safari. Google's Blink engine, which powers Chrome on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, Chrome OS, etc can't be used on iOS. Because Apple.

Re: Firefox for iOS on GitHub

#93

Post by JohnTHaller »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #68
darklajid wrote: post #64

I'm a Mozilla and Firefox fan, running Aurora on my desktop, tablet, mobile. Love the project and it's the best browser out there for me. That said.. As far as I understand the 'real meat', the engine, is now webkit. Which defeats the process for me. The UI was always what Firefox was lacking in and even the very latest design decisions are - well - not quite my cup of tea at least and potentially questionable. I wou…

>> "I would like to understand what Mozilla gains here (if this is mostly a 'skin' around webkit/a web view control) and why iOS users would install it (I'm on Android - dipping my toes into FirefoxOS every couple of weeks)." On iOS you use WebKit or you don't make a browser. They don't have a choice. As for why you would install it, probably sync. If you use Firefox on desktop presumably you can now access your book…

On iOS you don't make a browser. Period. You get to make a skin for Safari. That's all.

Re: Firefox for iOS on GitHub

#94

Post by JohnTHaller »

rimantas wrote: post #74
JohnTHaller wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ditto here. But I suppose you have to have something available for the iOS folks who still don't understand that every single browser is Safari with a different UI. I do think they should differentiate it name-wise since this absolutely won't be a real Firefox browser.

By this account Chrome and Opera are also Safari with different UI. (Yes, I do know that engines are really the forks, not the same WebKit). My point is, that we should be able to tell the difference between a browser and a rendering engine.

Yes, Chrome and Opera on iOS are just skins over Safari... unlike on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, etc where they're real browsers. On iOS you can have Safari, or Safari, or Safari. All controlled by Apple.

Re: Firefox for iOS on GitHub

#95

Post by micampe »

Touche wrote: post #31
micampe wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What makes this Firefox? I think that's an interesting question. Is a browser defined by its rendering engine or by its features and UI? When Chrome used WebKit, it was clearly understood by everyone to be different from Safari, even though the rendering engine was the same (I know, the differences were big), but a Firefox browser that uses WebKit seems to not be considered Firefox. Personally, while I understand t…

You put the rendering engine and features in opposite corners, which is false. Blink and Gecko have features that WebKit does not. Like WebRTC.

Finest HN nitpicking. Chrome on Android is missing some features from Chrome desktop (extensions, Flash, NaCl), is it not Chrome anymore?

Re: Firefox for iOS on GitHub

#96

Post by foodstances »

graetzer wrote: post #42

I think it's great that they are going to officially support iOS again. Coincidentally I submitted a new version of my own browser app to the AppStore, on the same day they made the announcement. I added support for the new Firfox sync protocol - it took me forever to get it working and now it's kind of redundant :-/ Anyway, if someone is interested in the source: https://github.com/graetzer/Foxbrowser

Why is there so much Google Analytics tracking in your app?

https://github.com/graetzer/Foxbrowser/commit/a5ab03e91c06e1...

Re: Firefox for iOS on GitHub

#97

Post by gress »

JohnTHaller wrote: post #93
k-mcgrady wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> "I would like to understand what Mozilla gains here (if this is mostly a 'skin' around webkit/a web view control) and why iOS users would install it (I'm on Android - dipping my toes into FirefoxOS every couple of weeks)." On iOS you use WebKit or you don't make a browser. They don't have a choice. As for why you would install it, probably sync. If you use Firefox on desktop presumably you can now access your book…

On iOS you don't make a browser. Period. You get to make a skin for Safari. That's all.

False. You can build any UI you want, as well as any feature you like.

The restriction is that you must use WebKit as the rendering engine for content that contains JavaScript.

Re: Firefox for iOS on GitHub

#98

Post by gress »

colordrops wrote: post #79
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because their platform, their rules? IDK, I think it's perfectly acceptable to limit what you can do on someone's platform, since after all allowing anything on your platform will cause a lot of crap to appear - like a lot of stuff on the Android platform before it changed to the Play Store and Google started being a bit more strict about using their platform. Restricting what developers can and cannot do on a platfo…

You are only partially correct in your analysis. Yes, controlling the platform can lead to a better user experience. But how does banning browser engines lead to better app quality? It doesn't. If you look at the history of app store restrictions, you'll find that any app that provides an open platform or programming environment has been banned. That is because it takes the control out of apple's hands. It's a power…

It may be a power grab, but it also provides protection from malware that customers value.

Re: Firefox for iOS on GitHub

#99

Post by hnriot »

gress wrote: post #97
JohnTHaller wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On iOS you don't make a browser. Period. You get to make a skin for Safari. That's all.

False. You can build any UI you want, as well as any feature you like. The restriction is that you must use WebKit as the rendering engine for content that contains JavaScript.

an utterly pointless distinction, since a "rendering engine for content that contains JavaScript" is a browser. so like the guy before you said, on iOS you don't build a browser, you build a skin.

Re: Firefox for iOS on GitHub

#100

Post by Yoric »

pm90 wrote: post #91
darklajid wrote: post #64

I'm a Mozilla and Firefox fan, running Aurora on my desktop, tablet, mobile. Love the project and it's the best browser out there for me. That said.. As far as I understand the 'real meat', the engine, is now webkit. Which defeats the process for me. The UI was always what Firefox was lacking in and even the very latest design decisions are - well - not quite my cup of tea at least and potentially questionable. I wou…

Firefox is still a non-corporaty project. I mean, I know they take money from Google, and now Yahoo, and stuff. But the point is that they simply want to make the web a better place, rather than make it a better place for Google users or Apple users and so on. Also, I don't know how this works, but I'm guessing that some of the revenue they make goes towards supporting the Mozilla Foundation? These guys put out a lot…

On behalf of Firefox developers everywhere, thank you very much :)
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