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Firefox 4 may get HTML5, multi-touch, simpler UI

updated 04:00 pm EDT, Tue May 11, 2010

Mozilla proposes serious overhaul for Firefox


Mozilla director Mike Beltzner has proposed a major reworking of Firefox in time for 4.0. The browser would get a major interface redesign with a "tabs on top" design somewhat like Chrome, simplified settings and pop-ups, and multi-touch. The renderer would get a lift through at least some HTML5 and CSS3 support, and geolocation could be built-in for any OS that can feed position data into the browser.

It could tentatively bring background patching and would have an again Chrome-like bookmark sync. Speed is also an issue as the browser has slipped compared to Chrome, Opera and Safari.

Beltzner is careful to warn that many of the proposals are in flux and could lead to different realities by the time the browser is ready. A beta could be complete by the end of June, however, and the first release candidate is targeted for October with a final build in the fall.

Firefox 4: fast, powerful and empowering













By Electronista Staff

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industry, software, Google, Firefox, mozilla, Safari, Opera, Chrome, HTML5

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Previous Comments

  1. WiseWeasel

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Apr 1999

    +3
    05/11, 04:30pm | report spam | reply

    Gah

    And still no h.264 support! Weak sauce. What's the point if I have to switch over to Safari or Chrome just so I don't have to put up with Flash?


  1. rvhernandez

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Apr 2005

    -3
    05/11, 05:06pm | report spam | reply

    Tabs on Top?

    Hate it! What a waste of screen space!!!


  1. testudo

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2001

    +3
    05/12, 11:36am | report spam | reply

    Re: Tabs on top?

    How in the world is that a waste of screen space, when, otherwise, the title bar is just an empty bar that is a waste of screen real-estate? It may look horrid, and completely violates all GUI rules, but that's different.


  1. testudo

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2001

    -1
    05/12, 11:38am | report spam | reply

    Re: Gah

    They don't support it because they're supporting Ogg video instead, an actual open video format, vs. the closed and currently license free mp4.

    And why would you need flash for h.264? Wouldn't a quicktime plug-in work just as well?


  1. WiseWeasel

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Apr 1999

    +3
    05/12, 12:04pm | report spam | reply

    Re: Re: Gah

    And they can't support both because? They can't find a way to make use of user-installed system-level codecs because why? H.264 is ubiquitous on the web. Right now, it's typically wrapped in a flash video container, but it's fairly easy (relatively fast) to demux the h.264 video and aac audio streams, and remux in a mp4 container for use with HTML5 browsers that support it. This means that it's doable for website operators to get their content ready for HTML5 streaming without actually having to do a lengthy re-encoding of the video and audio streams. Since they're all using h.264 already, sites like youtube and vimeo are totally not interested in converting to Ogg Theora Video. Here's an insightful blog post on the subject:
    http://vimeo.com/blog:268

    And here's the interesting quote: "One final note: those of you who have followed the development of HTML5 probably know video can be a contentious issue (for more on why, read here: http://diveintohtml5.org/video.html). Almost every thread on the internet about HTML5 devolves into some kind of flamewar. Please don't comment here extolling the virtues of open source or unencumbered codecs. We know, it's our job to know, and that conversation has been had a million times. If you really feel like you need to talk about it, please do so in the Feature Request forum. The simple fact is right now h264 allows us the most flexibility to display on many devices and many players with the same file. When that changes, so will we. That's all there is to it, thanks for your understanding!"

    So these video content sites aren't even considering supporting Ogg Theora, which means that Mozilla is just digging themselves into a hole. These video sites will choose to target Firefox using the Flash plugin, and they'll serve h.264 HTML5 to the other modern browsers.

    Getting back to your question of why Mozilla won't use the QuickTime plugin, for one, QuickTime is hardly any less proprietary than Flash, and is obviously not an open standard. But in any case, Mozilla is refusing to use system-level codecs, DirectShow in Windows, or QuickTime in Mac OS X, and so that's not happening for whatever reason. In any case, I'm all for giving website operators the option of using Ogg Theora, but we must face the fact that these video sites aren't interested in supporting yet another codec in the least, and so leaving h.264 HTML5 playback out means relying on the Flash plugin to play the format instead. I don't want to use the Flash plugin if HTML5 is available. I want to uninstall Flash completely, and Mozilla is making that difficult.


  1. ClockNova

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jun 2001

    +1
    05/12, 12:20pm | report spam | reply

    Keep the sidebar.

    So long as they don't drop the bookmark sidebar. It's the main reason I won't use any other browser. I can't live without the sidebar for my bookmarks!


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