6 ms·

For any Google devs lurking out there, it doesn't seem to work at all in Firefox on Windows. It looks like it has something to do with custom web components wi

by slaymaker1907 9y ago

For any Google devs lurking out there, it doesn't seem to work at all in Firefox on Windows. It looks like it has something to do with custom web components with the following message: ReferenceError: customElements is not defined Also apparently some assertion errors with webcomponents (minified so line numbers not useful).

pietroglyph 9y ago
That's probably because custom elements aren't supported in Firefox yet, unless you set "dom.webcomponents.enabled" and "dom.webcomponents.customelements.enable" to true. It's supposed to be fully enabled in Firefox 60/61 according to MDN [0]. [0]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Web_Components/Using_custom_elements https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Web_Components/...
- the8472 9y ago
  Best viewed with Chrome Explorer™ 5.0, Optimized for 1024x786 truecolor screens.
- ehsankia 9y ago
  Sure, but should they not be either using polyfills, or not use code that is only supported by one browser? I understand how a project like Allo Web would want to use latest streaming api tech, but a documentation/product launch page doesn't need crazy new web tech.
  - shdh 9y ago
    They should be using the polyfills, but looks like someone missed the mark and forgot to add them.
    - kuschku 9y ago
      They didn't even test on anything other than Chrome, because they don't care. That's the problem. Not that it was missed, but that they didn't even test in Firefox.
matthewmacleod 9y ago
Doesn't work in Safari. Doesn't work in Firefox. Doesn't work in Edge. I don't want to be unreasonable, but Google used to at least generally support the idea of the open web. There are a bunch of different UAs out there; while I accept it's more challenging to support some than others, it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect a product launch from a large-scale web company should at the very least give us an error message. The web is deteriorating right in front of us, and a big contributor to that is Google's continued failure to realise that the web isn't all-Chrome, all the time. The attitude displayed here—a minor thing when compared to the overall problem—has strengthened my resolve to avoid Chrome at all costs.
- rhizome 9y ago
  Google used to at least generally support the idea of the open web Yes, but history teaches us that they are terrible at product management. I mean, they could at least just call it "Chrome TTS" or something until they put the whole thing together.
  - thesandlord 9y ago
    The demo might only work in Chrome, but the API is just a standard REST API. Most people will be using this API on the server side to generate an MP3 which is streamed to the user. Chrome actually has its own TTS engine (as does FF, Safari, etc), though the quality obviously isn't as good. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/SpeechSynthesis https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/SpeechSynth... (I work for GCP)
    - matthewmacleod 9y ago
      As I understand it, Chrome does indeed use the Google cloud platform to do its speech synthesis behind the scenes – I suppose we'll see improvements in the quality of those voices soon, too.
  - matthewmacleod 9y ago
    That's not entirely fair – it does work over relatively standard protocols behind the scenes. I'm just annoyed at the lack of care displayed here.
thesandlord 9y ago
GCP person here. We are aware and are working on a fix! (Should be as "simple" as a polyfill for webcomponents, but I don't want to put words in the team's mouth)
- thesandlord 9y ago
  Update: Should be fixed now!
gcb0 9y ago
> something from google not working on firefox. Call me paranoid all you want, but that is their plan. just like it was microsoft's plan for nothing on IE4/6 to work on netscape. Heck, a third of my corporate sites have DHTML popups saying "Use chrome" when i reach them with firefox already.

pietroglyph 9y ago

That's probably because custom elements aren't supported in Firefox yet, unless you set "dom.webcomponents.enabled" and "dom.webcomponents.customelements.enable" to true. It's supposed to be fully enabled in Firefox 60/61 according to MDN [0]. [0]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Web_Components/Using_custom_elements https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Web_Components/...

the8472 9y ago
Best viewed with Chrome Explorer™ 5.0, Optimized for 1024x786 truecolor screens.
ehsankia 9y ago
Sure, but should they not be either using polyfills, or not use code that is only supported by one browser? I understand how a project like Allo Web would want to use latest streaming api tech, but a documentation/product launch page doesn't need crazy new web tech.
- shdh 9y ago
  They should be using the polyfills, but looks like someone missed the mark and forgot to add them.
  - kuschku 9y ago
    They didn't even test on anything other than Chrome, because they don't care. That's the problem. Not that it was missed, but that they didn't even test in Firefox.

matthewmacleod 9y ago

Doesn't work in Safari. Doesn't work in Firefox. Doesn't work in Edge. I don't want to be unreasonable, but Google used to at least generally support the idea of the open web. There are a bunch of different UAs out there; while I accept it's more challenging to support some than others, it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect a product launch from a large-scale web company should at the very least give us an error message. The web is deteriorating right in front of us, and a big contributor to that is Google's continued failure to realise that the web isn't all-Chrome, all the time. The attitude displayed here—a minor thing when compared to the overall problem—has strengthened my resolve to avoid Chrome at all costs.

rhizome 9y ago
Google used to at least generally support the idea of the open web Yes, but history teaches us that they are terrible at product management. I mean, they could at least just call it "Chrome TTS" or something until they put the whole thing together.
- thesandlord 9y ago
  The demo might only work in Chrome, but the API is just a standard REST API. Most people will be using this API on the server side to generate an MP3 which is streamed to the user. Chrome actually has its own TTS engine (as does FF, Safari, etc), though the quality obviously isn't as good. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/SpeechSynthesis https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/SpeechSynth... (I work for GCP)
  - matthewmacleod 9y ago
    As I understand it, Chrome does indeed use the Google cloud platform to do its speech synthesis behind the scenes – I suppose we'll see improvements in the quality of those voices soon, too.
- matthewmacleod 9y ago
  That's not entirely fair – it does work over relatively standard protocols behind the scenes. I'm just annoyed at the lack of care displayed here.

thesandlord 9y ago

GCP person here. We are aware and are working on a fix! (Should be as "simple" as a polyfill for webcomponents, but I don't want to put words in the team's mouth)

thesandlord 9y ago
Update: Should be fixed now!

gcb0 9y ago

> something from google not working on firefox. Call me paranoid all you want, but that is their plan. just like it was microsoft's plan for nothing on IE4/6 to work on netscape. Heck, a third of my corporate sites have DHTML popups saying "Use chrome" when i reach them with firefox already.