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My experience with Firefox OS

69 points by moretoitsurely 13y ago

AndrewDucker 13y ago
Seems to be down - anyone got a cache?
- mrud 13y ago
  http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://thelab.o2.com/2013/05/my-experience-with-firefox-os/&strip=1 http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https:/...
  - moretoitsurely 13y ago
    Thanks - looking at a fix now, won't be a moment
- kevinprince 13y ago
  Sorry seems like the Amazon ELB isnt playing nicely. Working to fix.
Ygg2 13y ago
So how does this compare to Android/iOS dev experiences? Other JS+CSS+HTML developement?
- seanholden 13y ago
  It is pretty much web development. My method is to shrink a browser down to mobile size and create something in HTML/CSS/JS as if you were creating it for a mobile browser. If it works as a web app, it should work as a FirefoxOS app. You can download the FirefoxOS simulator as a Firefox add-on for free to have a play about with it: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firefox-os-simulator/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firefox-os-si...
- atrus 13y ago
  It's really easy. As he said, the only real difference between a webpage and a FirefoxOS app is the manifest. I made a small Pomodoro app (https://github.com/worldsproject/pomos https://github.com/worldsproject/pomos) as a test for learning the Chrome Web Store and FirefoxOS markets. Chrome disallows some things, in my case localStorage, and replaces it with their own alternative. While not major, I still had to make adjustments. I also had to define a window. Again, not minor, but these still keep it sufficiently different from a normal webpage. Whereas with the firefox app, I just had to write a manifest, and it worked without any changes. The Chrome store is a bit more refined though, it has better and more options for displaying promotional graphics, and looks better overall.
MatthewPhillips 13y ago
They need to do something to make the locally installed app experience a little nicer (for developers, I mean). The 2 manifest file thing is a bit awkward.
- seanholden 13y ago
  Agreed. This was very confusing and does not seem to be explained very well anywhere.
simplysaru 13y ago
Site was down again. But read the content from the cache and it looks more of how to start developing on Firefox OS post than an user experience of the OS itself. Of course it does talk about the experience of developing a simple app, but doesn't give a view of the user experience. I wish it gave a comparison. Besides that the Firefox OS platform looks interesting and attractive given every web developer can be an app developer on Firefox Os.
cheeaun 13y ago
If anyone is interested, I've posted some of my observations using the Peak https://gist.github.com/cheeaun/5517132 https://gist.github.com/cheeaun/5517132
- seanholden 13y ago
  Thanks for this!

AndrewDucker 13y ago

Seems to be down - anyone got a cache?

mrud 13y ago
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://thelab.o2.com/2013/05/my-experience-with-firefox-os/&strip=1 http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https:/...
- moretoitsurely 13y ago
  Thanks - looking at a fix now, won't be a moment
kevinprince 13y ago
Sorry seems like the Amazon ELB isnt playing nicely. Working to fix.

Ygg2 13y ago

So how does this compare to Android/iOS dev experiences? Other JS+CSS+HTML developement?

seanholden 13y ago
It is pretty much web development. My method is to shrink a browser down to mobile size and create something in HTML/CSS/JS as if you were creating it for a mobile browser. If it works as a web app, it should work as a FirefoxOS app. You can download the FirefoxOS simulator as a Firefox add-on for free to have a play about with it: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firefox-os-simulator/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firefox-os-si...
atrus 13y ago
It's really easy. As he said, the only real difference between a webpage and a FirefoxOS app is the manifest. I made a small Pomodoro app (https://github.com/worldsproject/pomos https://github.com/worldsproject/pomos) as a test for learning the Chrome Web Store and FirefoxOS markets. Chrome disallows some things, in my case localStorage, and replaces it with their own alternative. While not major, I still had to make adjustments. I also had to define a window. Again, not minor, but these still keep it sufficiently different from a normal webpage. Whereas with the firefox app, I just had to write a manifest, and it worked without any changes. The Chrome store is a bit more refined though, it has better and more options for displaying promotional graphics, and looks better overall.

MatthewPhillips 13y ago

They need to do something to make the locally installed app experience a little nicer (for developers, I mean). The 2 manifest file thing is a bit awkward.

seanholden 13y ago
Agreed. This was very confusing and does not seem to be explained very well anywhere.

simplysaru 13y ago

Site was down again. But read the content from the cache and it looks more of how to start developing on Firefox OS post than an user experience of the OS itself. Of course it does talk about the experience of developing a simple app, but doesn't give a view of the user experience. I wish it gave a comparison. Besides that the Firefox OS platform looks interesting and attractive given every web developer can be an app developer on Firefox Os.

cheeaun 13y ago

If anyone is interested, I've posted some of my observations using the Peak https://gist.github.com/cheeaun/5517132 https://gist.github.com/cheeaun/5517132

seanholden 13y ago
Thanks for this!