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> Adaptative search does not look like a marketplace, it looks like a search engine. There is a marketplace icon that launches the marketplace app which has a e

> Adaptative search does not look like a marketplace, it looks like a search engine. There is a marketplace icon that launches the marketplace app which has a experience similar to other app stores. The reviewer was probably right to be confused as it isn't clear from basic descriptions of the OS exactly how it works. Instead, there is buzzword fluff (HTML5! HTML5!) and marketing jargon about the 'web'. I am very technical and I still am not clear about how firefox os applications work. Are there additional APIs available to applications from the marketplace? Are applications downloaded by the launcher or does every application act like a web link, or is there a combination of the two?

rhelmer 13y ago
You can add any web page to the home screen as a launchable icon (the "adaptive app search" lets you search through curated ones), which is basically a standalone chromeless browser. Open Web Apps can be packaged and served via the Marketplace (or downloaded directly), and have access to new platform APIs (via javascript), that are being standardized: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Apps https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Apps
soapdog 13y ago
There are additional APIs available to all applications. They don't need to come from the marketplace to use such APIs. An application can use the "Open Web Apps API" to install itself onto the phone (with the user permission) bypassing the marketplace. So you can distribute your own apps on third party marketplaces or on your own web page. There are two types of applications: Hosted and Packaged. Hosted apps are normal web pages that you host somewhere and access from the device. If you use appcache and responsive design, they will provide an experience like what native apps provide in other platforms. The packaged apps instead of being hosted are packaged and offered on the marketplace. Its basically a zipfile with your HTML/CSS/JS, when it is installed this zipfile is copied to the device and sandboxed. There are three security levels. Plain, Privileged and Certified. These security levels govern what APIs your app can access. Hosted apps are always plain apps. Packaged apps can be plain apps too but they can also be privileged apps that can access an extra set of APIs or certified apps that can access every API on the device. Only Mozilla and its hardware partners can build and deploy certified apps due to security reasons (you don't want an app with the ability to send SMS or make calls without user interaction). So in summary, you can have plain web links in the launcher and you can have links to packaged apps that are actually on the device. Both things are possible and indistinguishable from a user point of view. Both solutions work offline if you use appcache with the hosted app. If you want to know more, I've written a Free and Open eBook about it called "Firefox OS Development Quick Guide" available at http://leanpub.com/quickguidefirefoxosdevelopment/ http://leanpub.com/quickguidefirefoxosdevelopment/ you can also hop by Mozilla Developer Network portal for Firefox OS at https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox_OS https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox_OS =)
- aaronbrethorst 13y ago
  Given that the post we're all discussing is from someone who is ostensibly pretty savvy about these things, I think it might behoove the folks working on Firefox OS to rethink aspects of the platform user experience.

rhelmer 13y ago

You can add any web page to the home screen as a launchable icon (the "adaptive app search" lets you search through curated ones), which is basically a standalone chromeless browser. Open Web Apps can be packaged and served via the Marketplace (or downloaded directly), and have access to new platform APIs (via javascript), that are being standardized: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Apps https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Apps

soapdog 13y ago

There are additional APIs available to all applications. They don't need to come from the marketplace to use such APIs. An application can use the "Open Web Apps API" to install itself onto the phone (with the user permission) bypassing the marketplace. So you can distribute your own apps on third party marketplaces or on your own web page. There are two types of applications: Hosted and Packaged. Hosted apps are normal web pages that you host somewhere and access from the device. If you use appcache and responsive design, they will provide an experience like what native apps provide in other platforms. The packaged apps instead of being hosted are packaged and offered on the marketplace. Its basically a zipfile with your HTML/CSS/JS, when it is installed this zipfile is copied to the device and sandboxed. There are three security levels. Plain, Privileged and Certified. These security levels govern what APIs your app can access. Hosted apps are always plain apps. Packaged apps can be plain apps too but they can also be privileged apps that can access an extra set of APIs or certified apps that can access every API on the device. Only Mozilla and its hardware partners can build and deploy certified apps due to security reasons (you don't want an app with the ability to send SMS or make calls without user interaction). So in summary, you can have plain web links in the launcher and you can have links to packaged apps that are actually on the device. Both things are possible and indistinguishable from a user point of view. Both solutions work offline if you use appcache with the hosted app. If you want to know more, I've written a Free and Open eBook about it called "Firefox OS Development Quick Guide" available at http://leanpub.com/quickguidefirefoxosdevelopment/ http://leanpub.com/quickguidefirefoxosdevelopment/ you can also hop by Mozilla Developer Network portal for Firefox OS at https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox_OS https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox_OS =)

aaronbrethorst 13y ago
Given that the post we're all discussing is from someone who is ostensibly pretty savvy about these things, I think it might behoove the folks working on Firefox OS to rethink aspects of the platform user experience.