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Firefox Home 2011 Roadmap | |
| Owner: Thomas Arend | Updated: 2011-05-18 | |
| We at Mozilla believe that the web should be accessible and easy to use anywhere you go. Today’s mobile devices make it particularly hard to browse complex web pages that were not optimized for the mobile web. And nobody likes to type much on virtual keys or on small mobile keyboards anyway. Browsing on mobile devices should be easy, fast, fun, and secure - across all platforms. That is why we launched the Firefox Home app for iPhone in 2010. Firefox Home uses Firefox Sync to give you on-the-go access to bookmarks, open tabs, and browsing history from Firefox on your laptop and desktop computers and from your other connected mobile devices so you can type less and browse more. The Awesome Bar is the innovative way for accessing your online life with just one touch. And you can even share your favorite links easily with your friends. You can download Firefox Home from the iTunes App Store today. This roadmap describes how Firefox Home will evolve from a native iPhone application into a cross-platform Web Application for a seamless Firefox web experience. | ||
Contents
Overview
Firefox Home 2011 - documents our status early 2011
Product Priorities for 2011 - is a set of proposed features that we would like to introduce to Firefox Home within the next 12-18 months
Not a Priority in 2011 - find out what is not a goal for Firefox Home in 2011
Doing the right thing - Read this part if you like to know how we are getting guidance on product development, how we measure success, and how you can share your feedback and get involved.
Product Roadmap 2011 - is a proposed market delivery schedule based on the example project work laid out in previous sections
Looking (way) beyond 2011: Mobile Vision - what will the mobile web look like in the next few years, which trends do we see, how will user interactions shift
Feedback and Questions can be sent to tarend@mozilla.com - see section for more channels
More Info - Useful links for further reading
Firefox Home 2011
Firefox Home brings popular productivity features like the Firefox Awesome Screen and Firefox Sync to Apple devices for super-fast navigation with less tying, and for easy and seamless connection with all your desktop and Android mobile devices that run Firefox. In 2011 and 2012 we want to visually refresh Firefox Home, optimize it for devices like the iPhone and Apple tablets, add new productivity features, move the service to the cloud, and eventually integrate web apps. Find some of our ideas listed below.
Product Priorities for 2011
Here is a list of proposed features that we would like to introduce to Firefox Home within the next 12-18 months:
- Better ease-of-use - we have many ideas on how to make Firefox Home better: favicons and interactive badges instead of text links, high-quality thumbnails, improved frecency algorithmus for a better awesome bar experience, better sharing and bookmarking, widgets with real-time information
- Improved performance and lower memory footprint - we want to make Firefox Home even faster and smarter while using less memory on your mobile device
- Harmonization with Firefox for Android (and Nokia) - while Firefox Home is not a mobile browser, all available and new features will be adjusted to look, feel, and behave exactly the same way across platforms and devices
- Integration with new Mozilla Services - Firefox Home will integrate with upcoming Mozilla services like F1 for easy sharing, Mozilla ID for secure and easy single-sign-on on the web, and with advanced Firefox Sync features.
- Web Apps - Firefox Home will be integrated with Web Apps and Web App Stores
- Web Service - Transition Firefox Home from a native iPhone app into a web app service that can be used online and on your device anywhere you go across desktop and mobile devices including currently unsupported mobile platforms
Not a Priority in 2011
Apple's Terms of Service currently ban any web engines that are not based on web kit and also scripting languages like JavaScript. Hence, we are not able to offer a full-fledged web browser at this point. Sorry! We developed Firefox Home as a utility that brings core features like the Awesome Screen and Firefox Sync to Apple devices for easy connection with your desktop and Android mobile devices that all run Firefox.
We believe in giving users the choice and in innovating with open web standards. Our desktop and mobile (on Android and Nokia) Firefox browsers are based on the same technology platform. They both use a new multi-process architecture called “Electrolysis” for highest speed, compatibility and for extensibility with a variety of browser add-ons, also the Gecko rendering engine and a super-fast JavaScript engine, using Mozilla’s “JaegerMonkey” just-in-time compiler.
Doing the right thing
How are we getting guidance on product development? How do we measure user satisfaction and success? And how can you share your feedback and get involved?
Easy: we ask *you*: At Mozilla we have a great tradition of listening to nobody but our loyal users and the awesome community of developers which have helped our users in the past to take back the web. We have many channels for input and communication from and between users, developers, community members and people here at Mozilla. You can check out http://support.mozilla.com or request help from within Firefox Home. Mozilla Input is another important channel that shows us trends in user feedback and satisfaction easily.
And, outside of all these channels, you can always check out http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/mobile/getinvolved/ to get involved, to contribute your ideas and questions, to connect with our team and with the Firefox Home community. Feel free to contact me directly at tarend@mozilla.com.
Product Roadmap 2011
This is a proposed market delivery schedule based on the example project work laid out in previous sections. Please note that features and time lines are projections and a basis for discussion, not a final commitment to a specific delivery date or release sequence. Actual releases, sequence and combination of features are subject to change:
v2
Home becomes Web App (with native iPhone and iPad wrapper)
Introduce fresh visual design and move data and core functionality in the cloud
Platforms
- iPhone, iPad
Features
- Same functionality as 1.0 version
- New visual design - awesome list turns into search field + interactive app/web page icons or tiles; optimized user experience for iPad
- Access to history, bookmarks(?), remote tabs; access listings quickly through the Awesome Bar
- Managing unencrypted data
- New server design - to support switch to web services
- Mozilla ID log in - integration with Mozilla’s new identity service for secure and easy single-signon with your iPhone or iPad
- Personas (optional)
Actions
- Publish Privacy Policy
- Detail out and document sync encryption
v3
Expand platforms, enhance visuals Show more data to help the user make decisions on what they want to tap on
Platforms
- Added support for currently unsupported devices like Symbian, Blackberry (web only); Android, iPhone, iPad (web and native app)
Features
- Badging: home icons show realtime information, e.g. #unread messages
- Pull in feeds, e.g. for up-to-date news from sites (e.g. CNN latest news, GMail unread messages, weather, etc.)
- Add passwords and user ids to sync data for even less typing
- Account creation (integration with Mozilla ID)
- Use more data for better awesome results: context information like location, time of day, day of week, etc.
v4
Make Home more Social Integrate Home for easy interaction with your friends
Features
- New sharing mechanisms
- mozilla sharing platform integration
- direct from facebook, twitter
- Use more data for better awesome results: location, search results, followed links
v5
Provide direct link with sites and additional data
--> Make Firefox Home more interactive and show real-time data and dynamic previews
Platforms
- Home supports Desktop (web version)
Features
- Widgets on Home Screen pull in live info from web sources (e.g. show latest CNN news or ESPN scores)
- Integrate with other services like Mozilla Add-ons (AMO, addons.mozilla.com), snippet server, contacts, stumble-upon, etc.
- Go from a pull model to a push model - allowing web services to actively push data to users based on new web standards
Actions
- Publish a manifest for widgets; describe how sites can push information to us
v6
Home integrates with Firefox for mobile
Platforms
- All Platforms that run Firefox for mobile - currently this is Android and Nokia’s Maemo
Features
- Show all features of Firefox Home Verion 5 within the Firefox for mobile browser with the same look & feel
v7
Web App support
--> Integrate Web Apps with Firefox Home for easy access
Platforms
- all supported platforms
Features
- Integration of Web Apps into Awesome Screen (e.g. search for "Scrabble" shows relevant browsing history, web search results and also matching web apps)
- Ability to launch web applications
- Use as mechanism for other data (e.g. google docs, contacts, etc) - find data through apps
- Discoverability of web apps? (e.g. store/search/purchasing)
Future
Longer-term ideas and research
--> A selection of some of our wild ideas and research topics
- Embedded systems in cars, TVs
- Launcher that supports web apps for all of your applications, phone, dialing, video chat, etc.
- Support “add-ons” in the home server
- secure multi-user concept
- Master Password - managing web-based JPAKE - Introduce master password as part of “Mozilla ID”
- Multi-Device and seemless intergration / sync
- read / write from mobile device
- Home becomes mobile device home screen
Looking (way) beyond 2011
What will the mobile web look like in the next few years, which trends do we see, how will user interactions shift? See http://bit.ly/mobilevision to learn about some of the things that inspire us.
