Prism/FAQ

What is Prism?

Prism is an application that integrates web applications into the desktop environment. It lets users start web applications from their desktop, start menu, and dock, and it opens those applications in their own window separate from a web browser and without the browser interface (back and forward buttons, location bar, etc.).

Is Prism a Mozilla product?

No, Prism is not a Mozilla product. It is one of the experiments being conducted by Mozilla Labs to bridge the divide in the user experience between web applications and desktop apps. Prism is the codename for the project, and if the functionality provided by Prism becomes a product or is integrated into other products (like Firefox), then it won't necessarily continue to be called by this codename.

Is Prism a platform?

No, Prism is not a platform. Prism is built on top of the Mozilla platform and its Gecko rendering engine, just like Mozilla Firefox, so it provides the same capabilities to web applications that Firefox provides, including support for HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and <canvas>.

At the same time, we're also working to increase the capabilities of those apps by adding features to the Web itself, like support for offline data storage and access to 3D graphics hardware, that will be available to web applications in both Prism and Firefox.

How is Prism different from XULRunner?

Prism is built on top of XULRUnner. Prism is a simple XULRunner application with the main portion of the UI consisting of a XUL <browser> element.

How does Prism render web pages?

Prism uses Gecko, the same browser rendering system found in Firefox.

What operating systems does Prism support?

• Microsoft Windows
  • 2000
  • XP
  • Vista
• Mac OS X SUPPORT FOR INTEL ONLY
  • 10.3.9+ (Panther)
  • 10.4 (Tiger)
  • 10.5 (Leopard)
• Linux
  • kernel 2.2.14+ with glibc 2.3.2, XFree86-3.3.6, gtk+2.0, fontconfig/xft, and libstdc++5