Firefox/Planning/2013-03-06

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Planning Meeting Details

• Wednesdays - 11:00am PT, 18:00 UTC
• Mountain View Offices: Warp Core Conference Room
• Toronto Offices: Finch Conference Room
• irc.mozilla.org #planning for backchannel
• (the developer meeting takes place on Tuesdays)

Video/Teleconference Details - NEW

• 650-903-0800 or 650-215-1282 x92 Conf# 99696 (US/INTL)
• 1-800-707-2533 (pin 369) Conf# 99696 (US)
• Vidyo Room: ProductCoordination
• Vidyo Guest URL

REMEMBER

These notes are read by people who weren't able to attend the meeting. Please make sure to include links and context so they can be understood.

Schedule & Progress on Upcoming Releases

Firefox Desktop

Current Releases

• Pwn2Own starts today so we have point people for all areas of a release should a 19.0.2 chemspill become necessary this week

Beta (128)

• 20.0b3 went to build yesterday, last beta for taking speculative fixes goes to build Tues March 12th in the morning

Firefox Metro

Project Performance

• From Iterations #1 - #2:
  • Total Points Completed: 62
  • Total Stories Closed: 11
  • Team Point Velocity: 31 per iteration
  • Average Stories Closed: 5.5 per iteration
  • Average Point Closure Rate: 29% per iteration
  • Scope Change (Defects and Changes): 17 points over 7 stories

• Story Backlog: 26 stories ready for upcoming iterations.
• Legacy Backlog: 6 stories remaining for QA testing.
• On Hold Backlog: 4 stories remaining for Product Manager clarification before being moved into Story Backlog.
• Planning Backlog: 33 stories for Team to review, relate to work items and assign point values.

Iteration #1	Iteration Points Committed = 102 Completed = 30 Closure Rate = 29.4% Scope Change New Defects Generated = 0 New Changes Generated = 3 points over 1 story
Iteration #2	Iteration Points Committed = 110 Completed = 32 Closure Rate = 29.1% Scope Change New Defects Generated = 4 points over 2 stories New Changes Generated = 10 points over 4 stories

Iteration #3 - In Progress

• Iteration Backlog: Firefox Metro Iteration #3: February 26, 2013 - March 11, 2013

• Team Commitment: 72 points over 12 stories
• Progress To Date:
  • 22 points completed over 7 stories.
  • 30.5% closure rate on points.
  • 50 points over 5 stories remain to complete iteration.

Iteration #4 - Upcoming

• Iteration Backlog: Firefox Metro Iteration #4: March 14, 2013 - March 27, 2013

Firefox Mobile

Current Releases

• bug 848441 – we're going to build a custom mobile-only 19.0.1 to build a custom release (not pushed to the Play Store) to support a couple of their upcoming handsets and partner requirements

Blog Shout Out

• Great performance summary for Feb: http://gbrownmozilla.wordpress.com/2013/03/02/firefox-for-android-performance-measures-february-check-up/
• Read more about WebRTC: http://www.morbo.org/2013/02/why-twitter-pictures-are-sideways.html

Post-MWC Work week in London!

• Lot's of excellent brainstorms, discussions, hack sessions. One of the themes for today was our continued obsession with improving performance and responsiveness. UX improvements, expanding measurements and benchmarks were all discussed and solid next steps were documented to make the ideas actionable.
• General agenda: https://intranet.mozilla.org/Mobile_Team_Meet_Up_March_2013#Agenda
• Expect lot's of interesting news once the team is back to their home offices next week

Beta (128)

• We shipped Fx20b2 to Google play: https://wiki.mozilla.org/QA/Fennec/20/Beta/2
• Fx20b3 is currently being tested: https://wiki.mozilla.org/QA/Fennec/20/Beta/3
• Fx20b4 is set to include this uplift bug 817828 - (blacktab) Black area near tabs button after the URL bar is animated

Aurora (54)

• We're buttoning this release up in time for beta readiness on April 2nd
• We welcome any feedback regarding how our new web content fonts (Open Sans and Charis) are looking on your favorite websites, do chime in and relate any bugs you file to: bug 831354

Nightly (129)

• NFC sharing landed bug 726335 - Use NDEF Push with NFC (Android Beam | API level 14) for transferring currently focused tab

Services

Firefox Health Report

• Now enabled on Aurora for Fx21
• Android aiming for Fx22, work already landing, dependencies are tracking from bug 828654
• Working on a policy/process for future additions

Product Announcements

• No updates, PMM on deck to start using the tool

Add-on SDK

Release (1.13.2 -> Firefox 19, 20)

Stabilization (1.14 -> Firefox 20, 21)

Development (Firefox 22)

• remaining Firefox 21 PWPB work should be completed by EOW, but has taken longer than expected.
• blog post about PWPB support & issues in the SDK
• Dev Tools team ( including Jetpack ) are in beautiful downtown Sunnyvale next week for a work week, so no audible, etc.

Feedback Summary

Desktop

Win 8 Crashes: Reports of crashes are steadily going down on Win 8 after the 19.01 release
PDF.js: Feedback is stable as well. No new critical issues to report. Big thanks to pdf.js team for all the great work.

• The new PDF viewer is bloody marvellous - massively improves my internet experience to have a lightweight alternative to Adobe. Job well done.
• I really like the PDF reader! Been using Firefox since before version 1.0! Keep up the good work! -JC
• I LOVE the new builtin PDF rendering. Awesome! So fast! So safe!

Firefox 19 Sentiment Report: Available next week.

Mobile

We are tracking slowness on JB+ devices on input.

We have a new autotagger system! We are currently working on growing and expanding the tools we have at our disposal. Expect more details soon.

User Experience (Design & Research)

Do not panic! These updates have been sparse in the run-up to MWC, so this is a "Best of Firefox UX updates" list for the last month.

• [desktop]
  • [misc]
    • Consolidating our papercuts/axe-wounds lists; new reddit "tell us your issues" thread planned for later this week (limi, bwinton)
  • [Australis] (Zhenshuo, Shorlander)
    • Try the UX Branch - curvy tabs have landed! download here
    • Staged plan for improving first-run / introducing Australis (Zhenshuo, Holly)
      • Phase 1: redesign and test /firstrun web page http://f.cl.ly/items/123V2e2638343b2J2i3d/030413_firstrun_excpt.pdf (by Holly)
      • Phase 2: web and in-product first run experience: http://people.mozilla.com/~zfang/FirstRun/FirstRun_PhaseTwo_0220.pdf
      • Phase 3: Update experience for Australis http://people.mozilla.com/~zfang/Customization/Australis_UpdateExperience.pdf
  • [Social API] (Boriss)
    • Worked with team on menu design, language, UI for next phases of patches (mockups, some also done in meetings & whiteboards)
    • Met with developers & F1 designers, sketched next iteration as share panel design
    • Worked on solutions to multi-provider & switching in next versions (mockups)
  • [newtab2] (Boriss)
    • Planned with research (particularly Cori, Gregg, and Ilana) what data could be gathered to help inform design, including from previous work and current MicroPilot study on Multi-search (etherpad on needed data)
    • Moved designs for testing ahead, with collaboration with bizdev (presentation), research, and engagement, currently incorporating updates to in-page Australis content (planning doc,schedule)
    • Worked with Blake Winton on prototyping for testing (one version under active dev)
    • Researched alternatives to thumbnails for testing, iterated with bclark, decided to test with Junior-style brand-centric messaging

• [GuM/webRTC] (Boriss)
  • Worked on webRTC bugs, including notification and styling (mockups)

• [Click-to-play] (Larissa)
  • We are doing research into redesigning Click-to-Play for non-vulnerable plugins. The results of the user research study done by Mary and Ilana are coming soon!
  • Design ideas (currently being revised): http://people.mozilla.com/~lco/ProjectSPF/CtP/130212%20CtP%20concepts.pdf
  • prototype (courtesy of Shorlander): http://people.mozilla.com/~shorlander/files/click-to-play-prototype/clickToPlay-Mockup-03.html

• [Firefox Health Report] (Larissa, shorlander)
  • We are slowly building out the user-facing dashboard for v1 of FHR
    • Design: bug 832547
    • Visuals (courtesy of Shorlander):
      • static https://bug832547.bugzilla.mozilla.org/attachment.cgi?id=718092
      • as an interactive prototype: http://people.mozilla.com/~shorlander/files/firefox-health-report/firefox-health-report-01.html
    • Strings: bug 844170
    • Still discussing the graphs with the Metrics team

• [metro] (yuan)
  • Highlight: Redesign Context Menu for Firefox Metro: [Design proposal | bug 841686 (fixed)]
  • Posted Sync setup in flyout format: [click-through prototype | bug 836393 (assigned)]
  • Reviewed Options flyout tweaks: applied headline style, fixed copywriting, cleaned up [bug 841686 (fixed) | bug 841511 (fixed)]
  • Posted import browsing data UI: [1] | bug 839153 (assigned)]
  • Combined app bar under progress [bug 846069 (sketches)]
  • An early stage proposal for improving the visibility of FX Metro for work within web only.[text-only proposal]
  • Interactive mockups of refined visual design, update layout and transitions (shorlander)

• [android] (ibarlow)
  • Project Holo' UI Updates
    • Complete: flatter backgrounds, flatter icons, new URL bar shape, new tab tray http://cl.ly/image/2N2j361W3f18
    • Coming soon: Menu / Doorhanger unification http://cl.ly/image/421S1J3x2x3p
  • About:home enhancements in progress
    • Unified visual design with Desktop for in-content UI http://cl.ly/image/0B2s3J1x2H2s
    • Moving bookmarks and history into the start page view http://cl.ly/image/3i1q2o2Y1g2N
    • Experiment: can we use twitter cards to display web content in a more interesting and user-readable way? http://cl.ly/image/2H1w1x0w0D26
  • Reader Mode enhancements in progress
    • Serif font option - http://cl.ly/image/0p1T2e1H023e
    • Tablet refinements - http://cl.ly/image/0I0S0z1p0s3N
    • Adding links to other articles at the end of the reader view http://cl.ly/image/2e241D2O1814
  • Crash reporter tweaks
    • bug 703564 - http://cl.ly/image/3i1e1O1F3Z1y

• [Behavioral Segmentation Study (Project Meta)] (Lindsay, Bill, Leo)
  • Quantitative study is complete. We had 1000 respondents to our survey. We are currently analyzing the results and will be finish the analysis this week.
  • Next steps:
    • Realign user types based on quantitative results.
    • Report and presentations. There will be a Brownbag presentation to Mozilla at-large and a presentation to the UX team in early April.

• [Global UX Research for Firefox Desktop]
  • Completed market assessment of potential emerging markets. Thanks to Patrick Finch and Margaret Schroeder from the Market Research team for all their support!
  • Meetings with Mozilla community members in a potential emerging markets to understand cultural, market, and technology context.
  • Planning on beginning fieldwork in May–early June.
  • Meeting with stakeholders to finalize 2–3 primary global emerging markets in which to conduct qualitative UX and product research in 2013.
  • Meeting with potential partner research firms who have logistical expertise in primary global emerging markets.

• [other/future]
  • Lots of Firefox UX presence at MWC!
  • If you enjoy whimsy, there's a desktop Firefox add-on for that: https://people.mozilla.com/~bwinton/whimsy/whimsy.xpi - more whimsy added as we go (bwinton)
  • Some further development on Foxograph, our "live" bugzilla mockup tool - https://foxography.jit.su/ (bwinton)
  • Boriss spoke about usability testing & Mozilla design practices at SF Mythlab (presentation (.key))

Market Insights from the Product Marketing Strategy Team

Desktop / Platform

Google

• In a continued extension of Google Plus services into the Android ecosystem, Android developers can let users login to applications using Google+.
• Chrome Canary on Windows now sports an app launcher, which allows Chrome-installed packaged web apps to be easily installed outside of the browser.
• Google also unprefixed the CSS properties for transitions and now offers support for the <template> element part of Web Components. The latter is a feature that has received significant attention from the developer community.
• The company also open-sourced Zopfli, a deflate-compatible, compress-only replacement for zlib that offers 3-8% better compression levels
• Chrome Beta for Android now offers support for SPDY-based proxy browsing. The service compresses traffic, serves it all via SSL, replaces DNS lookups, and transcodes all images to the WebP format. Chrome for Android now also syncs all passwords and form autofill entries between desktop and mobile browser.
• Chrome Stable now supports the Web Speech API, with a nice Chrome-only demo.
• Chrome has also disabled silent extension installs, improved their spell checking to support grammar, homonym, and context-sensitive checking, a web game that can be controlled by up to four Chrome for Android devices, and improved their Octane Javascript performance by 25%.
• Chrome OS has increased the priority of tabs which are playing audio, making it less likely that they will be discarded in low memory situations. Tabs which are playing audio will now have a visual indicator displaying the volume, making it a lot easier to determine where these random sounds are coming from.

HTML5

• A survey by HTML5 tools vendor Kendo UI found that 50% of developers developed HTML5 apps in 2012, but 90% plan to in 2013, and that only 15% of developers would do "native-only" development.

Microsoft

• Microsoft has been fined fined €561m by the European commission for failing to give users a choice of web browser when they logged into Windows computers for the first time between May 2011 and July 2012. The fine works out to about 37 euros for each user affected.
• Microsoft released the GA version of Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7. Their blog post features a new TV commercial highlighting the benefits of IE10 for touch-based devices.

Opera

• Opera skipped version 13 and went directly to Opera Beta 14 for Android for the new WebKit-based version of their browser. Initial reviews have been positive, both for performance and for the inclusion of a "Discover" curated content discovery tool. Some of the first WebKit patches from Opera engineers also landed.

Canonical / Ubuntu

• Just in time for Mobile World Congress, Canonical released "Ubuntu Touch 12.10 Preview", which was an early-stage preview of the Ubuntu Linux operating system for Nexus-series mobile phones. The preview was awarded best of MWC 2013 by CNet.

Security

• The Pwn2Own security contest starts today, with multiple security researchers competing for $560,000 to defeat the security of popular browsers. Chrome released an update shortly before the event that fixed 10 security vulnerabilities.

WebKit

• Google's Paul Irish posted a simple clear summary of the architecture design of most WebKit-based browsers.
• WebKit's new threaded HTML parser is now passing all tests and can be enabled with a flag.

W3C

• The W3C's Dominique Hazaël-Massieux updated his document that summarizes the web apps technologies most relevant to mobile developers

Marketing, Press & Public Reaction

Desktop Marketing

• Marketshare holds "steady as a rock" at 20% for February. 
• Mobile World Congress: It's now over! As you've heard it was a huge sucess. Top WebRTC question: "When will it be available on Android?"
• Other Desktop Projects: Speaking to SEO vendors, Social API multi-provider planning, ongoing release planning

• How to stop Firefox from exposing your browser history in new tabs

• Browsers Standing Up For User Privacy

• Firefox 20 update adds new features to per-tab browsing and home page functionality

Questions, Comments, FYI

• Jeff & Axel (l10n) would like to know who should be involved in eliminating the fx old locale betas from the bottom of https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all.html? Also, L10n Drivers will be in Mountain View & San Francisco from March 17 - 22 for l10n workweek.