Firefox/Projects/Firefox Start

Instead of loading Firefox Start from the network, use a locally hosted web application that provides the same functionality but offers greater potential for user control & customization, as well as engagement and interaction between Mozilla and users.

• Proposed by: beltzner, cbeard
• Project lead: mak
• Project members: mak, beltzner, cbeard, limi

Status

First patch available for review; need to answer questions about search parameters.

Goals

• locally hosted page with
• no chrome privilege required
• some form of offline experience
• control/customization of search engine used
• ability to display user engagement messages from mozilla.com servers

Non Goals

• ability to perform history/cache searches when offline
• option to use Google-hosted Firefox Start page

Timeline / Milestones

Phase 1 : locally hosted replacement

• host local HTML/JS/CSS content at about:start
• ensure search codes remained consistent with existing page (localization, geoip/load balancing redirects)
• sandbox connection so Google cookie is not sent with every search

Phase 2 : add dynamism, offline support

• allow search engine to be modified based on Search Box selection
• add dynamic snippet delivery and display
• add offline detection and messaging

Phase 3 : bells and whistles (time permitting)

• a/b testing support
• some local places DB analysis (about:me style stuff)

These are the bugs of interest:

Bug & Summary	Owner	Status
bug 563723 - add about:home to mimic Firefox Start	mak	awaiting review
bug ? - use app tab for about:home	make	haven't started

Requirements

• privacy: sandbox connections so that cookies are not sent
• performance: benchmark to show performance difference over web-hosted Firefox Start
• performance: better offline experience than web-hosted Firefox Start
• metrics: ability to do a/b testing with engagement pieces

Dependencies

• webdev: engagement pieces to be delivered from mozilla.com service

Testing

tbd

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