FxSiteCompat
The Firefox Site Compatibility (FxSiteCompat) project tackles the backward compatibility and regressions of the Firefox Web browser, both on desktop and mobile, and engages developers better.
Motivation
Web site breakages lead to a bad user experience and reputation among Firefox users and Web developers regardless of the reason. We could avoid such situations as much as possible by providing helpful resources and encouraging better communication between Mozilla and developers. Ultimately, this project aims to minimize the number of regressions in Firefox OS that may annoy app developers.
Though Mozilla has the Developer Engagement team and the Compatibility team, and the Add-ons Developer Relations team offers the add-on compatibility docs, no employees are working on the following areas for now. That's why we are actively working on this community effort.
Focus Areas
Backward Compatibility
Objectives
- Avoid Web site breakages due to backward compatibility changes in Firefox
- Firefox has brought many changes to the Web platform features to improve its standard compliance and interoperability. We should let developers know those changes are necessary to keep up with this HTML5 era.
Activities
- Tell Web developers about changes that may affect backward compatibility for Web sites
- Write documents on MDN
- Announce the latest releases with the compatibility doc via Twitter, Facebook and Google+
- Contact developers to help fix their problematic sites
- Research real-life examples (in progress)
Examples
Firefox Regressions
Objectives
- Avoid Web site breakages due to regressions in Firefox
- "Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow."
- Because Firefox OS is rarely or never updated, regressions can give developers headaches more than the standalone Firefox browser. The number of regressions should be minimized as possible.
Activities
- Find regressions and get them fixed as soon as possible — (No specific actions taken yet)
- Build a robust Aurora community of Web developers and encourage them to test their sites with one of the latest Aurora builds
- Commit many automated tests
- Observe new bug reports on Bugzilla
- Contact developers to help fix their problematic sites
- Provide an easier way for Web developers to report regressions
- Post an article to Mozilla Hacks to call for help
- If a regression is found in the final version of Firefox, tell developers about it ASAP via Twitter, Facebook and Google+, with a workaround if available, to avoid confusion
- Research real-life examples (in progress)
Examples
Notes
How to write a Firefox Site Compatibility doc
(WIP)