
Let's make a FirefoxOS app - edent
http://12devsofxmas.co.uk/post/2012-12-27-day-2-lets-make-a-firefoxos-app
======
EwanG
At the risk of asking a "bad" question, will there be a FireFox App Store? If
so, when and what will be the Mozilla cut? If not, what will be the plan to
attract the "higher end" apps?

~~~
dbaupp
Yes, there is a "Mozilla Marketplace" currently open for submissions:
<https://developer.mozilla.org/en/apps> <https://marketplace.firefox.com/>

~~~
EwanG
This link there: [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Apps/Marketplace_Pa...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Apps/Marketplace_Payments)

Makes me think that there is still some work to be done to solve the issue of
attracting folks who want to make some money from their apps...

------
taterbase
Can FirefoxOS succeed where WebOS failed? If so why?

I'm not _poo-pooing_ I genuinely want to know. I would love for something like
this to become huge.

~~~
kennywinker
Nobody knows. While they're a similar approach to development, the company,
strategy, and goals are different. HP wanted an OS for their smartphones and
tablets that would compete with iOS. Firefox is aiming for something more
along the lines of an ambitious Linux distribution for the touchscreen era.

~~~
PommeDeTerre
Given some basic analysis, I think it's quite safe to say that it'll be a
failure.

Android and iOS are already extremely well entrenched, and they're where the
money is for developers. There are other OSes, including Blackberry OS and
various Windows versions, out there an actual phones already, too. At best,
FirefoxOS is starting at 5th or 6th in line, although it's probably further
back than that. That's a lot of catching up to do, especially given that it
isn't really revolutionary or unique in any beneficial way.

Android and iOS give developers much more flexible environments to work with.
To many experienced developers, especially those with a diverse background,
being forced to use JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS is just not going to be seen as
an advantage. If anything, it should be considered a reason not to target
Firefox OS.

Things haven't been very bright for Mozilla lately, either. Firefox's usage is
dropping, in favor of Chrome and even IE in some cases. This isn't surprising,
given how it has been one mistake after another since Firefox 4. Thunderbird
is on the rocks. Firefox for Mobile has been a complete failure. Aside from
Bugzilla, which is looking pretty outdated these days, their other projects
don't have much of a user base.

When one takes an impartial look at Firefox OS, there's just nothing
compelling about it. There's no reason for its existence, and it doesn't
really offer anything we couldn't already do. It seems to me to be more of a
"we can do that, too!"-style project driven by vanity, rather than any real
need. They'd be better off putting the effort toward improving Firefox on the
desktop, which seems to be their only remotely viable project.

------
devgutt
Apps using nothing more than regular HTML/CSS/JS. This is IMO the way that
every single App Store should work.

~~~
prezjordan
It's surely a developers' paradise - but what about performance?

~~~
untog
I wouldn't describe it as a developer's paradise at all- making apps with
HTML/CSS/JS can be a very painful process. A developers paradise in terms of
compatibility, though.

~~~
PommeDeTerre
You wouldn't believe how many mobile developers I talk to who go on about how
easy developing mobile apps using co-opted variants of HTML, CSS and
JavaScript is.

They'll eventually talk about some of the problems they encounter, and then I
can't believe they actually put up with any of it.

Of course, at this point I usually ask what other languages and environments
they've worked with. They usually admit to having only ever done web
development. Maybe some PHP, in rare cases. They don't know C++, Java,
Objective-C, or even Python.

So I understand why they don't recognize the problems they're facing, due to
their ignorance. If only they knew about real programming languages and the
tools available for them, I think they'd quickly see how bad of an idea the
whole HTML, CSS and JavaScript approach truly is.

~~~
daleharvey
Its fairly ridiculous to propose that the only reason that any developer is
interested in build mobile web apps is that they are ignorant of all other
platforms

~~~
PommeDeTerre
Read again what I wrote. I clearly did not say that "ignorance is the only
reason", or anything of that nature. Please refrain from making
misrepresentations like that which you've just made, Dale Harvey.

Ignorance, however, does play a more significant role that you seem to
believe, or would like to admit. Many of these developers do lack experience
with languages that offer proper class-based OO support, namespaces,
modularity, and other core functionality that JavaScript is missing, or has
poorly tacked on (I'm looking at you, CommonJS).

------
jaipilot747
Thanks for the tutorial! Just a small suggestion: Syntax highlighting would
make it easier to follow the code. You could probably use a library like
<http://balupton.github.com/jquery-syntaxhighlighter/demo/>

------
pfisch
How is this fundamentally different from using phonegap with ios/android? Are
there more apis that tie into native functionality? Cause you can just hook a
lot of those up with phonegap anyway. From this example I can't see any
differences.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
With Firefox OS, they will be using web standard APIs. For things that do not
yet have official APIs, they will make them and try to get them
standardised.[0] This is unlike PhoneGap, which uses non-standard PhoneGap-
specific APIs. This means that Firefox OS apps should also work fine as
vanilla web apps in newer browsers.

[0] <https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebAPI/>

~~~
daleharvey
That isnt quite how I would describe it, FirefoxOS is the realisation of
Phonegap original vision. Phonegap was built to not exist, it patches device
API's where they dont exist with the intention that when the API is supported
natively phonegap just isnt needed.

Ideally FirefoxOS and Phonegap applications will be identical (in that they
will all be web apps that use standard APIs) there is work being done on
making that true.

~~~
sintaxi
Looks like I chimed in 4 minutes late. Perfectly said, thank you.

------
01Michael10
I don't care for the name which seems confusing to me.

Their browser is named Mozilla (the company) Firefox (the product). So
shouldn't the OS be named then... Mozilla (company) OS (product)?

~~~
abrowne
I think the whole name is Mozilla Firefox OS (as is Firefox OS from Mozilla)

But by this logic Apple Macs should run Apple OS?

~~~
slurgfest
Apple computers used to run Apple DOS

------
chayesfss
Just created my own based upon this information, very easy to do but what
actually runs firefoxOS?

~~~
mikeevans
Currently is supported on a handful of Android devices, see here:
[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Mozilla/Boot_to_Gec...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Mozilla/Boot_to_Gecko/Firefox_OS_build_prerequisites)

~~~
BrianEatWorld
Have you actually tried running on any of those devices?

I asked about them on a FirefoxOS post last week because I was trying to
figure out which device to pick up and a Mozilla rep responded suggesting that
I just try the emulator built for Firefox. She said that the builds that run
on those devices are actually fairly out of date.

I'd love for somebody in the know or who actually has this up and running to
provide some insight.

------
jamescun
Returning `500 Internal Server Error` for anyone else? (rMBP 10.8.2, Chrome
23.0.1271.101)

~~~
edent
Server is back up now.

