

Chromeless: Build your own browser - spoondan
http://mozillalabs.com/chromeless/2010/10/21/chromeless-build-your-own-browser-ui-using-html-css-js/

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Qz
I want this yesterday. Been working on writing my own custom browser UI in a
multitude of different platforms (WPF / XUL / Flex / etc. / etc.) but they
were all either buggy or didn't come full featured from the start. All I
really want to mess with is the UI, not the behind the scenes stuff, so this
seems to be exactly what I'm looking for.

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buddydvd
It doesn't seem like you'll be able to embed XUL elements with this form of
customization. Does it mean you'll have to implement your own tree control,
toolbar control, etc [1]?

Also, will this work with existing browser plugins? If users are unable to use
their plugins, would they actually switch to use a customized browser with no
plugin support?

Is this project intended to let developers create installable web apps (like
Google Chrome's installable web apps with the manifest's "container" field set
to "panel" [2])? If so, probably it'll better to just market it like so. I
think people are far more interested in building monetizable web applications
than customized browser layouts.

[1] XUL elements: <https://developer.mozilla.org/en/XUL_Reference>

[2] Chrome Web App's "panel" option: [http://chromestory.com/2010/07/panel-
tab-and-window-styles-c...](http://chromestory.com/2010/07/panel-tab-and-
window-styles-coming-soon-to-google-chrome-web-apps/)

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greenlblue
This is awesome. I love JavaScript and all the goodness it offers and this is
one more reason to love it even more because now I can pile all my
greasemonkey scripts into the UI.

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anigbrowl
This doesn't look like much now, but neither did Cello or Mosaic at first. My
gut says this will be red hot.

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avk
Love it. This is the kind of open UX approach I wish more platforms had!

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ZeroGravitas
I'm not sure I understand the implications of this. Can it make Vimperator
better? Or is it aiming at creating lots of little Vimperators i.e. various,
less ambitious browser UIs?

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chadgeidel
Microsoft has exposed the webbrowser control in "classic" VB and .Net
applications for some time now. Before Firefox gained traction, there were
several "lightweight" web browsers that took advantage of this (early versions
of Maxthon come to mind).

I've actually done this for an app at a previous company. We implemented a
"CSR view" on top of the existing website so the CSR could look at the
customer site right from within the app.

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lhnz
I understand why they've called it Chromeless, but I feel the name is
jarringly similar to Google Chrome and that is a problem.

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saw-lau
I would imagine the naming implications was given very definite thought...

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danielnicollet
Is this essentially a JavaScript browser in a browser? When I worked at
Netscape (1997), some developer developed one. No real use since you had to
use a Nescape browser to run it but it was funny anyway...

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Qz
Firefox is essentially a javascript browser in a browser to begin with, it's
just that Firefox .js works on XUL instead of htlm5/css. The Chromeless
project is just replacing the XUL chrome frontend with an html5/css frontend.
It's kind of a misnomer because by their definition, Firefox already is
chromeless, they're just adding a new API.

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Raphael
Compelling. I've used several userstyles on Firefox's XUL interface before,
such as coloring the progress bar and combining the stop and reload buttons. I
welcome this latest increase in flexibility.

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known
When I suggested the same idea to my VP in 2002 it created _friction_ between
us.

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amadiver
I'm being a little snarky here, but: more and more, Mozilla reminds me of that
"friend" that let me play with all their toys, and then watched me enjoy it.
Kind of an Eyes Wide Shut thing, if you know what I mean. Weird...

