New Firefox to feature 3D video
2010-08-13 22:09
Johannesburg - The new version of Mozilla Firefox’s internet browser will have significant changes, including being able to let users watch 3D videos and play 3D games.
“We are constantly trying to push the web forward and we don’t want browsers to stagnate,” self-confessed geek and creator of the jQuery JavaScript library John Resig told News24 at the Tech4Africa conference.
He said that he was motivated to write code in high school after finding shortcomings in the dominant internet browser at the time, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
“What I liked was that it’s so instantaneous. You build the website and immediately it’s out there for anyone to see. There were major shortcomings in IE (Internet Explorer) and that lack of power was holding developers back.
“An analogy would be like cars that could only go at 60km/h, so someone else has to come along and build cars that can go faster,” said Resig.
Open standards
He acknowledged that for the average user, browsers were becoming generic, but said that it was important to Mozilla that people used the internet.
“Even if we don’t win, it doesn’t matter, but we’ll put up a fight. We’re all working with open standards and collaborating to make the web better. We work with Google, and they work with Apple, who works with Microsoft, so we’re all trying to make it a better experience,” he said.
“One of the cool things in the new Firefox is what we call Tabcandy. It’s a cool visual way to manage your tabs. And it looks like a brand new browser,” Resig added.
Described as a JavaScript Ninja, Resig invented the jQuery JavaScript library which allows interaction with websites that allowed for sites like Gmail and others.
Apps versus browsers
“I’ve been with Java Script for six years and it’s been a learning process for me and I want to share what I’ve learnt. Java Script has given us a way to make the web more interactive and it has a huge potential like 3D video in browsers,” said Resig, author of Pro JavaScript Techniques.
He rejected suggestions that the growth of apps - small programs that perform a limited set of functions - would take over the browser role.
“Apps are great and there are nice things that they can do, but I don’t see how they will ever take over the role of browsers. In fact, browsers are going to get a lot better.”
The Tech4Africa conference ends on Friday, and you can follow the News24 Tech4Africa blog here.
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