Thursday, 15 September 2011

Open-source software development initiative Mozilla issued an early preview build of its forthcoming Firefox for Tablets web browser, currently in development for devices running version 3.0 of Google's Android mobile operating system.

Firefox for Tablets touts both tabbed browsing as well as Mozilla's Awesome Bar, which offers access to recent browsing history, bookmarks and tabs. In addition, the browser features a persistent tab bar on the left of the screen in landscape mode--when the user shifts the device orientation to portrait mode, the tab bar disappears up into a menu item at the top of the screen, opening up more room for web content.

Developers interested in trialing Firefox for Tablets can install the nightly build on their Android tablet. "Keep in mind that this is very early stage work," Mozilla software engineer Lucas Rocha writes on his blog. "There are lots of rough edges and design is continuously evolving."

Mozilla recently indicated it is working on complete, standalone open web-based operating system optimized for mobile devices. In a post to the mozilla.dev.platform wiki page, Mozilla researcher Andreas Gal explains that the initiative, dubbed Boot to Gecko, will "find the gaps that keep web developers from being able to build apps that are--in every way--the equals of native apps built for the iPhone, Android and [Windows Phone 7]."