Firefox 3.5 New developer features: For web site and application developers
Tuesday, December 8, 2009 by ashwin
For web site and application developers
HTML 5 support
Using audio and video in Firefox
Firefox 3.5 adds support for the HTML 5 audio and video elements.
Offline resources in Firefox
Firefox 3.5 now fully supports the HTML 5 offline resource specification.
Drag and drop
The HTML 5 drag and drop API allows support for dragging and dropping items within and between web sites. This also provides a simpler API for use by extensions and Mozilla-based applications.
Newly-supported CSS features
Downloadable fonts support
The new @font-face @rule lets web pages provide downloadable fonts, so that sites can be rendered exactly as the page author expects.
CSS media queries
Firefox 3.5 now supports CSS media queries, which enhance support for media-dependent style sheets.
:before and :after updated to CSS 2.1
The :before and :after pseudo-elements have been updated to full CSS 2.1 support, adding support for the position, float, list-style-*, and some display properties.
ch units for length
The ch unit can now be used anywhere that accepts a unit of length. 1ch is the width of the "0" (zero) character.
opacity
The -moz-opacity Mozilla extension to CSS has been removed in favor of the standard opacity property.
text-shadow
The text-shadow property, which allows web content to specify shadow effects to apply to text and text decorations, is now supported.
word-wrap
This newly-supported property lets content specify whether or not lines may be broken within words in order to prevent overflow when an otherwise unbreakable string is too long to fit on one line.
white-space property supports the pre-line value
The white-space property now accepts the pre-line value.
-moz-box-shadow
-moz-border-image
-moz-column-rule
-moz-column-rule-width
-moz-column-rule-style
-moz-column-rule-color
Firefox 3.5 adds support for these Mozilla extensions to CSS.
The -moz-nativehyperlinktext color value
This new color value represents the user's system's default hyperlink color.
The -moz-window-shadow property and the :-moz-system-metric(mac-graphite-theme) pseudo-class
These new CSS features were added to facilitate theming.
New values for -moz-appearance
The -moz-win-glass and -moz-mac-unified-toolbar values have been added to -moz-appearance.
Using CSS transforms
Firefox 3.5 supports CSS transforms. See -moz-transform and -moz-transform-origin for details.
:nth-child
:nth-last-child
:nth-of-type
:nth-last-of-type
:first-of-type
:last-of-type
:only-of-type
These selectors are all newly-supported in Firefox 3.5.
New DOM features
localStorage
Firefox 3.5 adds support for the Web Storage localStorage property, which provides a way for web applications to store data locally on the client's computer.
Using web workers
Firefox 3.5 supports web workers to allow easy multi-threading support in web applications.
Using geolocation
Firefox 3.5 supports the Geolocation API, which allows web applications to obtain information about the user's current location if a provider for that information is installed and enabled.
Locating DOM elements using selectors
The selectors API allows querying a document to locate the elements that match a given selection rule.
Mouse gesture events
Firefox 3.5 supports mouse gesture events such as trackpad swipes.
The NodeIterator object
The NodeIterator object provides support for iterating over the list of the nodes in a DOM subtree.
The MozAfterPaint event
This new DOM event is sent after painting updates in windows.
The MozMousePixelScroll event
This new DOM event allows detection of pixel-based mouse scroll wheel events instead of line-based scroll events.
New JavaScript features
New in JavaScript 1.8.1
An overview of all the changes in JavaScript 1.8.1.
Object.getPrototypeOf()
This new method returns the prototype of a specified object.
Using native JSON
Firefox 3.5 has native support for JSON.
New trim methods on the String object
The String object now has trim(), trimLeft(), and trimRight() methods.
Networking
Cross-site access controls for HTTP
In Firefox 3.5, it's now possible for HTTP requests, including those made by XMLHttpRequest, to work across domains if the server supports it.
Progress events for XMLHttpRequest
Progress events are now offered to enable extensions to monitor the progress of requests.
Improved Synchronous XMLHttpRequest support
DOM Timeout and Input Events are now suppressed during a synchronous XMLHttpRequest.
Controlling DNS prefetching
Firefox 3.5 provides DNS prefetching, whereby it performs domain name resolution ahead of time for links included in the current page, in order to save time when links are actually clicked. This article describes how you can tune your web site to disable prefetching, or to adjust how prefetching operates.
New Canvas features
HTML 5 text API for canvas elements
Canvas elements now support the HTML 5 text API.
Shadow effects in a canvas
Canvas shadow effects are now supported.
createImageData()
The canvas method createImageData() is now supported, allowing code to specifically create an ImageData object instead of requiring it to be done automatically. This can improve performance of other ImageData methods by preventing them from having to create the object.
moz-opaque attribute
Added the moz-opaque DOM attribute, which lets the canvas know whether or not translucency will be a factor. If the canvas knows there's no translucency, painting performance can be optimized.
New SVG features
Applying SVG effects to HTML content
You can now apply SVG effects to HTML and XHTML content; this article describes how.
Miscellaneous new features
ICC color correction in Firefox
Firefox 3.5 now supports ICC color correction for tagged images.
The defer attribute is now supported on script elements
This attribute indicates to the browser that it may choose to continue to parse and render the page without waiting for the script to finish executing.
Other improvements
* The Text node's wholeText property and replaceWholeText() method have been implemented.
* The property element.children has been added. It returns a collection of child elements of the given element.
* The Element Traversal API is now supported by the DOM Element object.
* HTML document nodes may now be cloned using cloneNode().
* The non-standard getBoxObjectFor() DOM method has been removed. You should be using getBoundingClientRect() instead.
* Dispatched DOM events can now be re-dispatched. This makes Firefox 3.5 pass Acid 3 test 30.
* Improvements have been made to DOM 2 Range handling.
* In non-chrome scope, caught objects in exceptions are now the actual thrown object instead of an XPConnect wrapper containing the thrown object.
* SVG ID references are now live.
* SVG filters now work for foreignObject.
* The GetSVGDocument() method has been added to object and iframe elements for compatibility.
* Implicit setting of properties in object and array initializers no longer execute setters in JavaScript. See the blog post Object and array initializers should not invoke setters when evaluated for details.
* The gDownloadLastDir.path variable has been renamed to gDownloadLastDir.file since it refers to an nsIFile , not a path.
* The gDownloadLastDirPath variable has been renamed to gDownloadLastDirFile since it refers to an nsIFile , not a path.
* Starting in Firefox 3.5, you can no longer use data: bindings in chrome packages that get XPCNativeWrapper automation.
HTML 5 support
Using audio and video in Firefox
Firefox 3.5 adds support for the HTML 5 audio and video elements.
Offline resources in Firefox
Firefox 3.5 now fully supports the HTML 5 offline resource specification.
Drag and drop
The HTML 5 drag and drop API allows support for dragging and dropping items within and between web sites. This also provides a simpler API for use by extensions and Mozilla-based applications.
Newly-supported CSS features
Downloadable fonts support
The new @font-face @rule lets web pages provide downloadable fonts, so that sites can be rendered exactly as the page author expects.
CSS media queries
Firefox 3.5 now supports CSS media queries, which enhance support for media-dependent style sheets.
:before and :after updated to CSS 2.1
The :before and :after pseudo-elements have been updated to full CSS 2.1 support, adding support for the position, float, list-style-*, and some display properties.
ch units for length
The ch unit can now be used anywhere that accepts a unit of length. 1ch is the width of the "0" (zero) character.
opacity
The -moz-opacity Mozilla extension to CSS has been removed in favor of the standard opacity property.
text-shadow
The text-shadow property, which allows web content to specify shadow effects to apply to text and text decorations, is now supported.
word-wrap
This newly-supported property lets content specify whether or not lines may be broken within words in order to prevent overflow when an otherwise unbreakable string is too long to fit on one line.
white-space property supports the pre-line value
The white-space property now accepts the pre-line value.
-moz-box-shadow
-moz-border-image
-moz-column-rule
-moz-column-rule-width
-moz-column-rule-style
-moz-column-rule-color
Firefox 3.5 adds support for these Mozilla extensions to CSS.
The -moz-nativehyperlinktext color value
This new color value represents the user's system's default hyperlink color.
The -moz-window-shadow property and the :-moz-system-metric(mac-graphite-theme) pseudo-class
These new CSS features were added to facilitate theming.
New values for -moz-appearance
The -moz-win-glass and -moz-mac-unified-toolbar values have been added to -moz-appearance.
Using CSS transforms
Firefox 3.5 supports CSS transforms. See -moz-transform and -moz-transform-origin for details.
:nth-child
:nth-last-child
:nth-of-type
:nth-last-of-type
:first-of-type
:last-of-type
:only-of-type
These selectors are all newly-supported in Firefox 3.5.
New DOM features
localStorage
Firefox 3.5 adds support for the Web Storage localStorage property, which provides a way for web applications to store data locally on the client's computer.
Using web workers
Firefox 3.5 supports web workers to allow easy multi-threading support in web applications.
Using geolocation
Firefox 3.5 supports the Geolocation API, which allows web applications to obtain information about the user's current location if a provider for that information is installed and enabled.
Locating DOM elements using selectors
The selectors API allows querying a document to locate the elements that match a given selection rule.
Mouse gesture events
Firefox 3.5 supports mouse gesture events such as trackpad swipes.
The NodeIterator object
The NodeIterator object provides support for iterating over the list of the nodes in a DOM subtree.
The MozAfterPaint event
This new DOM event is sent after painting updates in windows.
The MozMousePixelScroll event
This new DOM event allows detection of pixel-based mouse scroll wheel events instead of line-based scroll events.
New JavaScript features
New in JavaScript 1.8.1
An overview of all the changes in JavaScript 1.8.1.
Object.getPrototypeOf()
This new method returns the prototype of a specified object.
Using native JSON
Firefox 3.5 has native support for JSON.
New trim methods on the String object
The String object now has trim(), trimLeft(), and trimRight() methods.
Networking
Cross-site access controls for HTTP
In Firefox 3.5, it's now possible for HTTP requests, including those made by XMLHttpRequest, to work across domains if the server supports it.
Progress events for XMLHttpRequest
Progress events are now offered to enable extensions to monitor the progress of requests.
Improved Synchronous XMLHttpRequest support
DOM Timeout and Input Events are now suppressed during a synchronous XMLHttpRequest.
Controlling DNS prefetching
Firefox 3.5 provides DNS prefetching, whereby it performs domain name resolution ahead of time for links included in the current page, in order to save time when links are actually clicked. This article describes how you can tune your web site to disable prefetching, or to adjust how prefetching operates.
New Canvas features
HTML 5 text API for canvas elements
Canvas elements now support the HTML 5 text API.
Shadow effects in a canvas
Canvas shadow effects are now supported.
createImageData()
The canvas method createImageData() is now supported, allowing code to specifically create an ImageData object instead of requiring it to be done automatically. This can improve performance of other ImageData methods by preventing them from having to create the object.
moz-opaque attribute
Added the moz-opaque DOM attribute, which lets the canvas know whether or not translucency will be a factor. If the canvas knows there's no translucency, painting performance can be optimized.
New SVG features
Applying SVG effects to HTML content
You can now apply SVG effects to HTML and XHTML content; this article describes how.
Miscellaneous new features
ICC color correction in Firefox
Firefox 3.5 now supports ICC color correction for tagged images.
The defer attribute is now supported on script elements
This attribute indicates to the browser that it may choose to continue to parse and render the page without waiting for the script to finish executing.
Other improvements
* The Text node's wholeText property and replaceWholeText() method have been implemented.
* The property element.children has been added. It returns a collection of child elements of the given element.
* The Element Traversal API is now supported by the DOM Element object.
* HTML document nodes may now be cloned using cloneNode().
* The non-standard getBoxObjectFor() DOM method has been removed. You should be using getBoundingClientRect() instead.
* Dispatched DOM events can now be re-dispatched. This makes Firefox 3.5 pass Acid 3 test 30.
* Improvements have been made to DOM 2 Range handling.
* In non-chrome scope, caught objects in exceptions are now the actual thrown object instead of an XPConnect wrapper containing the thrown object.
* SVG ID references are now live.
* SVG filters now work for foreignObject.
* The GetSVGDocument() method has been added to object and iframe elements for compatibility.
* Implicit setting of properties in object and array initializers no longer execute setters in JavaScript. See the blog post Object and array initializers should not invoke setters when evaluated for details.
* The gDownloadLastDir.path variable has been renamed to gDownloadLastDir.file since it refers to an nsIFile , not a path.
* The gDownloadLastDirPath variable has been renamed to gDownloadLastDirFile since it refers to an nsIFile , not a path.
* Starting in Firefox 3.5, you can no longer use data: bindings in chrome packages that get XPCNativeWrapper automation.