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105 lines
3.5 KiB
ReStructuredText
105 lines
3.5 KiB
ReStructuredText
Firefox for Desktop
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===================
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Desktop architecture
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--------------------
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One of the keys to understanding how Firefox is architected is to know that Gecko is used to render
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both web content as well as the UI of the browser. This means that, to a large extent, the UI of
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Firefox is made using web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. For example, the document
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``chrome://browser/content/browser.xhtml`` is the markup for a single Firefox browser window. You
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can think of it almost like index.html for a webpage.
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The decision to use Gecko for rendering the UI was made during an era when HTML was not yet
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expressive enough or sufficient to build desktop UIs. A different markup language,
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`XUL <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XUL>`_, was developed for that purpose instead, which Gecko also
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knows how to interpret. Since that time, HTML and CSS has evolved to the point where XUL is not
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strictly necessary for most use-cases. Where possible, we have been gradually migrating our UI to
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use less XUL and more standard HTML and CSS.
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Reusable UI Widgets
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-------------------
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Many of the UI widgets in use in the user interface are built as web components that can be reused.
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:ref:`Read more <Reusable UI widgets>`
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Tabbrowser
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----------
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The tabbrowser component manages the tabs in a browser window.
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:ref:`Read more <tabbrowser>`
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Address Bar
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-----------
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The address bar (varyingly also referred to as the Awesome Bar, or Quantum Bar) handles users
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entering web addresses including a popup with suggestions from various sources including history,
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bookmarks and search engines.
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:ref:`Read more <Address Bar>`
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Search
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------
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The search service manages the list of search engines available in the address bar.
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:ref:`Read more <Search>`
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Places
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------
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The places component includes the database that stores history and bookmarks as well as a set of UI
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components that present those to the user.
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:ref:`Read more <Places>`
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Firefox Sync and Application Services
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-------------------------------------
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Application services includes the sync engines and Firefox Accounts integration.
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:ref:`Read more <Services>`
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Developer Tools
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---------------
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The developer tools support web developers when building webpages but as the Firefox UI is itself
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built using web technologies it is also possible to use the developer tools to debug the Firefox UI.
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:ref:`Read more <Firefox DevTools Contributor Docs>`
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Browser Toolbox
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###############
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The Browser Toolbox is a way to launch the developer tools in a separate process so that they can be
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used to debug the main browser UI.
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:ref:`Read more <Browser Toolbox>`
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Profiler
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########
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The Firefox Profiler is the way to measure the performance of your code. Go to
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`profiler.firefox.com <https://profiler.firefox.com>`__ to enable the button in Firefox and record a
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performance profile. These profiles can be uploaded and shared. It can identify slow parts of the
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code, and reveal the underlying behavior of how code runs.
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Installer
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---------
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The Windows installer for Firefox is built with NSIS. There are currently no installers for other
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operating systems.
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:ref:`Read more <Installer>`
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Application Update
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------------------
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Application Update is responsible for requesting available updates from the update servers,
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downloading them, verifying their integrity and then ultimately installing them. A binary patch tool
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(bsdiff) is used to reduce the size of update files and update files are delivered in the
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bespoke mar (Mozilla ARchive) format.
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:ref:`Read more <Application Update>`
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