forked from mirrors/gecko-dev
ae769e9e02
... and rename "web extensions" to "WebExtensions". Differential Revision: https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D184765
105 lines
3.5 KiB
ReStructuredText
105 lines
3.5 KiB
ReStructuredText
Firefox for Desktop
|
|
===================
|
|
|
|
Desktop architecture
|
|
--------------------
|
|
|
|
One of the keys to understanding how Firefox is architected is to know that Gecko is used to render
|
|
both web content as well as the UI of the browser. This means that, to a large extent, the UI of
|
|
Firefox is made using web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. For example, the document
|
|
``chrome://browser/content/browser.xhtml`` is the markup for a single Firefox browser window. You
|
|
can think of it almost like index.html for a webpage.
|
|
|
|
The decision to use Gecko for rendering the UI was made during an era when HTML was not yet
|
|
expressive enough or sufficient to build desktop UIs. A different markup language,
|
|
`XUL <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XUL>`_, was developed for that purpose instead, which Gecko also
|
|
knows how to interpret. Since that time, HTML and CSS has evolved to the point where XUL is not
|
|
strictly necessary for most use-cases. Where possible, we have been gradually migrating our UI to
|
|
use less XUL and more standard HTML and CSS.
|
|
|
|
Reusable UI Widgets
|
|
-------------------
|
|
|
|
Many of the UI widgets in use in the user interface are built as web components that can be reused.
|
|
|
|
:ref:`Read more <Reusable UI widgets>`
|
|
|
|
Tabbrowser
|
|
----------
|
|
|
|
The tabbrowser component manages the tabs in a browser window.
|
|
|
|
:ref:`Read more <tabbrowser>`
|
|
|
|
Address Bar
|
|
-----------
|
|
|
|
The address bar (varyingly also referred to as the Awesome Bar, or Quantum Bar) handles users
|
|
entering web addresses including a popup with suggestions from various sources including history,
|
|
bookmarks and search engines.
|
|
|
|
:ref:`Read more <Address Bar>`
|
|
|
|
Search
|
|
------
|
|
|
|
The search service manages the list of search engines available in the address bar.
|
|
|
|
:ref:`Read more <Search>`
|
|
|
|
Places
|
|
------
|
|
|
|
The places component includes the database that stores history and bookmarks as well as a set of UI
|
|
components that present those to the user.
|
|
|
|
:ref:`Read more <Places>`
|
|
|
|
Firefox Sync and Application Services
|
|
-------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Application services includes the sync engines and Firefox Accounts integration.
|
|
|
|
:ref:`Read more <Services>`
|
|
|
|
Developer Tools
|
|
---------------
|
|
|
|
The developer tools support web developers when building webpages but as the Firefox UI is itself
|
|
built using web technologies it is also possible to use the developer tools to debug the Firefox UI.
|
|
|
|
:ref:`Read more <Firefox DevTools Contributor Docs>`
|
|
|
|
Browser Toolbox
|
|
###############
|
|
|
|
The Browser Toolbox is a way to launch the developer tools in a separate process so that they can be
|
|
used to debug the main browser UI.
|
|
|
|
:ref:`Read more <Browser Toolbox>`
|
|
|
|
Profiler
|
|
########
|
|
|
|
The Firefox Profiler is the way to measure the performance of your code. Go to
|
|
`profiler.firefox.com <https://profiler.firefox.com>`__ to enable the button in Firefox and record a
|
|
performance profile. These profiles can be uploaded and shared. It can identify slow parts of the
|
|
code, and reveal the underlying behavior of how code runs.
|
|
|
|
Installer
|
|
---------
|
|
|
|
The Windows installer for Firefox is built with NSIS. There are currently no installers for other
|
|
operating systems.
|
|
|
|
:ref:`Read more <Installer>`
|
|
|
|
Application Update
|
|
------------------
|
|
|
|
Application Update is responsible for requesting available updates from the update servers,
|
|
downloading them, verifying their integrity and then ultimately installing them. A binary patch tool
|
|
(bsdiff) is used to reduce the size of update files and update files are delivered in the
|
|
bespoke mar (Mozilla ARchive) format.
|
|
|
|
:ref:`Read more <Application Update>`
|