mozillaZine

Independent Status Reports

by DAVID BOSWELL | Note: If anyone has an update that they would like included in the next report, feel free to email me.


LinkVisitor Update (Mark link(s) as visited/unvisited right in page)
by Billy Law

LinkVisitor is a new project on mozdev. It is a simple extension to let the user marks link(s) as visited/unvisited via the context menu in the browser.


Jazilla Update (Java based version of Mozilla)
by Mathew McBride

Some of you might remember shortly after Netscape code was released, hackers started work on a Java based version of Mozilla (classic). That project was the Jazilla project. The project went into hibernation in 2000 and I took it over last August. I have just released Jazilla(NG) Milestone* 1.

Features:
  • Multithreaded
  • Open Source (umm.. Duhh!)
  • Implements chrome://
  • GUI mostly written in XUL
  • GUI scripted with Rhino JavaScript engine
This is an Alpha release, and testers/developers should be armed with the J2SE1.4 JDK. Please read README first. A lot of things are broken at the moment, so if you can't hack something, drop me a line at http://jazilla.sourceforge.net/bugs/.

*Doesn't imply we are going to have a M18 then 0.6. We aren't doing away with the Milestone prefix until we are out of Alpha.


Negotiateauth Update (Support for Kerberos authentication)
by Daniel Kouril

The goal of the Negotiateauth project is to create an plugin for the Mozilla browser supporting the HTTP Negotiate authentication method. Main motivation is to add support for the Kerberos mechanism and use Kerberos tickets for user's authentication instead of their password. This way the user's Kerberos password will no longer be transfered to the web server, which results in more secure authentication. This method also decreases load of the web server, since no additional network communication is needed to verify the client.


Uzilla Update (Commercial service for usability testing)
by Andy Edmonds

Uzilla, LLC has hired the Mozdev Group to finish screen capture facilities framed in the DOM Inspector and to get this code into the tree. Initial efforts to implement on Windows are underway and we hope to get capture working on OS X and Linux. In addition to providing improved visualizations in the Uzilla.net usability testing system, page thumbnails may be of use in bookmarks or enhanced history functions. More details at http://uzilla.net/uzilla/blog/mozilla/screen_capture.cfm.


ForceContentType Update (Allows overriding of the HTTP content-type)
by Ryan Gammon

ForceContentType is a tool that gives web developers the ability to override the MIME Content-Type of files served from a webserver. Among other things, it can be used to direct content through Mozilla's stream converter system. Check out the project site for more information.


IEStreamConv Update (Parses IE's conditional comments, basic ActiveX)
by Ryan Gammon

IEStreamConv is an example of a stream converter that can be used with ForceContentType. It preprocesses HTML files, turning any Internet Explorer-specific content into a form that Mozilla can understand. It currently addresses ActiveX classids and conditional comments.


Documoz Update (Help site for people new to Mozilla)
by AndyB

The Documoz project has been set up, but not much content is available as yet. Our goal is to eventually offer a unified and consistent set of articles on the many features that would make Mozilla attractive to new users but are often difficult to find, set up, or understand. Many other sites online offer tips on one area or another, and we could use help from those authors and anyone else interested in making Mozilla more "accessible" to the masses by combining their efforts and the resources on mozdev. This covers many things, and areas where a lot of help is needed include:
  • Screenshots of the features in action.
  • Explanations of the "What, Why, and How" of popular Mozilla features (a definition, description of advantages, and how to do whatever is being described).
  • Suggestions on what features should be covered — well-known things like Tabbed browsing need explaining, but Mozilla has a lot of hidden things elsewhere as well that deserve mention.
  • Many other Mozilla documentation sites exist, and links to these sites would make useful extra references. We need pointers to the best sites.
  • One idea is to create a "tip of the day" extension for Mozilla highlighting lesser known features and where to find them. Code samples and tips appreciated.
Those interested in volunteering can contact AndyB for more information, or post a note on the project page.


SmoothWheel Update (Mouse wheel scrolls smoothly (similar to IE))
by Avi Halachmi

SmoothWheel version 0.3 announced (2003-05-27). The SmoothWheel extension will scroll the page smoothly with the mouse wheel. SmoothWheel utilizes several smart algorithms for smoothness and adaptive behaviour. It's completely configurable, including 10 presets. It can enhance/replace the internal Gecko smoothscroll which was introduced on 2003-03-24. Tested platforms: win32, Linux, FreeBSD/i386, Mac OS X (theoretically should work on all platforms). It's also working with older versions of Mozilla/Netscape/Phoenix/Firebird.

Mini Changelog (v0.3) 22-May-2003:
New target detection code (courtesy of All-In-One-Gestures author), "disable" modifier key, soft-edge, adaptive-step, adaptive-duration, works smoothly on view-src and Composer as well, namespace improvements, more event handler optimizations for the default settings, some more presets.

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