Firefox for Windows 8’s Metro UI with Internet Explorer’s Integration Level

When made available for the upcoming Windows 8 operating system, Mozilla’s Firefox web browser will benefit from a level of integration similar to the one available for Internet Explorer. 

Mozilla has already started the work on the Metro-Style flavor of the application, and they now have a proof of concept. 

We already knew that Internet Explorer 10 wouldn’t be the only browser available for the Windows 8 platform. What we didn’t know, however, was to what extent rival applications would be able to take advantage of the OS’s resources. 

Apparently, in order to be a Metro application, Firefox, the same as any other browser designed for the Windows 8 platform, will have to take advantage of the entire new WinRT API that Microsoft came up with for the OS. 

At the same time, the application could enjoy access to Win32 API, thus benefiting from the same “split personality” that Internet Explorer 10 takes advantage of on the platform. 

“If we do our job, Firefox on Windows 8 Metro should be every bit as capable and integrated with the system as Internet Explorer,” Mozilla’s Asa Dotzler announced last week. 

Microsoft has already outlined the requirements for the development of browsers for the upcoming platform. 

The company stressed on the fact that browsers built for the Metro UI would be able to run both in desktop and in Metro mode, but only if they wereset as default browsers on the system. 

“Metro style enabled desktop browsers are capable of activating in both the desktop and the Metro style user experience (the latter only when configured as the default browser),” Microsoft explains. 

Any browser built using the WinRT API can become default browser. This means that the browser will have its own tile on the Start Screen, and that it needs to be displayed there in a manner similar to Metro style apps. 

Microsoft has made available for download a document that outlines all the requirements for Metro-enabled browsers in Windows 8, as well as certain stages that need to be taken into consideration during the development process. 

The team behind Firefox will need to apply these to their application to make it a Metro-style browser, which means that it would take a while before the browser is released in a useful form. 

Their roadmap points at Firefox 14 (currently due July 17th) as the possible implementation of the Metro UI. However, the process might be lengthier. The Metro-enabled Firefox will get through all the usual stages Mozilla adopted for its releases: a working version, the alpha flavor, beta, and then the final release.

Posted in: Preview, Software