Firefox 3 RC 1
It’s browser testing season again. Since the first Firefox 3 release candidate has been released, I will begin testing its standards support and adding it to the site. As usual, I’m going to start with the CSS section and post an update when the initial test data is complete.
Rather than using a standard test suite, I prefer to write custom tests as I go. This allows me to get into the nooks and crannies of standards support, but it does take longer. Starting now, I’m going to save all of the test cases of bugs that I find, and at some point I’ll make those test cases publicly available.
My testing process usually works like this: I initially assume that everything with a “Y” in the last version also has a “Y” in the new version, so I’m not testing for regressions in my initial test data. This saves a lot of time, and I can add regression information later as it is found. Next, I go through each “I” and “N” and retest the browser’s support. Features that still have “N” support go by quickly, so it’s the “I” features that take the bulk of my time. The time it takes to complete a section depends on a number of factors, such as the demands by my day job, how scorching hot the weather is, and whether or not the pizza has arrived yet.
In regard to Safari 3 information, that will not be part of this test session. Adding information for a new browser from scratch is a ton more work than updating for a new version, and I want to get the Firefox information out there quickly. At some point, though, I’m going to bite the bullet and do the Safari 3 testing, even if the information isn’t very thorough at first (the IE, Firefox, and Opera information started off very rough as well). Until then, here are some sites you can check out for Safari (WebKit) support information: SitePoint Reference, Wikipedia, Quirksmode.
May 29th, 2008 at 19:42 UTC
Looking forward to seeing the latest updates.
However there is something that I have been wondering about. A lot of developer-related features were missed from Firefox 3.0 as they were not complete enough for final entry and as a result Mozilla have decided to churn out a Firefox 3.0.1 to add in these missed features. How are you going to handle this update?
Posted using Mozilla Firefox 3.0p on Windows.
May 29th, 2008 at 20:50 UTC
From what I understand, that’s actually going to be Firefox 3.1 and it will be released around November-ish. If the difference in standards support is not significant, then I will likely treat them as the same version. Otherwise, I will list it as a separate version.
Posted using Mozilla Firefox 3.0b5 on Linux.
May 29th, 2008 at 21:10 UTC
Ah I see. Yes you are correct and the 3.1 version is planned for release before the end of the year. BUT as I understand it there may be a significant difference in the standard compatibility of the versions. I know that there are quite a few planned CSS changes to come for v3.1 including:
@font-face, font-stretch, text-shadow and quite a few other things. Have a look at this if your interested in a more complete list of the planned stuff.
Posted using Mozilla Firefox 3.0p on Windows.
May 29th, 2008 at 21:31 UTC
The features you mentioned won’t be included in the table yet anyway, since those CSS 3 specifications aren’t yet at Candidate Recommendation status. But I do see some other fixes that will be relevant for my tables, so those will be included.
Posted using Mozilla Firefox 3.0b5 on Linux.
May 29th, 2008 at 21:45 UTC
Ah I see. Well at least there is some information there that is useful to you anyway!
Posted using Mozilla Firefox 3.0p on Windows.
May 31st, 2008 at 10:11 UTC
Very interesting! I was about to ask how you test all features.
It’s a bit off topic, but even if Firefox 3 didn’t bring as much CSS as I intially thought, it still brings a lot of improvments I’m very happy about. Good luck testing :)
Posted using Mozilla Firefox 3.0 on Windows.
June 8th, 2008 at 13:54 UTC
http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=628125
information in webKit is needed yes
Posted using Internet Explorer (Windows) 7.0 on Windows.