5.1. Hacks 44-57

If traditional, non-GUI programmers had any idea what web developers have to go through to get their sites working, they'd be more than just scared; they'd be running for their lives. The number of technologies that a web developer has to master is legion, and that's a big number. This chapter describes the Firefox features that make that balancing act a more graceful affair. You can spin up your web sites faster if you have a bit of Firefox at hand.

At the time of writing, there's also plenty of news about Firefox's successful launch. The portion of the total web audience that's using Mozilla-derived products (Firefox, Mozilla, Epiphany, Netscape, Compuserve, Camino, and so on) is likely to pass 10 percent without much trouble. That's an audience larger in size than the whole Macintosh audience. Industry commentators are now saying that corporate web sites can't afford to miss out on that big an audience, so the demand for standards-compliant, or at least standards-friendly, web sites is rising. Firefox and Mozilla are no longer a fad or a fashion; they're a trend.

There are many ways to exploit Firefox for development. This chapter covers the basic ones. Advanced Firefox-specific content and scripting techniques are covered in Chapter 6.