Thoughts on Blink, Google’s new rendering engine
Yesterday, Google announced that they’re moving from the WebKit rendering engine to their own, named Blink, for Chromium (and thus all Google products based on WebKit).
Posts in the "Developing" Category
WebKit: An Objective View
This post is co-written with Rob Hawkes, and as a follow-up to The WebKit culture & web rendering engine diversity. This article is also available in Chinese.
We would like to, in a factual manner, break down what the possible outcomes of having a majority of web browsers based on WebKit are, for web browser vendors and developers alike.
The WebKit culture & web rendering engine diversity
The web. Diversity. Options and competition. Today Opera announced that they’re moving from their own web rendering engine, Presto, to WebKit, and it’s described more technically in Opera’s Developer Relations blog, where it’s made clear they will also use the V8 JavaScript engine.
Using FormData to send forms with XHR as key/value pairs
Being able to easily specify what to post with XMLHttpRequest is quite a powerful way of sending things to the server, using key/value pairs and FormData. However, many seem to have missed this gem, so I thought I’d outline it here.
Geek Meet January 2013, with John Wilander
Sold out
All seats have been taken. Please write a comment to be put on a waiting list, there are always a number of cancellations, so there’s still a chance.
New date
Geek Meet has been moved to January 16th.
Time to announce the first Geek Meet of 2013! I had plans on doing it at the end of this year, but with Christmas and surrounding activities for a lot of people, I decided to have it early next year instead.
The new Editor for Mozilla Hacks
I’ve always loved blogging, writing about things I’m interested in and then sharing and discussing it with like-minded people! Sometimes passionately agreeing, sometimes not so much. 
But I believe the discussion has always been good, and as long as it’s respectful, it’s quite constructive and an excellent base for building relations and bonds with people.
My trip to Russia, Moscow, and the .toster conference
Last week I went to Moscow, Russia, for the .toster conference, that is being arranged several times per year but with different topics. This time one around, it was JavaScript.
Recap of my South America tour
The last 12 days of April, I was part of doing a MDN Tour of Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Chile and also attending the MozCamp in Argentina.
Touring South America with Mozilla
In a week from now, starting next Thursday, I and some Mozilla colleagues will embark on a MDN (Mozilla Developer Network) tour of South America!
Using the Fullscreen API in web browsers
This post was originally published for Mozilla Hacks.
One thing which has been very important when it comes to creating special end user experiences have been the ability to show something fullscreen, effectively hiding all the other content etc.
Thoughts on PPK’s take on Web developer relations management in the mobile world
Peter-Paul Koch (PPK) wrote a blog post yesterday about his thoughts on Web developer relations management in the mobile world. Since I work for Mozilla, that he mentions, and I was also remotely involved in the discussion he refers too, I wanted to express my thoughts.
Storing images and files in IndexedDB
This post was originally published for Mozilla Hacks.
The desired future approach for storing things client-side in web browsers is utilizing IndexedDB. Here I’ll walk you through how to store images and files in IndexedDB and then present them through an ObjectURL.
Thoughts on the CSS prefix situation
The last week I’ve been contemplating whether to write anything or not about the situation with web browser vendor prefixes in CSS. I decided to share my thoughts on the problem and possible solutions.
Robert’s read January 31st 2012
It’s been a while since I last shared some good reading, but hey, it’s 2012 now, so I thought I’d share my first batch this year!
Interviewed for the developer book club
In the fall of last year I was happy to be interviewed by Helen Emerson for The Developer Book Club.
Robert’s read: links and suggestions December 20th 2011
Last chance to share some good reading with you before the end of 2011. Some good ones in here!
Robert’s read: links and suggestions November 29th 2011
Lots of good reading again that I’d like to share with you!
Robert’s read: links and suggestions, October 20th 2011
Time again for a number of interesting, entertaining or otherwise all-round good links I recommend taking a look at!
Robert’s read: links and suggestions, September 30th 2011
First idea was to publish these posts on a regular schedule, but I’ve realized now it will be when I have enough good links (and time . Tons of links now, so, here goes – another issue of Robert’s read!
The web is for the people
The web is for the people, and I believe the web is the most important medium we have. Recently, there has been some discussion about the web vs. other platforms, so I’d like to present my thoughts.
Robert’s read: links and suggestions September 10th 2011
I took a little hiatus last week from posting Robert’s read, but now it’s back with lots of good links!
Firefinder and Inline Code Finder updated to work with the latest Firebug versions
As part of making it easier to develop and analyze web pages, I previously released two extensions for Firebug: Firefinder and Inline Code Finder. I’m happy say they are now updated and are working with the latest versions of Firefox and Firebug!
Robert’s read: links and suggestions from latest week, August 24th 2011
Last week I introduced Robert’s read and now it’s time again for my reading list for the latest week.
HTML5 Forms input types, attributes and new elements – demos, tips and tricks
Forms on the web. They are literally everywhere, and there seem to really be all kind of flavors for them. From day one they have been a great mean for users to input data and information and interact with various services. And what comes with that is every implementation under the sun to offer validation for them, custom display and functionality if they aren’t native in that specific web browser, and much much more. Therefore, during the development phase of HTML5, one of the important things that have been looked into is making forms on the web evolve into what both end users and developers need to make things easier. Why would every web developer have to invent the wheel again or include tons of JavaScript code just to make something very basic like a datepicker work?
HTML5 History API and improving end user experience
When the AJAX wave came in 2005 when Jesse James Garrett coined the term and then everyone wanted it, one of the major shortcomings was that dynamic updates of only portions of a web page lead to inconsistent history handling and back/forward navigation button problems in web browsers and poor end user experiences. Enter the HTML5 History API.
Using the HTML5 canvas clip method to hide certain content
People are creating amazing things with HTML5 canvas, especially combined with other HTML5 features. I thought I’d touch on a handy method that some people don’t seem to know about: canvas clip.
Mozilla Lab’s BrowserID – taking web authentication to the next level
Keeping track of multiple logins, passwords and services on Internet can be tedious at best, and projects like OpenID have tried to target that and make it easier and more secure for end users. Learning the lessons from OpenId and having a multitude of ideas how this can be made even better, Mozilla Labs has created BrowserID.
My presentation at London Ajax Mobile Event
Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking at the London Ajax Mobile Event in, surprisingly, London.
My upcoming speaking in 2011 – South Africa, Chile and more
For the rest of 2011, I have a lot of intriguing countries/places to visit with exciting conferences to speak at, so I wanted to list them here. And who knows, maybe you will be attending any of those and we can get the chance to meet there?
Discussing alternatives for various sizes of the same image & introducing src property in CSS as an option
Today I was just about to write a blog post about images and serving different sizes depending on the device accessing it. Then the Adaptive images post came up on the public-html@w3.org mailing list. So let’s look at that and add my thoughts.
HTML5 is more than cool
HTML5 is here to save us all: it has the cool functions, eye-dazzling features and APIs to go around. I get to see a lot of great things developed with HTML5, but I’d like to issue a word of caution as well.
HTML5 placeholder and an alternative approach – introducing Robert’s playground
Looking at HTML5 and the placeholder functionality, it’s there to offer a hint to the user before they have started filling out something. But what if that’s not the best way?
Internet Explorer and the diminishing Windows support
With the first release of IE10, and officially stating it won’t support Windows Vista, it gets me thinking.
Web browser versions are dead – automatic updates is the future
A somewhat provocative article title, I know, but I think it’s really important to discuss where we are right know in regards to web browser versions.
The first IE10 preview at MIX11 and thoughts on that
I’m currently in Las Vegas for Microsoft’s MIX conference where they just showed the first version of Internet Explorer 10. Given what they announced, I have some thoughts.
HTML5 and polyfills – one script to rule them all?
A common discussion about HTML5 and whether to use it, and touched on in the HTML5 Hurdles article, is usually about fallback support and making it work in every web browser. But do we really need that?
Geek Meet May 2011 with Lea Verou
Sold out!
Geek Meet is now sold out! Please write a comment to be put on a waiting list. Please note that usually everyone on the waiting list eventually gets a spot
Time for Geek Meet May 2011! This time, welcoming a great speaker from Greece!
HTML5 hurdles: what is missing and web browser update rate problems
Yesterday I attended the Stockholm Web Monkeys’ spring 2011 meetup in Stockholm, and I gave a short presentation and led a discussion about HTML5 – What’s good, what’s missing, web browser implementation takes.
My new job: Technical Evangelist for Mozilla
It is a special day today. I have just resigned from my current job and am moving on to an extraordinary exciting challenge!
HTML5 and CSS3 tests and compatibility tables, updated
I wrote about it on Twitter last week (follow me on Twitter!), but naturally I should mention it here too, my dear readers. With new input from testing Internet Explorer 9 and from the Opera team, I have updated my HTML5 tests and compatibility tables and CSS3 tests and compatibility tables.
Twitter drastically changing terms for third-party developers
Last week Twitter asked third-party developers to stop making Twitter client apps.
Microsoft’s Dev:unplugged HTML5 competition – me one of the judges
Microsoft recently launched their Dev:unplugged HTML5 competition, to create outstanding showcases.
Using HTML5 canvas, Drag and Drop and File API to offer The Cure
By using a combination of the <canvas> element and the File API we could put together a little service that offers “The Cure” for many people.
How Microsoft and Google can solve video on the web
As always, there is so much discussion going on about HTML5 and video on the web, and I thought I’d suggest a solution to it all.
Semicolons give me comfort
The other day at work we had a discussion about how code should look, or rather, what characters to use.
Using CSS3 and @font-face to use any custom font on a web site
I should have written about this long ago, but better late than never – time to share my experiences. Typography is an important part of user experience, and with CSS3 @font-face we can offer users any font we want to.
The Open Web Platform is what we want – HTML5 becomes HTML
Last night there was an interesting announcement from the WHATWG group, who effectively develops various HTML5 and related specifications. That is, HTML5 is no more.
Geek Meet February 2011 with Jake Archibald
Sold out!
Geek Meet is now sold out! Please write a comment to be put on a waiting list.
Time for the first Geek Meet of 2011! And man, this will be a great night!
Thoughts on Google dropping support for the H.264 video codec in Google Chrome
Yesterday Google announced they’re dropping H.264 video codec support in Google Chrome. Whatever you think about this, it’s an interesting move and I thought I’d express my thoughts on it.
We don’t need another app store
Let’s start this year with an adaptation of the lyrics to Tina Turner’s We Don’t Need Another Hero.