Open Source
Everything…including
Documentation
28 September, 2013
Ali Spivak
Product Manager, Mozilla
Developer Network

In the beginning there was…
https://github.com/mozilla

And then came…

What is Firefox OS?
- Open Platform / Open Source
- Built on Web technologies, only
- Targets new, emerging markets
- Very affordable hardware
- No credit card needed
- 18 mobile partners, 5 hardware
partners
https://github.com/mozilla-b2g

The Streamlined Firefox OS Software
Stack

Three levels of access…
Hosted apps - stored on your server, easy to
upgrade, limited access.
Privileged apps - reviewed by the App
store, uses a Content Security Policy, hosted
on trusted server
Certified apps - part of the OS, only by Mozilla
and partners

Defined by manifest
{
"name": "My App",
"description": "My elevator pitch goes here",
"launch_path": "/",
”icons": { "128": "/img/icon-128.png" },
"developer": {
"name": "Your name or organization",
"url": http://your-homepage-here.org
}
}
App manifest

Firefox Marketplace
Firefox Marketplace

Developer Tools & References
— Marketplace Developer Hub
— Firefox OS Simulator
— Boilerplate app
— Reference apps
— App Generator
— App Validator
— Developer tools
— WebAPI Engineering Reference
— WebAPI Documentation

Roadmap
Quarterly feature releases
Security updates every six weeks
Current production release: V1.0.1
— V1.1HD planned for August
— 1.2 in the fall

Why should I care about Firefox OS?
— Lowers investment; reuse across platforms.
— Not yet another new technology.
— Not locked into one sales or payment model.
— Access to new smartphone markets & users.
— Predictable future support as the browser is the
platform

Mozilla Developer Network
Open Sourcing the docs, too

What is MDN?

Open-Source Documentation

…docs are boring!
Oh, it’s “just” documentation.

By The Numbers
4.5 million page views a month
73kvisitors per day
49,748 documents
9,185 contributors & 272,134edits
520 demos by 297developers

Firefox OS isn’t “boring”!

Others are also doing open docs…

There are many ways to
contribute!
Not just writing docs

Join the community
Talk about MDN
Write, edit, tag content
Localize
Fix bugs
Become a Topic Lead
Contribute to the wiki platform code
Host an Event

Under the Hood
—Django (Python)
—HTML mark-up for
writing/editing
—Really cool API’s
—Code on github
—Kumascript template
language - powered by
server-side
JavaScript, implemented
using Node.js.

It’s easy!
—Go to MDN: developer.mozilla.org
—Create an account
—Find what to work on (or ask for help!)
—Mailing list or IRC
—Pages listing projects
—Start working!

Find me…
aspivak@mozilla.com
@alispivak (on Twitter)
alispivak on IRC
Slides:
http://www.slideshare.net/
alispivak/

Resources/Links
• Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/alispivak/
• Mozilla India community: https://wiki.mozilla.org/India
• MDN Projects: https://wiki.mozilla.org/MDN/Doc_Sprints/India
• Editing Guide:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/images/3/37/Mozilla_MDN_Guide.pdf
Firefox OS Resources:
• Release notes
• Feature Support chart
• B2G FAQ
• WebAPI Engineering Reference wiki
• Web API Documentation Status
• Building & Installing Firefox OS

Production Phones
24

Production Phones
25