22 October 2008 - 5:20Touching Firefox

I finally upgraded from my iBook G4 to one of those new shiny aluminum MacBooks last Tuesday, so over the weekend, I got to play around with the big buttonless glass trackpad. I noticed that I often used the 4-finger gestures to show all windows or the desktop but rarely used any 3-finger ones.

I knew iPhoto supported 3-finger swipes to switch between pictures, so I figured I should file a bug so Firefox could do something similar to switch tabs. Lo and behold, there’s already a bug filed and resolved fixed since April! Three-finger navigation gestures on MacBook Pro trackpads should be recognized [bugzilla.mozilla.org]

Wait a minute.. that’s Camino! But it didn’t take long to find two related bugs: Core: widget/event-detection support for multi-touch trackpad gestures and Firefox: Implementation of Multi-Touch Gestures on Mac OS X [bugzilla.mozilla.org].

And even better is that both bugs have patches already reviewed or in the process of getting reviewed. The bugs were inactive for a few months, but Tom Dyas appeared out of nowhere (AFAICT) and started submitting patches with the help of Camino, Mac, DOM guys.

Earlier I took the Firefox patch and tweaked it slightly to conform better to sdwilsh style standards 😉 and added various refactoring. And now I’ve tossed those pair of patches up on the try-server so people can touch Firefox with a new set of gestures.

A quick detour for those not familiar with the multi-touch gestures.. The most basic multi-touch gesture is the 2-finger scroll which has been around for over 3 years (my iBook had it), and it lets you scroll through pages up/down/left/right/diagonally. Recently added is the 3-finger “swipe” where you place 3 fingers on the trackpad and move them in any direction like the 2-finger scroll. A couple other iPhone-inspired gestures are the “pinch” (2 fingers moving towards/away from each other) and the “twist” (2 fingers rotating).

Note! The following gestures are totally tentative and subject to change, and I’m not sure if they’ll even make it into Firefox 3.1. (From what I quickly gathered, the gestures interface was reverse engineered from some private Apple API, so things might change at any time!) You have been warned! 😛

  • Swipe Left: Go back in history [bonus! hold Cmd to open it in a tab]
  • Swipe Right: Go forwards in history
  • Swipe Up: Return to top of page
  • Swipe Down: End of page
  • Pinch Together: Zoom out
  • Pinch Apart: Zoom in
  • Twist Right: Next tab
  • Twist Left: Previous tab

Personally, the biggest benefit is the ease of going to the very next tab with just the touchpad. No need to use keyboard shortcuts like cmd-alt-right or fn-ctrl-down or cmd-tab#. Rotating to the right doesn’t just go to the next tab because if you keep twisting right, you’ll go to the next one and the next one. You could think of it as turning a dial to pick the tab you want. And of course, turning the dial back in the same motion switches back to the previous tab.

So if all that sounds interesting and you want to try, make sure you have one of these machines before downloading:

  • MacBook Pro from this year (either early-2008 model or the new late-2008 ones)
  • MacBook Air (both models from 2008)
  • MacBook from late 2008 (the new aluminum ones)

Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 “pre” with Multi-Touch Gestures – OS X only [build.mozilla.org]
Edit: This feature has been in “trunk” since Oct. 23. Firefox 3.1 will have this feature, and the upcoming milestone, Firefox 3.1 Beta 2, will have it. If you want to grab a version now, you can use a nightly build [ftp.mozilla.org].

Thanks again Tom Dyas for working on this feature! 😀

78 Comments | Tags: Apple, Mozilla

Comments:

  1. Post Express » Blog Archive » Lançamentos da Apple levam Mozilla a atualizar Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 says: 24 Oct 2008 - 6:40

    […] Lee, da Mozilla, divulgou em seu blog um ajuste na versão de desenvolvimento do Firefox 3.1 beta para que funções do browser se […]

  2. Selección Digital» applesfera.com » Versión de Firefox con soporte para gestos multitouch says: 25 Oct 2008 - 7:44

    […] Vía | aNieto2k Sitio Oficial | Blog de Edward Lee Descarga | Versión modificada de Firefox 3.1 con soporte multitouch […]

  3. mmyNews says: 25 Oct 2008 - 9:01

    Firefox, du mein Safari-Ersatz: FF versteht Multi-Touch-Gesten…

    Eigentlich ist Safari zu meinem Lieblingsbrowser mutiert: Öffnet sich und die Seiten schnell und versteht vor allem die Multi-Touch-Gesten.

    … Drei Finger nach Links : Eine Seite vor (in der History).
    …

  4. Firefox con soporte multi-touch para mac! » DarkTec Blog says: 25 Oct 2008 - 10:10

    […] Para los afortunados usuarios que tienen su nuevo macbook , macbook Pro o macbook air , ya salio una  versión de “firefox” con soporte “multi-touch”.Esta en versión “beta” aun y prácticamente puede realizar las mismas funciones que con safari ( es decir con los dedos en el track pad, puedes hacer zoom, adelantar , retroceder paginas etc.) Espero que le puedan agregar mas funcionalidades , porque esta de mas decir que para muchos “firefox” es el mejor navegador del momento.Si tienes algunos de los equipos antes señalado y quiere hacer la prueba del navegador descarga aqui […]

  5. heffeque says: 25 Oct 2008 - 11:55

    Interesting… but it doesn’t work on my MBP. It’s a mid-2008 MBP with Mac OS X 10.5.5 in English. I’ve tried to find the place to activate the multi-finger gestures in the Preferences panel from Minefield but it doesn’t work. Multi-finger gestures work ok on iPhoto :-/ Is there anything else that I should be enabling?
    Oh, I’m using a Bluetooth mouse, maybe that’s interfering with the gesture plugin in Minefield, but after closing Minefield, turning the mouse off and opening Minefield… still not working.

  6. The Burning Edge » Blog Archive » 2008-10-26 Trunk builds says: 26 Oct 2008 - 21:10

    […] Fixed: 456520 – [Mac] Multi-touch gesture support for Firefox. (Using the trackpads on some newer Mac laptops, you can now swipe with three fingers to navigate through history or scroll to the top/bottom of the page. You can also pinch to zoom and twist to switch tabs. Read more on Mardak’s blog.) […]

  7. McColley.net » Blog Archive » Firefox 3.1 Build with MacBook Multi-Touch Gestures [MacBook] says: 27 Oct 2008 - 4:30

    […] @ 5:30 pm | Author: admin Owners of MacBooks with multi-touch trackpads can try out an experimental Firefox 3.1 build that supports finger gestures—swiping left and right for back and forward, pinch zooming, and […]

  8. R.Seiji » links for 2008-10-27 says: 27 Oct 2008 - 14:00

    […] Touching Firefox | edilee (tags: interface:touch) […]

  9. McColley.net » Blog Archive » Firefox 3.1 Build with MacBook Multi-Touch Gestures [MacBook] says: 28 Oct 2008 - 2:33

    […] @ 11:00 am | Author: admin Owners of MacBooks with multi-touch trackpads can try out an experimental Firefox 3.1 build that supports finger gestures—swiping left and right for back and forward, pinch zooming, and […]

  10. Firefoxでマルチタッチのアクションを使う | 19870726.com says: 29 Oct 2008 - 1:34

    […] MacBookシリーズのトラックパッドに搭載されているマルチタッチですが、スワイプやズーム、回転などのアクションは残念ながらApple製のアプリケーションにしか対応していません。 いつもはマウスを使っているので別に気になりませんでしたが、先ほどトラックパッドで作業する機会があったので、Firefoxでも使えないかと調べてみました。 そこでまず発見したのが、with Multi-Touch Gestures版のFirefox。 こちらでダウンロードできるみたいですが、Firefoxだけにとらわれず、いろんなアプリで使えないかと思ってもっと調べてみたところ、MultiClutchなるアプリ、というか環境設定の拡張ファイルを発見しました。 こちらからダウンロードして、解凍し、中身のMultiClutch.prefPaneというファイルをダブルクリックすればインストールできます。 すると、システム環境設定にMultiClutchという項目が追加されているはずなので、クリックして設定画面に移動します。 […]

  11. Mac: Firefox mit Multitouch-Gesten says: 04 Nov 2008 - 13:42

    […] siehe mac.blorge.com, edilee […]

  12. Mozilla 开始测试支持 Apple 多触点手势的 Firefox | IT News RSS says: 04 Nov 2008 - 17:45

    […] MacBook 上，就在刚刚 Mozilla 开发团队的 Edward Lee 放出了支持多触点手势 FF 的测试版本（Firefox 3.1 pre-Beta 2），适用的机型有 […]

  13. Robert says: 08 Nov 2008 - 10:10

    Excellent, I’ve been waiting for such an enhancement to Firefox to be added in since I got my Macbook Air back in April. Nicely done, thanks.

  14. Elijah Nicolas says: 10 Nov 2008 - 0:09

    It’s definitely taking a little longer than expected for the Mozilla Org. to release the newest version. I can’t wait until the full release and / or Google Chrome for OS X.

  15. jcloo says: 10 Nov 2008 - 19:29

    great info thanks. just ditched M$ and move to mac. lovin it!

  16. David Mulder says: 11 Nov 2008 - 13:15

    Great… Now I will have three firefox 3.1 versions to choose from every morning… :p

  17. David Mulder says: 11 Nov 2008 - 13:21

    It doesn’t seem to work in the build linked… there is an app which may help out: http://wcrawford.org/2008/02/28/everytime-i-think-about-you-i-touch-my-cell/ dunno, didn’t try it yet.

  18. Carlinhos says: 11 Nov 2008 - 17:13

    Congrats for the great version!! i’ve tested it and its ok… but what about an addon for firefox 3.0??? it would be greater…

  19. Gadget» Blog Archive » Experimental Firefox 3.1 Build Gets Awesome Multitouch Gestures on Macs [Firefox] says: 17 Nov 2008 - 22:24

    […] swipes, in Firefox? Well you can, with a new experimental build of Firefox 3.1 (pre-beta 2) from Mozilla’s Edward Lee. It uses all of the majors—swipe, twist and pinch—in awesomely intuitive […]

  20. Victor Lai says: 01 Dec 2008 - 0:29

    Works great on my MacBook Pro I bought yesterday. I’ve been a PC user for 20 years, but I got used to using gestures in Safari in a day. This build allows me to use FireFox so I couldn’t be happier!

    The rotating is a bit finicky but I think I just need to get used to the gesture.
    Keep up the good work!

  21. Charles Ju says: 01 Dec 2008 - 12:09

    THANK YOU SO MUCH. I was forced to use Safari because this simple feature was missing and slowing down my productivity. I can finally move back to the superior browser, thanks thanks thanks!

  22. Mac News Update - MacPro, iMac, iPhone, Macbook, and Macbook Pro News » Blog Archive » Latest Firefox 3.1 Beta Adds Multi-Touch Support says: 10 Dec 2008 - 8:00

    […] support had been absent from Firefox. Experimental Firefox support for the multi-touch trackpad was first introduced in a pre-Beta build back in October by Mozilla’s Edward Lee. The changes have since made it […]

  23. [MacRumors]FF 3.1B2 multi-touch support - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net says: 11 Dec 2008 - 3:34

    […] support had been absent from Firefox. Experimental Firefox support for the multi-touch trackpad was first introduced in a pre-Beta build back in October by Mozilla’s Edward Lee. The changes have since made it into the […]

  24. Latest Firefox 3.1 Beta Adds Multi-Touch Support - UFA - United Forum Alliance says: 11 Dec 2008 - 7:47

    […] support had been absent from Firefox. Experimental Firefox support for the multi-touch trackpad was first introduced in a pre-Beta build back in October by Mozilla’s Edward Lee. The changes have since made it into […]

  25. Firefox Bolivia » Blog Archive » Firefox con multitouch para Mac says: 11 Dec 2008 - 12:40

    […] la web usando el interfaz multitáctil que incorporan los últimos modelos de portátiles Apple. Edward Lee, de Mozilla, introdujo los cambios necesarios para que esto fuera posible en Firefox en una […]

  26. Firefox 3.1 Beta2 get Apple’s Multi-Touch support - Codeium Reviews says: 12 Dec 2008 - 18:45

    […] support had been absent from Firefox. Experimental Firefox support for the multi-touch trackpad was first introduced in a pre-Beta build back in October by Mozilla’s Edward Lee. The changes have since made it […]

  27. Mozilla didn’t reverse engineer OS X says: 16 Dec 2008 - 6:52

    […] source? Because Edward Lee said nothing of the sort about Mozilla REing it! Here’s what he actually said: From what I quickly gathered, the gestures interface was reverse engineered from some private […]

  28. Firefox 3.1 Build with MacBook Multi-Touch Gestures | External Brain says: 19 Dec 2011 - 15:35

    […] of MacBooks with multi-touch trackpads can try out an experimental Firefox 3.1 build that supports finger gestures-swiping left and right for back and forward, pinch zooming, and […]


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