The current mozilla roadmap http://www.mozilla.org/roadmap.html
needs to be updated. It is focused a bit on the Netscape 6 release
plans which is done.
The Seamonkey Milestone Plan
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/milestones/index.html
is also outdated and needs some serious work.
I would like to make some suggestions to start off a discussion as to
the roadmap for Mozilla.
a.
I suggest we update
http://www.mozilla.org/build/revised-user-agent-strings.html and modifiy
Mozilla 1.0's user agent string since the features of Netscape 6
(Mozilla .6, Useragent Mozilla/5.0) and Mozilla 1.0 will likely be
changed a bit. I suggest that Mozilla 1.0 have a useragent of
Mozilla/6.0 rather than Mozilla/5.1 or something. The following is my
rationalle:
(1) Client and server side user agent detection will likely expect
Mozilla/5.0
useragent strings to have the layout features of Netscape 6.00, no more,
no less).
(2) Netscape I understand removed layout features that were present in
Mozilla
M18 (due to bugs). Mozilla M18 and below now suffer from being sniffed
as Netscape 6 even though they may have additional layout capabilities.
This type of situation has to be avoided somehow in the future. There
are repercussions when authors cannot rely on the useragent version
numbers to clearly indicate layout features. Even Mozilla .9 and above
will suffer from being misidentified as Netscape 6 until they receive
some type of useragent version change.
(3) Mozilla 1.00 has to seperate itself from previous commercial releases
like
Netscape 6.00 in its useragent version number if it will have additional
layout features over those commercial products.
(4) We need the Netscape major version to match the Mozilla Major version
as
it always has. This is why I think Mozilla 1.0 should have a useragent
string of Mozilla/6.0 instead of Mozilla/5.1. Until Netscape is no
longer the major producer of commercial releases, having this parity
just makes it simpler. Netscape can continue to release bugfixes like a
Netscape 6.01 from the Mozilla .6 tree with a Mozilla/5.0 useragent
string. But any product based on a 1.0 release of Mozilla would have
the Mozilla/6.0 useragent version.
b. We need to start clearly planning what features will be available in
each release of Mozilla. For example, Mozilla 1.0 may have XSLT
implemented, we need to start identifying these types of plans. What
features will Mozilla 1.0 have that .6 did not have.
c.
This has probably been debated countless times, but it would be great if
we did not call next summer's Mozilla release "1.0" but rather "6.0" so
it matches the major Useragent version number. This is soooo confusing.
If it is confusing to me and I have been following the development
since Dec 98, imageing how confusing it is to the web developers who are
updating there client sniffers.
Kevin Berkheiser
Mozilla Advocate
