
Prism is an open source cross-platform prototype of functionality that lets users split web applications out of the browser and run them directly on the desktop.
Today we’re releasing a major update to Prism that includes the first prototype of browser integration along with new desktop integration capabilities and simpler installation.
As previously announced, Prism is part of a series of Mozilla Labs experiments into bridging the divide in the user experience between web and desktop apps and exploring new usability models as the line between those kinds of apps continues to blur.

Philosophy
We believe that the Web is a powerful platform for innovation, and our goal with Prism is to drive the development of enhancements to that platform that bring the advantages of desktop apps to the Web. To that end, Prism is not a new platform or product but rather a vehicle for Mozilla Labs to experiment with new technologies to extend the capabilities of the Open Web. Web developers shouldn’t have to lift a finger to desktop-enable their web applications (although they can specify settings to enhance the experience), while users have the choice to use their favorite web apps in their browser, on their desktop of choice, or in both places.
Major New Features and Updates
Today we’re releasing a major update to Prism that includes new desktop integration capabilities and simpler installation. With this update, you can now get Prism simply by installing a small extension to Firefox 3. With the new Prism extension for Firefox 3, users can now split web applications directly out of Firefox without needing to install and manage a separate Prism application. Just install the extension, browse to a web app, then select Tools > Convert Website to Application.

Other new or improved features include:

Roadmap
While Prism still supports .webapp and site-specific webapp.js files as a way to install, customize and launch Prism, we’re working towards removing the need for those files in favor of leveraging and extending existing web conventions for exposing site configuration, like <link> and <meta> tags.
See bug 420878 and bug 420661 for some of those discussions.
Mark Finkle also has a post with more information.
Get Prism for Firefox
Install Prism for Firefox v0.2 for Firefox 3.0b3pre or greater, Windows/Mac/Linux.
The standalone version of Prism v0.9 is also available for Windows (installer, archive), Mac and Linux.
Warning: This is an early prototype. Use at your own risk.
Getting Involved
Prism is just the first of many experiments we plan to conduct around improving the usability of web applications. It’s open source, like everything we do, and we’re interested in hearing from and working with anyone interested in developing these concepts further.
The project lead for Prism is Mark Finkle. Contributors include Cesar Oliveira, Matt Gertner, Fredrik Larsson, Wladimir Palant, Sylvain Pasche, Alex Faaborg, and Myk Melez.

Extend Firefox 2 has wrapped up and we’re super excited to announce the winners! We received well over 100 entries, representing hundreds of hours of hard work from people around the world.
A big thanks to all who participated! And special thanks to our panel of judges, including Garrett Camp (StumbleUpon), Brendan Eich (Mozilla), Jesse James Garrett (Adaptive Path), Tariq Krim (NetVibes), and Joshua Schachter (del.ico.us) and our sponsors, including ActiveState, O’Reilly, and VMware.
Although many of these extensions are in their early stages of experimental development, we’re blown away by what their authors were able to achieve within the time constraints of the contest, and we’re really looking forward to where they take their extensions from here. It was hard to pick our winners from among the many excellent entries, but we’ve now selected three Grand Prize winners who will each receive an Ultimate Firefox Developer Kit, including:
And, twelve Runner-Up Prize winners who will each receive a Firefox Pack, including:
Congratulations to our awesome fifteen! And thanks again to all who contributed add-ons and ideas. Stay tuned for details of Extend Firefox 3, which will kick off within the next month.
Grand Prize Winners
Runners Up
Thanks again to everyone who participated, and stay tuned for Extend Firefox 3, launching in early March.
Resources:
- Extend Firefox Web Site
- Extend Firefox Discussion Forum
As the Web continues to evolve and more of our lives move online, we believe that Web browsers like Firefox can and should do more to broker rich experiences while increasing user control over their data and personal information.
One important area for exploration is the blending of the desktop and the Web through deeper integration of the browser with online services.

We’re now launching a new project within Mozilla Labs to formally explore this integration. This project will be known as Weave and it will focus on finding ways to enhance the Firefox user experience, increase user control over personal information, and provide new opportunities for developers to build innovative online experiences.
Just like Mozilla enables massive innovation by making Firefox open on many levels, we will aim to do the same with Weave by developing an open extensible framework for services integration.
Organizing Principles
We’ve set out some basic organizing principles to help frame the approach that we’re going to explore. We will:
Overview of the Idea

Use Cases
We’ve also developed some initial use cases that we’ll be exploring with Weave. To be clear, it’s not Mozilla’s intent to provide robust applications for, say, travel planning. We intend to provide the infrastructure and an consistent model for how a user can open up their browser metadata to friends and third-party applications. These use cases are just examples of the types of things we would like to explore, and have others build applications on top of.
Initial Roadmap
Weave 0.2 (Early 2008)
Get Weave
How to Get Involved
We’ll be rolling out prototypes of various components of the framework, gathering feedback and hosting a series of discussions and sessions on the Mozilla Labs site to plan, design, and further develop Weave.

Personas for Firefox is a extension that adds lightweight theming to your browser.
Personas is a prototype that builds upon the ideas that:
This version improves upon a prototype that was discussed and tested earlier this year.
We’ve just started talking about the possible benefits of taking advantage of an online component to deliver a better browser experience. There is certainly more to explore in this regard; Personas is but a simple example.
In this version, the Persona selector is dynamically loaded and populated from a JSON feed and all designs are loaded via URLs to remote resources. All changes to the browser chrome are applied instantly, with no need to restart.
We’ll shortly be releasing an API that will allow developers and designers to submit Personas that are based on Web content, including support for anything that can load in a content window such as HTML, CSS, PNG, JPG, Javascript, SVG and Canvas.
Features

Get Personas for Firefox
How to Get Involved