14 DAY TRIAL // Mozilla Labs' experiment of connecting the web with language is moving to the next stage in its evolution. Come mid-June 2009, Ubiquity will evolve to version 0.5. Jono DiCarlo, from the Ubiquity development team, explained that the 0.5 versioning was designed to illustrate the fact that the next iteration of the prototype was a major update with new features coming to the table. The focus for version 0.5 of Ubiquity is not only on resolving bugs and enhancing built-in commands, but also on making the prototype more accessible to end users, with documentation and help content. Mozilla is also looking to build an interactive tutorial that will enable users to take advantage of the prototype within minutes.
DiCarlo outlined additional goals: “internationalize Ubiquity with a new parser that can handle the grammars of many languages. We’re aiming to release Ubiquity 0.5 with at least three usable languages; more are in development. This is thanks to the hard work of our extremely dedicated Ubiquity internationalization community. Implement a more flexible way of handling input that will allow for more consistency, and no more hyphens, in command names. Begin doing usability research on Ubiquity as part of the new Test Pilot program.”
Ubiquity is essentially designed to enhance the browser in order to permit users to connect disparate information on the Internet, to mash up data together by themselves, without having to resort to any additional applications. In April 2009, Mozilla introduced the Firefox Taskfox Prototype, essentially Ubiquity integrated with the Firefox Superbar. Firefox Taskfox offers just a taste of the potential that Ubiquity has, and the evolution to version 0.5 is one step in that direction for Mozilla Labs. In this regard, DiCarlo also issued a call for participation to the Ubiquity community.
“In order to complete all of these goals, we’ll need the help of everyone in the Ubiquity community. And I don’t just mean developers — command authors and regular Ubiquity users are just as important! There is a lot you can do to help make this release a success, even if you are not a programmer and don’t know the first thing about Javascript. If you’ve been thinking about getting involved in Ubiquity development, either by writing code or in one of the many other ways you can contribute, now would be a great time,” DiCarlo stated.
Firefox 3.5 Beta 4 and Firefox 3.0.10 for Windows are available for download here.
Firefox 3.5 Beta 4 and Firefox 3.0.10 for Linux are available here.
Firefox 3.5 Beta 4 and Firefox 3.0.10 for Mac OS X are available here.