When did you start using a PC? In my case, I started to use computers when I was in university. At that time, it was very difficult for general users to use a computer, because we had to memorize the commands and the directory path, which an executable file is located in. Even using a mouse was optional to use PCs. However, the computing environment has changed rapidly since Windows and the Web were introduced in the 1990s. These days, even a 2 years old baby is able to use a smart device like the iPad.
Our PC usage has also changed rapidly. For example, installing softwares was always required to run them a few years ago, but these days, you may deal with most things on a web browser. If you close the browser, it may mean you are not using your PC anymore. As the Web technologies develop, the Web provides more services that we didn’t expect before. For example, we watch movies, music videos, and even TV on our browsers. In addition, we send and read emails using the web browser on any PC. Even if you use Google Docs, you can edit documents, slides, and spread sheets. Although it is missing many features such as animation effects, clip arts, etc, compared to MS Office, it is simple to use, and offers unique features such as collaborative editing in real-time. We may be living in the middle of the change from the desktop to the Web, similar to move from the text-based user interfaces like DOS to the GUIs like Mac OS and Windows.
Interestingly, there is a hidden side to this change. Actually, Microsoft has dominated the desktop through Windows and Office. However, Google has been trying to encourage people to use the Web more. Search & Ads are their main business, but they have been offering various web services such as GMail, Google Docs, Calendar, and Youtube to lure people away from the desktop. Now, nobody stops this change because even Microsoft has also adopted this trend. As Microsoft opened the desktop age instead of IBM, Google is also trying to open an era of the web desktop.
If this is true, how does Google lead the change? As you know, Google is a web service company, but they launched the Chrome browser and Chrome OS in 2009. Actually, Google has sponsored the Firefox project for a long time. But now, they are developing their own browser and operating system like Windows. Moreover, they are investing a lot of engineering resources in order to innovate the Web technology. As a result, the Web seems to work more like the desktop in terms of introducing more desktop features such as dealing with multimedia, accessing hardware like GPS and cameras, working offline, etc. However, Google can be evil if they want to be, because they are gathering all information, even your private data, so we should keep our eyes on Google not to be evil, although the informal corporate motto of Google is “Don’t be evil”[1].
You are in the middle of the switch to a new desktop environment. I expect that many people will get benefits through this change because it makes people use PCs more easily and helps people get out of the pain of maintaining their PC. Also, it would give more business opportunities to new companies and developers.
What should we do in this change? Just use the Web using the latest version of the web browser such as Firefox4 or Internet Explorer 9, which will come out this year. In addition, you need to acquaint yourself with famous web services such as Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Youtube, Google Docs, etc. Because, if we have to follow the change, it would be better to lead it. If so, you may also have the opportunity to change your surroundings at your position through this exciting transition.
Reference
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don't_be_evil
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Thursday, December 30, 2010
WebKitGtk+ Hackfest 2010
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| (c) 2010 Diegoe |
During the hackfest, we concentrated on hacking WebKitGtk+ to fix bugs and implement new features, only stopping to sleep and eat . Of course , we also made time for a city tour in Courña for a quater of a day.
Gtk+ and libSoup maintainers also attended the hackfest to support WebKitGtk+ maintainers, because WebKitGtk+ depends on those libraries. Moreover, embracing Gtk+3 needs Gtk+ maintainers' help to keep the pace with Gtk+3 changes. Also, an Epiphany browser maintainer also joined the hackfest to fix Epiphany bugs together with the WebKitGtk+ maintainers.
On the first day, we listed up all work items on the chalkboard (as you can see in the above picture). When we finished each item, we rewarded ourselves with Super Mario BGM. :-) You can see the performance video as follows:
Martin finished a task! YEAH! from diegoe on Vimeo.
During the hackfest, I worked on viewport meta tags support and some missing features in the DRT test in WebKitGtk+. In addition, I improved the webkit cache model feature. In particular, I was pleased to finish the viewport meta tags patch. Actually, it might have been impossible without the maintainers' help: Kov, Martin, and Xan reviewed my patch carefully and improved it, so I'd like to thank them again. I'll explain the details of the viewport meta tags support later.
After the hackfest, I felt like I was a member of the WebKitGtk+ development team. In the future, I will try to contribute more patches to WebKitGtk+.
You can also find this blogging in Korean version. :-)
Happy New Year and Thanks again for reading!
Gtk+ and libSoup maintainers also attended the hackfest to support WebKitGtk+ maintainers, because WebKitGtk+ depends on those libraries. Moreover, embracing Gtk+3 needs Gtk+ maintainers' help to keep the pace with Gtk+3 changes. Also, an Epiphany browser maintainer also joined the hackfest to fix Epiphany bugs together with the WebKitGtk+ maintainers.
 |
| (CC) 2010 Mario |
Martin finished a task! YEAH! from diegoe on Vimeo.
During the hackfest, I worked on viewport meta tags support and some missing features in the DRT test in WebKitGtk+. In addition, I improved the webkit cache model feature. In particular, I was pleased to finish the viewport meta tags patch. Actually, it might have been impossible without the maintainers' help: Kov, Martin, and Xan reviewed my patch carefully and improved it, so I'd like to thank them again. I'll explain the details of the viewport meta tags support later.
After the hackfest, I felt like I was a member of the WebKitGtk+ development team. In the future, I will try to contribute more patches to WebKitGtk+.
You can also find this blogging in Korean version. :-)
Happy New Year and Thanks again for reading!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
My favorite hiking course in Seoul
Have you heard about Jeju Olle-gil (제주 올레길)[1] or Jirisan Dulle-gil(지리산 둘레길)? They are famous trails in Korea to hike in the rural areas to enjoy natural things. In particular, due to the success of Jeju Olle-gil, each provincial government is introducing new hiking courses to attract tourists. Actually, anyone can make their own hiking course, but many people don't know. In my case, I have one in Seoul. Therefore, I would like to introduce my hiking course in this blog.
It has been 7~8 years since I started to hike this way. I have hiked this way with some of my friends. Most of them have been satisfied with my course , because it offers a good view of Gyeongbok-Geung (Palace) and historical sites. Also, there are good cafes, restaurants, and museums, parks around this course, even including two mountains.
This course starts from Sajik park near Gyeongbok-gong station on Seoul Subway Line 3. The overall course is as follows:
Sajik Park(사직공원) => Inwang-san(인왕산) => Bukak-san(북악산) => Samcheong-dong gil(삼청동길) => Insa-dong(인사동)
This is just my own personal course, so you can make your own course depending on your preference or time allowance. Now, let's take a look at each point.
The start point is Sajik Park, which is not a famous place now, but it was an important area in the Joseon dynasty. The purpose of Sajik Park was to hold a memorial ceremony for the ground and the five grains(rice, millet, beans, wheat and barnyard millet) ,which is the basis of stabilizing the dynasty. However, the Japanese Empire tore down the annexes and made this area into the park that it is today.
The next point is Inwang-san, which doesn't seems high, but it's covered with rocks, so you need to wear hiking boots. When you go up to the Inwang-san peak, you can see a complete view of Seoul including Seoul Tower and every mountain surrounding Seoul, even Incheon Airport if the weather is very clear. Also, there is a sad historic episode about an empress of the Joseon dynasty which is connected with Inwang-san. Her name was Empress Inhyeon(인현왕후)[2], a wife of SukJong (the 19th Emperor of the Joseon dynasty). She lost her position of empress due to strife. And then, she went to the peak of Inwang-san wearing white clothes and made a deep bow in the direction of the King every morning for 3(?) years. Fortunately, she became the empress again, but she died soon after without having had any children.
Before moving to the next point, you can have a break time in the cafe between Inwang-san and the entrance of Bukaksan near Changeui-mun(창의문). This cafe offers various types of coffee produced from famous areas of coffee bean production[5]. It would be as good as taking a break and talking with your friends.
If you want to go to the top of Bukaksan[3], you should prepare your resident registration card , driver's license or passport (if you are a foreigner) due to the security of the Blue House. Actually, Bukaksan was not allowed to be entered for a long time since guerrillas from North Korea attempted to raid the Blue House to kill President Park JeongHee in 1969. As a result, the road to the mountain was closed for about 38 years. For this reason, development of this area has been limited for a long time. Therefore, you may doubt if you are in Seoul during your hike up to the top of Bukaksan, because you can only see green mountains and many detached houses.
Actually, Seoul was not always such a big city like this, it used to be a fortress capital city during the Joseon dynasty. Therefore, you can still find several gates in Jong-ro district. Unfortunately, many parts of the city wall and some gates were destroyed in the Japanese occupation and the Korean war. Some parts of the city wall are left on Inwang-san and Bukaksan. In addition, you can find a secret gate over the top of Bukaksan. It is called "Sukjeong-mun(숙정문)".
There are two ways from Sukjeong-mun. One is for Seongbuk-dong gil, the other is Samcheong-dong gil. Now, I’d like to introduce the Samcheong-dong gil course, because it is close to Insandong-gil. However, if you take the direction of Samcheong-dong gil, it takes more time to hike down the mountain, so you can enjoy hiking more in the forest of Bukaksan.
Samcheong-dong gil is one of the most beautiful streets in Seoul. There are many art shops, art galleries, cafes, museums, and restaurants. Actually, this area is a bit expensive, but the atmosphere and quality of food actually are quite good, so it would be a good choice for a nice meal with your closest friends. Before introducing some of them, I wonder whether you have heard about a Korean proverb, “금강산도 식후경”. It means that eating comes first in any situation so it would be good to drop by a restaurant first.
Most of the restaurants here are a bit expensive and for special occasions, but Samcheong-dong Sujebi[6] is cheap and simple. According to Wikipedia, “Sujebi is a Korean traditional soup consisting of dough flakes roughly torn by hand, with various vegetables”. It also tells that Korean people began to eat Sujebi from early Goryo period, but my grandmother told me that Sujebi became common during the Korean war due to the significant rice shortage. At that time, the U.S. army gave wheat flour to Korean people as a form of food assistance. Many Koreans reluctantly had to have flour-based foods including Sujebi (because rice is the staple food of the Korean people). Due to this reason, it is very hard to find Sujebi restaurants these days. Anyway, this restaurant seems to be as old as Sujebi. Nevertheless, some bloggers complain the taste was not as good as it was once, but it is still one of the Korean dishes you must taste.
After the meal, looking around the shops in Samcheong-dong is also good, in particular for women. If you have enough time, I recommend that you visit the Owl Museum[7] and the Tibet Museum[8]. Those museums are very unique because they are managed by private owners, so you can feel a different atmosphere compared to public museums.
The owl museum only specializes in owls, so you can find paintings, craftworks, and toys about owls. In the case of the Tibet museum, there are various things about Buddhist art, folkcrafts, clothes, photos and so on about Tibet. Although Tibet has been occupied by China since 1950, we are still able to see their unique culture. Before visiting those museums, you need to check up locations because both museums are located in side streets. Also, you have to make sure that the museums are open when you want to go.
The last point on my course is Insa-dong gil. Actually, Insa-dong gil is too famous to introduce here. Therefore, I would only like to introduce a traditional Korean teahouse in Insa-dong. As you know, Insadong-gil is famous for its traditional teahouses. Unfortunately, traditional alcohol pubs are increasing these days. Therefore, finding real traditional teahouses is getting harder in Insa-dong.
The above picture shows the interior of a teahouse I found by chance. Actually, I tried to find Kyungin Art Gallery because the gallery also offers Korean tea. Instead, I found a neat teahouse because I took a wrong side street. The teahouse is a real Hanok (Korean traditional house) and offers all kinds of equipment such as pottery and trays. In addition, the hostess is very kind so you can feel like being not a customer but a guest in this house.
In conclusion, making your own hiking course is not difficult. Just try to remember what streets, cafes, and restaurants you’ve preferred, and link all points with some stories such as historical episodes or your memories. And then if you share the course with your friends, your course will be rich with even more stories and attractions.
References
[1] Welcome to Jeju Olle website, http://www.jejuolle.org:8080/eng/
[2] Empress Inhyeon(인현왕후), http://bit.ly/9FsgLk
[3] Welcome to Bukaksan, http://www.bukak.or.kr
[4] Seoul’s best walking trails http://www.koreaherald.com/lifestyle/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20100624000575
[5] Club Espresso http://place.daum.net/place/Top.do?confirmid=9544927
[6] Sujebi, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sujebi
[7] The owl museum http://www.owlmuseum.co.kr/
[8] The Tibet museum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet_Museum_(South_Korea)
It has been 7~8 years since I started to hike this way. I have hiked this way with some of my friends. Most of them have been satisfied with my course , because it offers a good view of Gyeongbok-Geung (Palace) and historical sites. Also, there are good cafes, restaurants, and museums, parks around this course, even including two mountains.
This course starts from Sajik park near Gyeongbok-gong station on Seoul Subway Line 3. The overall course is as follows:
Sajik Park(사직공원) => Inwang-san(인왕산) => Bukak-san(북악산) => Samcheong-dong gil(삼청동길) => Insa-dong(인사동)
This is just my own personal course, so you can make your own course depending on your preference or time allowance. Now, let's take a look at each point.
The start point is Sajik Park, which is not a famous place now, but it was an important area in the Joseon dynasty. The purpose of Sajik Park was to hold a memorial ceremony for the ground and the five grains(rice, millet, beans, wheat and barnyard millet) ,which is the basis of stabilizing the dynasty. However, the Japanese Empire tore down the annexes and made this area into the park that it is today.
The next point is Inwang-san, which doesn't seems high, but it's covered with rocks, so you need to wear hiking boots. When you go up to the Inwang-san peak, you can see a complete view of Seoul including Seoul Tower and every mountain surrounding Seoul, even Incheon Airport if the weather is very clear. Also, there is a sad historic episode about an empress of the Joseon dynasty which is connected with Inwang-san. Her name was Empress Inhyeon(인현왕후)[2], a wife of SukJong (the 19th Emperor of the Joseon dynasty). She lost her position of empress due to strife. And then, she went to the peak of Inwang-san wearing white clothes and made a deep bow in the direction of the King every morning for 3(?) years. Fortunately, she became the empress again, but she died soon after without having had any children.
Before moving to the next point, you can have a break time in the cafe between Inwang-san and the entrance of Bukaksan near Changeui-mun(창의문). This cafe offers various types of coffee produced from famous areas of coffee bean production[5]. It would be as good as taking a break and talking with your friends.
If you want to go to the top of Bukaksan[3], you should prepare your resident registration card , driver's license or passport (if you are a foreigner) due to the security of the Blue House. Actually, Bukaksan was not allowed to be entered for a long time since guerrillas from North Korea attempted to raid the Blue House to kill President Park JeongHee in 1969. As a result, the road to the mountain was closed for about 38 years. For this reason, development of this area has been limited for a long time. Therefore, you may doubt if you are in Seoul during your hike up to the top of Bukaksan, because you can only see green mountains and many detached houses.
Actually, Seoul was not always such a big city like this, it used to be a fortress capital city during the Joseon dynasty. Therefore, you can still find several gates in Jong-ro district. Unfortunately, many parts of the city wall and some gates were destroyed in the Japanese occupation and the Korean war. Some parts of the city wall are left on Inwang-san and Bukaksan. In addition, you can find a secret gate over the top of Bukaksan. It is called "Sukjeong-mun(숙정문)".
There are two ways from Sukjeong-mun. One is for Seongbuk-dong gil, the other is Samcheong-dong gil. Now, I’d like to introduce the Samcheong-dong gil course, because it is close to Insandong-gil. However, if you take the direction of Samcheong-dong gil, it takes more time to hike down the mountain, so you can enjoy hiking more in the forest of Bukaksan.
Samcheong-dong gil is one of the most beautiful streets in Seoul. There are many art shops, art galleries, cafes, museums, and restaurants. Actually, this area is a bit expensive, but the atmosphere and quality of food actually are quite good, so it would be a good choice for a nice meal with your closest friends. Before introducing some of them, I wonder whether you have heard about a Korean proverb, “금강산도 식후경”. It means that eating comes first in any situation so it would be good to drop by a restaurant first.
Most of the restaurants here are a bit expensive and for special occasions, but Samcheong-dong Sujebi[6] is cheap and simple. According to Wikipedia, “Sujebi is a Korean traditional soup consisting of dough flakes roughly torn by hand, with various vegetables”. It also tells that Korean people began to eat Sujebi from early Goryo period, but my grandmother told me that Sujebi became common during the Korean war due to the significant rice shortage. At that time, the U.S. army gave wheat flour to Korean people as a form of food assistance. Many Koreans reluctantly had to have flour-based foods including Sujebi (because rice is the staple food of the Korean people). Due to this reason, it is very hard to find Sujebi restaurants these days. Anyway, this restaurant seems to be as old as Sujebi. Nevertheless, some bloggers complain the taste was not as good as it was once, but it is still one of the Korean dishes you must taste.
After the meal, looking around the shops in Samcheong-dong is also good, in particular for women. If you have enough time, I recommend that you visit the Owl Museum[7] and the Tibet Museum[8]. Those museums are very unique because they are managed by private owners, so you can feel a different atmosphere compared to public museums.
The owl museum only specializes in owls, so you can find paintings, craftworks, and toys about owls. In the case of the Tibet museum, there are various things about Buddhist art, folkcrafts, clothes, photos and so on about Tibet. Although Tibet has been occupied by China since 1950, we are still able to see their unique culture. Before visiting those museums, you need to check up locations because both museums are located in side streets. Also, you have to make sure that the museums are open when you want to go.
The last point on my course is Insa-dong gil. Actually, Insa-dong gil is too famous to introduce here. Therefore, I would only like to introduce a traditional Korean teahouse in Insa-dong. As you know, Insadong-gil is famous for its traditional teahouses. Unfortunately, traditional alcohol pubs are increasing these days. Therefore, finding real traditional teahouses is getting harder in Insa-dong.
The above picture shows the interior of a teahouse I found by chance. Actually, I tried to find Kyungin Art Gallery because the gallery also offers Korean tea. Instead, I found a neat teahouse because I took a wrong side street. The teahouse is a real Hanok (Korean traditional house) and offers all kinds of equipment such as pottery and trays. In addition, the hostess is very kind so you can feel like being not a customer but a guest in this house.
In conclusion, making your own hiking course is not difficult. Just try to remember what streets, cafes, and restaurants you’ve preferred, and link all points with some stories such as historical episodes or your memories. And then if you share the course with your friends, your course will be rich with even more stories and attractions.
References
[1] Welcome to Jeju Olle website, http://www.jejuolle.org:8080/eng/
[2] Empress Inhyeon(인현왕후), http://bit.ly/9FsgLk
[3] Welcome to Bukaksan, http://www.bukak.or.kr
[4] Seoul’s best walking trails http://www.koreaherald.com/lifestyle/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20100624000575
[5] Club Espresso http://place.daum.net/place/Top.do?confirmid=9544927
[6] Sujebi, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sujebi
[7] The owl museum http://www.owlmuseum.co.kr/
[8] The Tibet museum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet_Museum_(South_Korea)
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Why I participate in open source project
What is open source?
Open source is a method of developing software. According to Wikipedia, "Open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials". It means that anyone can access the source code of open source software. In addition, it should allow anyone to modify the source code and distribute it to anyone. Linux and Firefox are representative results of open source. Therefore, if you find some problems and have any proposals, you can modify the source code and submit the code to the maintainers. If your code makes sense, it could be merged into the open source software. If so, many people could use the software you contributed. Isn't this amazing ?
Why people start open source projects
There are various reasons why people start open source projects. Most of these projects don't have a big plan. They just start the project for meeting their needs. Some people start their projects just for fun. For example, Linus Tovalds, the creator of Linux kernel, just started Linux kernel project for fun during a long winter vacation when he was a university student. Of course, there was a small motivation. The Unix workstation machine was very expensive, so he had to go to the university to use it. Therefore, he wanted a Unix-compatible operating system to be run on his own 386 PC. After that, many people joined his small project. Currently, Linux kernel has been used for running digital TVs, Android phones, and other embedded devices. Although there are some open source projects that are started by companies for strategic reasons, most open source projects are started for trivial reasons.
Why developers should join open source projects
First, you can improve your development skills in terms of reading the code and getting reviewed by other open source developers. In the case of Linux kernel, it supports various types of computer architecture, and the source code has been highly optimized for a long time. In addition, many open source software have been verified in terms of being included in commercial software.
Second, you can learn the latest high technology, because open source projects are always open for new technology. So, anyone can improve the funtionalities of open source software and suggest new features. In my case, I fixed Korean Hangul typing problem in WebKit, a browser engine, used for Safari and Chrome browser.
Third, you can experience development process of software product because the big open source products: Linux kernel, Firefox, and OpenOffice, have a similar life cycle and organization like commercial software such as Microsoft Windows and Office. For instance, an open source project also requires individuals in various roles such as developer, tester, graphic designer, technical evangelist , educator and so on. In addition, most decisions about the project makes through mailing list, or IRC. If you have contributed for many years and have a good reputation, you can have a bigger say in the project. Finally, you can make friends with open source people from all over the world. There are various nationalities and ethnicities in the community. Some people are students, some are older. Nevertheless, they can share their thoughts and ideas for the same goal. For the above reasons, I strongly recommend that you participate in the open source projects even if you are not a software programmer.
Why I participate in open source projects.
Actually, I am an experienced programmer. I have more than 12 years of software development experience. However, I just spent my most of my development career for working on proprietary software. Fortunately, I met good open source people in the open source community and learned how to be involved in open source projects. In addition, I was able to work on open source software and had the chance to work together with the community in my previous company. It was a valuable experience because I learned how to write good quality software in terms of code review and code reading. Also, I could contribute my abilities and effort to open source projects for the public interest.
Currently, I am working on the WebKit, GNOME, Mozilla projects as a full-time open source developer. Although I am not making money working on these projects, I'm enjoying the life of an open source developer for the time being . Of course, there are ways of making money working on open source projects. In the future, when I have more experience with open source development, I will try to start my own open source project just for fun.
Saturday, August 07, 2010
Building Chromium browser on your Mac
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| Copyright © Chromium Project |
This is a starting point to build Chromium on Mac OS X.
http://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/MacBuildInstructions
Installing the depot-tools
http://dev.chromium.org/developers/how-tos/install-gclient$ svn co http://src.chromium.org/svn/trunk/tools/depot_tools
Add depot_tools to your PATH:
$ export PATH=`pwd`/depot_tools:"$PATH"
Getting the code
A checkout straight from the Subversion (SVN) repository can take a long time. It would be good to download a tar ball from http://build.chromium.org/buildbot/archives/chromium_tarball.htmlThen, you can update the code to the latest revision from the SVN repository.
$ gclient sync
Building from the command line
To build all targets (it takes a long time due to test case builds)$ cd ~/chromium/src/build
$ xcodebuild -project all.xcodeproj -configuration Debug -target All
To build just chrome:
$ cd ~/chromium/src/chrome
$ xcodebuild -project chrome.xcodeproj -configuration Debug -target chrome
Running Chromium
Run Chromium debug build$ cd ~/chromium/src/xcodebuild/Debug
$ open ./Chromium.app
The latest revision of Chromium looks cool.
Run Chromium release build
$ cd ~/chromium/src/xcodebuild/Release
$ open ./Chromium.app
The latest revision of Chromium looks cool.
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Feedbacks from the communities on the key events handling in WebKit
I posted an email to the WebKit mailing list on the issue I mentioned in the previous blog.The email introduced a status of the inconsistent event handling during a IME composition on WebKit. Fortunately, I've got quick feedbacks from the communities on each issue as follows,
Issue1) IME Composition events should be handled consistently in all ports of WebKit.
=> "This can't be achieved as it depends on the platform IME system. Therefore, different IMEs making consistent behaviors across multiple platforms is an exercise in futility. However, If we are seeing different behaviour with the same IME on a single platform, that's a bug."
Issue2) The textInput event should be dispatched after a compositionend event.
=> "There's a discussion on www-dom at w3.org about changing the spec because there seems a issue of handling a textInput event. Currently, before the textInput event is dispatched, DOM has been already mutated during a composition. Therefore, If there is to be a textInput event, first, the composition text is removed. And then, if the textEvent is not cancelled, the browser inserts the composition text again. It seems not efficient."
Issue3) While a composition session is active, keyboard events should not be dispatched to the DOM.
=> In relation to keyboard events, WebKit has fired key events during a composition for a long time. Therefore, It can't stop to fire key events in order to avoid site break.
As a result, they agreed that the DOM Level 3 event model for input composition does not match the requirements of actual web content as I have worried. Therefore, in order to avoid the confusion among web developers, the DOM Level3 events spec needs to introduce the reason why each browser handles keyboard events in different ways.
Issue1) IME Composition events should be handled consistently in all ports of WebKit.
=> "This can't be achieved as it depends on the platform IME system. Therefore, different IMEs making consistent behaviors across multiple platforms is an exercise in futility. However, If we are seeing different behaviour with the same IME on a single platform, that's a bug."
Issue2) The textInput event should be dispatched after a compositionend event.
=> "There's a discussion on www-dom at w3.org about changing the spec because there seems a issue of handling a textInput event. Currently, before the textInput event is dispatched, DOM has been already mutated during a composition. Therefore, If there is to be a textInput event, first, the composition text is removed. And then, if the textEvent is not cancelled, the browser inserts the composition text again. It seems not efficient."
Issue3) While a composition session is active, keyboard events should not be dispatched to the DOM.
=> In relation to keyboard events, WebKit has fired key events during a composition for a long time. Therefore, It can't stop to fire key events in order to avoid site break.
As a result, they agreed that the DOM Level 3 event model for input composition does not match the requirements of actual web content as I have worried. Therefore, in order to avoid the confusion among web developers, the DOM Level3 events spec needs to introduce the reason why each browser handles keyboard events in different ways.
Monday, July 26, 2010
IME composition events are handled inconsistently in WebKit
I have been working on Korean Hangul composition issue in WebKitGtk. By the way, I've noticed that IME Composition events are handled inconsistently in each WebKit port.
According to W3C DOM Level 3 events,
1) A browser should fire compositionstart, compositionupdate, and compositionend event during a composition.
2) The textEvent event should be dispatched after a compositionend event if the composition has not been canceled.
3) While a composition session is active, keyboard events should not be dispatched to the DOM (i.e., the text composition system "swallows" the keyboard events), and only compositionupdate events may be dispatched to indicate the composition process.
However, all WebKit ports handle composition & textEvent events in inconsistent ways. Even keyboard events are still dispatched to the DOM during a composition.
Therefore, it is necessary to fix the problems as follows:
1) IME Composition events should be handled consistently in all WebKit ports.
2) Keyboard events should not be dispatched during a composition.
3) The textInput event should be dispatched after a compositionend event.
You can find a test case from here.
I filed a bug for this issue in WebKit Bugzilla.
According to W3C DOM Level 3 events,
1) A browser should fire compositionstart, compositionupdate, and compositionend event during a composition.
2) The textEvent event should be dispatched after a compositionend event if the composition has not been canceled.
3) While a composition session is active, keyboard events should not be dispatched to the DOM (i.e., the text composition system "swallows" the keyboard events), and only compositionupdate events may be dispatched to indicate the composition process.
However, all WebKit ports handle composition & textEvent events in inconsistent ways. Even keyboard events are still dispatched to the DOM during a composition.
Therefore, it is necessary to fix the problems as follows:
1) IME Composition events should be handled consistently in all WebKit ports.
2) Keyboard events should not be dispatched during a composition.
3) The textInput event should be dispatched after a compositionend event.
The following table shows the status of DOM events of WebKit during a Hangul(Korean Alphabet) composition.
 |
| Korean Hangul Composition Event Test in WebKit based browsers |
I filed a bug for this issue in WebKit Bugzilla.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Debugging Fennec front-end
Fennec is a XUL application, like Firefox based on Mozilla Platform. Therefore, it can be debugged and modified with the Firefox debugging tools you are familiar with.
XUL applications consist of several XUL, JavaScript, and CSS files, which are archived in a Jar file. In the case of Fennec, it has two jar files in fennec/chrome/. en-US.jar which has localization information, chrome.jar which has Fennec front-end code.
To modify them,
1) Extract the chrome.jar in the current path
2) Modify the chrome.manifest as follows
The dump function works well on Linux system, but it doesn't work in Visual Studio in Windows system in order to debug Fennec for Windows Mobile.
It works well in Visual Studio, so I could see debug messages in the output box of Visual Studio using the latest build of Fennec.
References
XUL applications consist of several XUL, JavaScript, and CSS files, which are archived in a Jar file. In the case of Fennec, it has two jar files in fennec/chrome/. en-US.jar which has localization information, chrome.jar which has Fennec front-end code.
To modify them,
1) Extract the chrome.jar in the current path
2) Modify the chrome.manifest as follows
override chrome://global/skin/about.css chrome://browser/skin/about.cssIn order to display variable values or simple JavaScript debug message information in the system console, you can use the dump function. Before using this command, it needs to enable browser dump preferences by typing about:config in the URL bar.
skin browser classic/1.0 content/..
content branding content/branding/
content firstrun content/ contentaccessible=yes
content browser content/
browser.dom.window.dump.enabled=trueThis is an example of using dump() in the startup() funciton in browser.js
startup: function() {
var self = this;
dump("begin startup\n");
let container = document.getElementById("tile-container");
...
The dump function works well on Linux system, but
It works well in Visual Studio, so I could see debug messages in the output box of Visual Studio using the latest build of Fennec.
References
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Fixing a hardware keyboard problem in Mobile Firefox for Windows Mobile
Finally, my patch was applied to the mainline of Mozilla and this cumbersome bug has been fixed. I am so happy to contribute to Mozilla. Here is the detail what the problem was fixed:
Windows Mobile keeps the status of hardware keyboard in the registry as follows:
A software keyboard can pop-up if a device doesn't have a hardware keyboard. However, in the case that the device has a slide-out keyboard, the value should be changed according to the status of the slide-out keyboard.
For example:
1) When the keyboard does not slide out, the HasKeyboard value has to be "0"
2) Whenthe keyboard slides out, the HasKeyboard value has to be "1"
However, the above registry value, HasKeyboard, always returns 1 because it doesn't consider the status of slide-out keyboard. :-(
Windows Mobile doesn't have a standard API for detecting a status of slide-out keyboard so each device maker has to provide its own hidden or public API. For Samsung Windows Mobile devices, Samsung provides Windows Mobile SDK from the Samsung Mobile Innovator site so we can easily get a state of the slide-out keyboard on Samsung devices. However, HTC doesn't provide any document on how to use device APIs.
As a result, some hackers had tried to find out how to use hidden APIs for accessing hardware features of HTC devices, but there is no API about slide-out keyboard.
Anyway, Fennec has a bug with detecting the state of slide-out keyboard, which seemed easy to solve. At least, it was easy for my i780, but my first patch couldn't support HTC touch pro that has a side-out keyboard.
I tried to check most of the registry values if there is any change. Finally, I found the value from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\GDI\Rotation\Slidekey. That made me fix the bug easily. :-)
Windows Mobile keeps the status of hardware keyboard in the registry as follows:
"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shell\HasKeyboard"
A software keyboard can pop-up if a device doesn't have a hardware keyboard. However, in the case that the device has a slide-out keyboard, the value should be changed according to the status of the slide-out keyboard.
For example:
1) When the keyboard does not slide out, the HasKeyboard value has to be "0"
2) Whenthe keyboard slides out, the HasKeyboard value has to be "1"
However, the above registry value, HasKeyboard, always returns 1 because it doesn't consider the status of slide-out keyboard. :-(
Windows Mobile doesn't have a standard API for detecting a status of slide-out keyboard so each device maker has to provide its own hidden or public API. For Samsung Windows Mobile devices, Samsung provides Windows Mobile SDK from the Samsung Mobile Innovator site so we can easily get a state of the slide-out keyboard on Samsung devices. However, HTC doesn't provide any document on how to use device APIs.
As a result, some hackers had tried to find out how to use hidden APIs for accessing hardware features of HTC devices, but there is no API about slide-out keyboard.
Anyway, Fennec has a bug with detecting the state of slide-out keyboard, which seemed easy to solve. At least, it was easy for my i780, but my first patch couldn't support HTC touch pro that has a side-out keyboard.
I tried to check most of the registry values if there is any change. Finally, I found the value from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\GDI\Rotation\Slidekey. That made me fix the bug easily. :-)
Sunday, April 26, 2009
SAMSUNG Windows Mobile SDK 1.0 Released!
Samsung Windows Mobile SDK 1.0 was released!
You can download Samsung Windows Mobile SDK 1.0 from SAMSUNG Mobile Innovator web site, but it needs to be registered for downloading. Of course, it's free.
It consists of API Spec, programming guide, installation guide, header files & library for device APIs, and sample code.
The APIs is used for providing advanced features unique to Samsung phones. You might already have experience using advanced capabilities featured in the Windows Mobile APIs, like GPS, Bluetooth, or multimedia support. In addition to the Microsoft Windows Mobile APIs, you can use Samsung device APIs to access phone features such as the accelerometer, notification LEDs, and haptics feedback.
Fennec team is preparing to support device APIs for Fennec.
- Google Summer of Code (Mobile related projects)
- Mobile Device APIs
- Geolocation in Firefox 3.5 and Fennec
- Expose device APIs
- Geolocation
- Camera Support for Fennec on Windows Mobile
- RFE: SMS Support
- Device Orientation Support
- Geolocation MaemoLocationProvider does not start GPS
In addition, you can download SAMSUNG device emulator skin files from the web site.
The Device Emulator skin archive contains skins for the following phones:
- SGH-i617 BlackJack II
- SGH-i907 Epix [and SGH-i780 Mirage] (I own this model)
- SCH-i760 Robin
- SCH-i770 Saga
- SPH-i325 ACE
- SGH-i900 Omnia [and SCH-i910 Omnia]
Monday, April 13, 2009
How to make a cab installer of Windows Mobile Fennec build
When you finish building Fennec for Windows Mobile, you can ask "How can I install Fennec on my Windows Mobile handset?"
"Where is the installer?"
Fennec build system creates only a zip file in the path of "objdir/mobile/dist".
You might install Fennec using this zip file. But, it is cumbersome. Fortunately, the Fennnec team has released Fennec for Windows Mobile as a cab install.
"How can they make a cab installer?"
If you want to make a cab installer, move to /objdir/mobile/mobile/installer.
And then, run Makefile as follows,
$make installer
If so, you can find a cab installer in the path of "objdir/mobile/dist".
"Where is the installer?"
Fennec build system creates only a zip file in the path of "objdir/mobile/dist".
You might install Fennec using this zip file. But, it is cumbersome. Fortunately, the Fennnec team has released Fennec for Windows Mobile as a cab install.
"How can they make a cab installer?"
If you want to make a cab installer, move to /objdir/mobile/mobile/installer.
And then, run Makefile as follows,
$make installer
If so, you can find a cab installer in the path of "objdir/mobile/dist".
Friday, March 27, 2009
Fennec is running on SAMSUNG i780
Doug Turner solved the test blocker of Fennec for Windows Mobile.
I was delight to hear the new because I had tried several times to run Fennec on my SAMSUNG i780 (called Mirage in Korea). I had failed to run Fennec.
It is working well, but very slow on i780.
I found several problems as follows,
- Multiple instances
- Long start-up time
- IME button not disappeared
- Broken Hangul(Korean)
I will file up these problems on the Bugzilla and try to fix them.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Supporting Hildon Menu for Fennec
I implemented the hildon menu for Fennec on Maemo.
Actually, the hildon menu feature has not been decided to be added for 1.0 release.
I'm not sure if this patch could be applied to the mainline.
Mozilla platform already supports the hildon framework so it is easy to add new things for Maemo if you wish.
Actually, the hildon menu feature has not been decided to be added for 1.0 release.
I'm not sure if this patch could be applied to the mainline.
Mozilla platform already supports the hildon framework so it is easy to add new things for Maemo if you wish.
Monday, February 09, 2009
Mozilla@FOSDEM2009
Photo: Teemu Mäntynen
FOSDEM 2009 finished last week. Although I didn't attend FODSEM, I got a feel for what was going through through blogs and photos on Flikr. FODSEM(Free and Open Source Software Developer’s European Meeting) is a largest occasion for free/open source developers in Europe. It is relevant to various open source projects and it can be compared with OSCON(O’Reilly Open Source Convention) held in the US.The following projects had their own session:
KDE, GNOME, Mozilla, X.org, Fedora+CentOS, OpenSUSE, BSD+PostgreSQL, GNUStep, Jabber, Debian, Ada, Free Java, OpenOffice, Drupal, Ruby & Rails, MySQL, Linux Kernel
In addition, there were other projects sessions such as OpenMoko, Maemo, CMake, Webkit, Xfce, and OLPC.
In particular, there were Mozilla related sessions as follows:
- Mozilla Europe
- Mozilla Foundation
- Mozilla and Universities
- What’s after Firefox 3.1
- Community Sites Project
- Building XUL communities
- SeaMonky
- Overview of Mozilla QA
- Oni
- Rising to the Sun(bird)
- Thunderbird3
- Prism
- Fennec
- Embedding
- Mozilla headless back-end
- Events/EduCamp@FOSDEMa2009
Photo: Teemu Mäntynen( An old woman wears a Firefox t-shirts. it's lovely)
For your information, you can find session videos of FOSDEM. They have not open 2009 videos, you can find session videos of the 2008,2007
I hope to attend FOSDEM next year.
References
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Hildon related bugzilla issues
| 426291 | -- | Add support for Hildon (Maemo) application menu |
| 426292 | -- | Add support for Hildon (Maemo) filepicker |
| 426293 | -- | Add support for Hildon (Maemo) banner for alerts |
| 426299 | -- | Create a theme for Hildon (Maemo) platform [tracking bug] |
Fennec has some bugs in Hildon integration as you can see the above list, but the Fennec team has not cared about theses bugs, because they seems to focus on implementing the UI features and Windows Mobile port for XULRunner. Therefore, the platform specific features still have not been implemented for the Maemo platform.
Anyway, Hildon menu integration seems easy to implement.
Can I try??
Friday, December 26, 2008
Firefox for Mobile Devices
I'd like to share a little bit old presentation about Mobile Firefox.
From: mobileportland, 2 months ago
Firefox For Mobile Devices
Dietrich Ayala's presentation at May 2008 meeting of Mobile Portland
SlideShare Link
From: mobileportland, 2 months ago
Firefox For Mobile Devices
SlideShare Link
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Firefox+ Summit
I attended Firefox+ Summit at Whistler, Canada. It was a great time in my life because I met Mozilla folks who I had known the name only and talk about some issues I have wondered.
This occasion was held to celebrate Firefox3 release and talk about the future plan of Firefox3.1 and the current issues.
About 400 Mozilla peoples joined the summit coming from all over the World. They are involved in the various projects such as AMO(Add-ons), QA, Localization, Gecko, JavaScript, Mobile, UX, evangelist, messaging, SVG, MDC, and so on.
How could all peoples come together for Mozilla?
Mozilla is now making an effort to keep the freedom of the Web and Internet, because many companies are trying to change the web in their own unique ways by spreading proprietary technologies. Those approaches look like gorgeous and helpful for the users, but they hurt the Web. Although Mozilla is just a nonprofit corporation, but there are countless contributors and volunteers. So I believe that we can change the Web in a standard and open way although those activities are a little bit slow and require more consensus.
How could all peoples come together for Mozilla?
Mozilla is now making an effort to keep the freedom of the Web and Internet, because many companies are trying to change the web in their own unique ways by spreading proprietary technologies. Those approaches look like gorgeous and helpful for the users, but they hurt the Web. Although Mozilla is just a nonprofit corporation, but there are countless contributors and volunteers. So I believe that we can change the Web in a standard and open way although those activities are a little bit slow and require more consensus.
Let's make the Web a better place.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Firefox Seoul Party for celebrating the release of Firefox3
Mitchell Baker, chair of the Mozilla foundation and Gen Kanai, Asia marketing manager, visited Korea to attend the OECD ministerial meeting during June 17th ~ 18th and give talks in the Future of Global Web Technology conference on June 19th.
Coincidentally, Mozilla had officially released Firefox3 in this period of time, so the Mozilla Korea Community hosted a Firefox Seoul party to celebrate the release of Firefox3. They also attended the party, so it made the event more exciting for the community.
Before the party, I had the opportunity to have dinner with Mitchell Baker and Gen Kanai. I heard about the story of how Mitchell started her career in IT and was involved in the Mozilla project. It was an awesome story. I think she is part of the history of the Web.
I was also pleased to meet Gen, although we had not met each other, because I had seen his talk in the Lift conference and read his blog. So I felt like I was meeting people I was already acquainted with. In addition, he has already written about the Mozilla Korea Community activities and the unique situation of using ActiveX controls in Korea in his blog. So I'd like to thank him for his efforts.
There were some events during the party. Firstly, we enjoyed an interesting video of introducing the new features of Firefox3 and some photos of the Mozilla Korea Community activities.
Secondly, we had a Q&A time with Michell Baker. She kindly gave us answers about many questions regarding Mozilla/Firefox despite the late time and busy schedule. It left me wondering where she got her power & passion.
As the chair of the Mozilla foundation, she has striven to make the people all over the world access the Web equally without any restrictions. So I think that those efforts make her more powerful and active.
Thanks, Mozilla for keeping the Web for everyone; I will also help Mozilla spread Firefox.
Photo by Gen Kanai
Before the party, I had the opportunity to have dinner with Mitchell Baker and Gen Kanai. I heard about the story of how Mitchell started her career in IT and was involved in the Mozilla project. It was an awesome story. I think she is part of the history of the Web.
I was also pleased to meet Gen, although we had not met each other, because I had seen his talk in the Lift conference and read his blog. So I felt like I was meeting people I was already acquainted with. In addition, he has already written about the Mozilla Korea Community activities and the unique situation of using ActiveX controls in Korea in his blog. So I'd like to thank him for his efforts.There were some events during the party. Firstly, we enjoyed an interesting video of introducing the new features of Firefox3 and some photos of the Mozilla Korea Community activities.
Secondly, we had a Q&A time with Michell Baker. She kindly gave us answers about many questions regarding Mozilla/Firefox despite the late time and busy schedule. It left me wondering where she got her power & passion.
As the chair of the Mozilla foundation, she has striven to make the people all over the world access the Web equally without any restrictions. So I think that those efforts make her more powerful and active.
Thanks, Mozilla for keeping the Web for everyone; I will also help Mozilla spread Firefox.
Photo by Gen Kanai
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Latest looks of Fennec (Mobile Firefox)
The plan of Mobile Firefox was announced in October last year and the Mozilla community is now very busy to develop Mobile Firefox.
Fennec is the code name of Mobile Firefox, which is a desert fox. You may have seen a fennec in TV animation. The size of fennec is smaller than normal fox and it has big ears. So I think the name of Fennec seems to be suited well for Mobile Firefox.
The Mozilla Community opened the source code of Fennec and a guide of how to build it. It is a little bit intricate to build it because it is not merged into the Mozilla trunk.
After build and run, you can see the following appearance.
The basic features of browser were already implemented such as the navigation bar and bookmark menu. But, panning is a little bit slow and zooming is not working in the latest code.
Fennec can be built in Maemo Scratchbox and run on XULRunner so I'll post a way of how to build and run in N810 later. It would be helpful if you give any feedbacks to the Mozilla community after testing Fennec.
References
Fennec is the code name of Mobile Firefox, which is a desert fox. You may have seen a fennec in TV animation. The size of fennec is smaller than normal fox and it has big ears. So I think the name of Fennec seems to be suited well for Mobile Firefox.
The Mozilla Community opened the source code of Fennec and a guide of how to build it. It is a little bit intricate to build it because it is not merged into the Mozilla trunk.
After build and run, you can see the following appearance.
The basic features of browser were already implemented such as the navigation bar and bookmark menu. But, panning is a little bit slow and zooming is not working in the latest code.
Fennec can be built in Maemo Scratchbox and run on XULRunner so I'll post a way of how to build and run in N810 later. It would be helpful if you give any feedbacks to the Mozilla community after testing Fennec.
References
Thursday, April 24, 2008
My N810 was delivered from the US.
I bought a Nokia N810 from Amazon. Actually, there are not any shopping malls selling N810 in Korea so I had to buy an N810 from the oversea shopping mall. Anyway, I am very satisfied with N810. It may be my favorite toy.
N810 uses the Maemo platform that is based on Linux 2.6, GTK+, Matchbox and other open source projects. Scratchbox is used for its development environment that supports a cross-platform development environment. So the users can implement an application without knowing how to use a toolchain for specific target devices. In addition, we can easily install applications from the repositories using Debian packaging & repository system.
I think that it's a truly open mobile platform based on Linux. Because Nokia gave their governance of hildon to the GNOME community.
First, I'd like to build XUL Runner and run Fennec (Mozilla Mobile). It seems that it could run on N810 and Windows Mobile 6. So I'll check the status and give my feedback to the community.
:-)
References
N810 uses the Maemo platform that is based on Linux 2.6, GTK+, Matchbox and other open source projects. Scratchbox is used for its development environment that supports a cross-platform development environment. So the users can implement an application without knowing how to use a toolchain for specific target devices. In addition, we can easily install applications from the repositories using Debian packaging & repository system.
I think that it's a truly open mobile platform based on Linux. Because Nokia gave their governance of hildon to the GNOME community.
First, I'd like to build XUL Runner and run Fennec (Mozilla Mobile). It seems that it could run on N810 and Windows Mobile 6. So I'll check the status and give my feedback to the community.
:-)
References
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