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Gecko (software)
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==History== Development of the layout engine now known as Gecko began at [[Netscape]] in 1997, following the company's purchase of [[DigitalStyle]]. The existing Netscape rendering engine, originally written for [[Netscape Navigator]] 1.0 and upgraded through the years, was slow, did not comply well with W3C standards, had limited support for [[dynamic HTML]] and lacked features such as incremental reflow (when the layout engine rearranges elements on the screen as new data is downloaded and added to the page). The new layout engine was developed in parallel with the old, with the intention being to integrate it into Netscape Communicator when it was mature and stable. At least one more major revision of Netscape was expected to be released with the old layout engine before the switch. After the launch of the Mozilla project in early 1998, the new layout engine code was released under an open-source license. Originally unveiled as ''Raptor'', the name had to be changed to ''NGLayout'' (next generation layout) due to [[trademark]] problems. Netscape later rebranded NGLayout as ''Gecko''. While [[Mozilla Organization]] (the forerunner of the [[Mozilla Foundation]]) initially continued to use the NGLayout name (Gecko was a Netscape trademark),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mozilla.org/newlayout/gecko.html |title=nglayout project: identity crisis |publisher=Mozilla.org |access-date=2012-10-31 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629154746/http://www.mozilla.org/newlayout/gecko.html |archive-date=2011-06-29 }}</ref> eventually the Gecko branding won out.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} In October 1998, Netscape announced that its next browser would use Gecko (which was still called NGLayout at the time) rather than the old layout engine, requiring large parts of the application to be rewritten. While this decision was popular with web standards advocates, it was largely unpopular with Netscape developers, who were unhappy with the six months given for the rewrite.<ref name="Collins_interview"/> It also meant that most of the work done for [[Netscape 5|Netscape Communicator 5.0]] (including development on the [[Mariner (layout engine)|Mariner]] improvements to the old layout engine) had to be abandoned. Netscape 6, the first Netscape release to incorporate Gecko, was released in November 2000 (the name Netscape 5 was never used).{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} As Gecko development continued, other applications and embedders began to make use of it. [[America Online]], by this time Netscape's parent company, eventually adopted it for use in [[CompuServe]] 7.0 and AOL for Mac OS X (these products had previously embedded Internet Explorer). However, with the exception of a few [[development stage|betas]], Gecko was never used in the main [[Microsoft Windows]] AOL client.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} On July 15, 2003, AOL laid off the remaining Gecko developers and the Mozilla Foundation (formed on the same day) became the main steward of Gecko development. Today, Gecko is developed by employees of the [[Mozilla Corporation]], employees of companies that contribute to the Mozilla project, and volunteers.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} In the Netscape era, a combination of poor technical and management decisions resulted in Gecko [[software bloat]].<ref name="Collins_interview">{{cite web |url = https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2004/06/collins-interview/2/ |title = Ars Technica sits down with Scott Collins from Mozilla.org |author = Jorge O. Castro |website = Ars Technica |date = 2004-06-15 |access-date=2017-02-16}}</ref><ref name="FestaCnet"/><ref name="dbaron-complexity">{{cite web|url=http://dbaron.org/log/2003-01#l20030109 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090728082253/http://dbaron.org/log/2003-01 |title=Thursday 2003-01-09 |work=David Baron's weblog |author=David Baron |publisher=self-published |date=2003-01-09 |archive-date=2009-07-28 |access-date=2017-02-16 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Thus in 2001 [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] chose to fork [[KHTML]], not Gecko, to create the [[WebKit]] [[browser engine|engine]] for its [[Safari (web browser)|Safari]] browser.<ref name="FestaCnet">{{cite web|url=http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-980492.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025015655/http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-980492.html |title=Apple snub stings Mozilla |author=Paul Festa |publisher=[[CNET Networks]] |date=2003-01-14 |archive-date=2012-10-25 |access-date=2017-02-16 |author-link=Paul Festa |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="dbaron-complexity"/> However, by 2008 Mozilla had addressed some of the bloat problems, resulting in significant performance improvements for Gecko.<ref>{{cite web |url =https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2008/09/mozilla-committed-to-gecko/ |author = Ryan Paul |title = Why Mozilla is committed to Gecko as WebKit popularity grows |date = 2008-09-09 |access-date=2017-02-16}}</ref> ===Quantum=== In October 2016, Mozilla announced [[#Quantum 2|Quantum]], an ongoing project encompassing several [[software development]] efforts to "build the next-generation web engine for [[Firefox]] users". It included numerous improvements to Gecko, taken from the experimental [[Servo (software)|Servo]] project.<ref name="QuantWiki">{{cite web|url=https://wiki.mozilla.org/Quantum|title=Quantum|website=Mozilla Wiki|access-date=2017-04-20}}</ref><ref name="QuantAnnounce">{{Cite news|url=http://news.softpedia.com/news/mozilla-announces-quantum-a-new-browser-engine-for-firefox-509767.shtml|title=Mozilla Announces Quantum, a New Browser Engine for Firefox|last=Cimpanu|first=Catalin|newspaper=softpedia|access-date=2016-11-07}}</ref> Firefox 57, also known as "Firefox Quantum", first shipped in November 2017 and was the initial version with major components from the Quantum/Servo projects enabled. These include increased performance in the [[CSS]] and [[GPU]] rendering components. Additional components will be merged from Servo to Gecko incrementally in future versions.<ref name="QuantWiki" /> ===GeckoView=== In September 2018, Mozilla announced GeckoView, the foundation of Mozilla's next generation of mobile products based on a software library that makes Gecko reusable for Android, encompassing newer software development efforts to "decouple the engine itself from its user interface, and made it easy to embed in other applications". Firefox Focus 7.0, shipped in the same month,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://techdows.com/2018/09/firefox-focus-7-0-to-use-geckoview-gecko-engine.html|title=Firefox Focus 7.0 enters beta, Switches to GeckoView (Gecko Engine)|date=14 September 2018|access-date=19 September 2019|archive-date=31 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731225124/https://techdows.com/2018/09/firefox-focus-7-0-to-use-geckoview-gecko-engine.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> is the initial version introduced GeckoView, with increased performance in median page loading.<ref name="focus-with-geckoview">{{cite web|url=https://hacks.mozilla.org/2018/09/focus-with-geckoview/|title=Firefox Focus with GeckoView|date=September 13, 2018|website=Mozilla Hacks|access-date=September 4, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://support.mozilla.org/kb/whats-new-firefox-focus-android-version-7|title=What's new in Firefox Focus for Android (version 7) {{!}} Firefox Focus Help|website=support.mozilla.org|language=en-US|access-date=September 4, 2019}}</ref> Firefox Reality was also built with GeckoView.<ref name="focus-with-geckoview" /> In June 2019, Mozilla announced Firefox Preview as an ongoing project that focuses on building an Android web browser with GeckoView.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://hacks.mozilla.org/2019/06/geckoview-in-2019/|title=GeckoView in 2019|date=June 27, 2019|website=Mozilla Hacks|access-date=September 4, 2019}}</ref> Firefox for Android 79, also known as "Firefox Daylight", first shipping in August 2020, is the first stable release of that with major components powered by GeckoView engine.<ref>{{Cite web|date=August 25, 2020|title=Fast, personalized and private by design on all platforms: introducing a new Firefox for Android experience|author=Vesta Zare|url=https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2020/08/25/introducing-a-new-firefox-for-android-experience/|access-date=September 22, 2020|website=Mozilla Blog|language=en-US}}</ref>
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