Mozilla Offers Up Firefox Support For Virtual Reality

The rising interest in virtual reality has led developers over at Mozilla, makers of the Firefox Web browser, to begin testing VR interfaces for Firefox.

It’s a strong move by Firefox to prepare for what is expected to become a booming market, as more consumers become familiar with VR.

The first Mozilla technical vision for the Web includes the following: Rendering Canvas to VR devices, rendering 3D video to VR devices, rendering HTML content, mixing WebGL-rendered 3D content, and receiving input from orientation and position sensors.

Here is what Vladimir Vukicevic, Firefox Web browser developer, said in a blog post:

“We are adding native support for VR devices to early experimental and builds of Firefox, so that Web developers can start experimenting with adding VR interactivity to their website and content.  This is only the first of many steps that we’ll be taking over the coming weeks and months.”

Trying to expand content to support VR will initially be a difficult process, but one that other Web developers outside of Firefox also are researching.

When most people currently think of VR, Oculus Rift – which was purchased by Facebook – is the most familiar name.  However, the market is rapidly accelerating, with other manufacturers expected to show off their own VR headsets.

Interested followers can sign up for the Mozilla VR discussion mailing list – and developers that want to experiment with VR on the web can download an early preview build.

Thank you to Vladmir Vukicevic for providing us with this information

Image courtesy of Business Insider