DevTools Q2 2017 roadmap

[Patrick Brosset]

Hi folks!

Over the past month, we've been discussing about what a good 2nd quarter
would look like.

But before we dig into it, since we're wrapping up Q1, I'd like us to take
a look at how we did in these first 3 months of 2017! (For context, here's the
email I had sent about Q1 goals
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/mozilla.dev.developer-tools/q1%7Csort:relevance/mozilla.dev.developer-tools/e-WTOb1U8Sc/_iJYOkaIAwAJ>
).

- *Performance tool*: we've been working hard shipping a lot of new
features that Firefox engineers love! They want more so they can make
Firefox even faster!

- We said we'd investigate *shipping DevTools faster*, and we now have a
plan to do just that. Feel free to read the project description
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tod1YH8uuzZykKawNvrLyyxuxxYNUfYsvTuHFa2Jf9s/edit#>
for more context.

- We also said we'd investigate what our future *outside of
mozilla-central* could look like. We did a lot of experimenting and
thinking. More information on this in a separate email soon, but it's
looking good!

- *Network monitor*: we removed the last pieces of XUL from that panel,
and it's now entirely React! We even experimented with launchpad
<https://github.com/devtools-html/devtools-core/tree/master/packages/devtools-launchpad>
so the panel can be opened on its own in a browser tab.

- *Debugger*: we said we'd try and push as hard as we could to make it
have the same level of features as our older debugger front-end. And we
did! It got watch expressions, pretty printing, variable preview popup, and
more. There's almost nothing anymore that our oler front-end could do that
our new front-end can't.

- *New layout panel*: we said we'd try to ship our new layout panel
(with even better grid tools). A ton of work was done there, and we're
almost at the point where we can ship it (see the meta bug
<https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1347964>). So although
it's not going to make it in Q1, most of the work has been done.

- Finally, we said we'd work on preparing our next big feature for
*Responsive
Design Mode*. We paused that work.
We realized we were doing too many different things and needed to
re-focus on shipping the things we had started. So instead, we focused on
making the debugger and console better by working on *source map support*.
Source map support in DevTools hasn't been quite at the level of quality
we'd like, so we've started to fix that. Some pieces have already landed
<https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1339970>, and much more
will follow in Q2.

So, a pretty great quarter if you ask me!! Great job to all who
participated in this.

Now, for Q2, here's what the DevTools plan looks like:

- *Performance tool*: This one is back on. We're not done with the tool
(are we ever done with anything anyway? 😀). Making Firefox faster is an
important goal, and we want to continue helping Firefox engineers as much
as we can in Q2 by providing a tool that lets them understand where
performance gains can be had.

- *Network monitor wrap-up*: We'll be spending some time wrapping-up the
de-XUL-ing work from Q1, which means fixing some performance issues, and
landing the launchpad support.

- *New layout panel*: ship it!🚢

- *New debugger front-end, new console front-end, and source maps*:
we're re-grouping these efforts under the same umbrella, our goal is to let
our new front-ends ride the trains all the way to our release users, along
with great source map support that works across the tools.

- *Shipping faster, and moving to GitHub*: the experiments are done, Q2
will see actual code and process changes.

- *Documentation*: a few weeks ago, in Paris, we talked about making our
documentation better. So we'll do some of it in Q2, so that when we're
done, there's a really easy path for someone to become a contributor.

- *Quality*: as always, bug fixing, with a special focus on those few
features Firebug used to have and we don't yet have.

I think that's it. I'm really looking forward to Q2, and I hope you are too!

Let's make DevTools better for everyone!

Patrick