Mozilla is not just a web browser. It is also a framework for building cross-platform applications using standards such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), XML languages such as the XML-based User-interface Language (XUL), eXtensible Binding Language (XBL), and Resource Description Framework (RDF).

Mozilla不僅僅是個瀏覽器，他同時也是一個用來建立跨平台的應用程式的標準流程。我們可以使用 Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)、 XML語言像是以XML為基礎的User-interface Language (XUL)、eXtensible Binding Language (XBL)、和Resource Description Framework (RDF)。

Gecko, Mozilla's rendering engine, is used as part of the framework, along with other technologies such as XPConnect and XPCOM, Mozilla's component model. The Mozilla development framework also uses programming languages such as JavaScript, C++, C, Python, and Interface Definition Language (IDL).

Gecko，是Mozilla的成像引擎它是整個工作流程的一部分。他也可以與其他的技術一起工作，像是XPConnection、XPCOM和 Mozilla的模組元件。Mozilla開發流程使用JavaScript、C++、C、Python，和介面定義語言( Interface Definition Language IDL)。

The Mozilla framework is used to create Netscape's Mozilla-based browsers (Netscape 6.x and 7.x), other browsers such as Galeon and Camino, and chat clients like ChatZilla and JabberZilla. Developers also use Mozilla to create development tools, browser enhancements, games, and other types of add-ons and applications.

Mozilla的開發流程之前用來建立 Netscape，以Mozilla為基礎的瀏覽器(6.x 和7.x)。其他的瀏覽器像是Galeon和 Camino 還有聊天室的客戶端軟體 ChatZilla和JabberZilla也都使用Mozilla的開發流程。開發者同樣使用Mozilla來 建立開發工具、瀏覽器的增強模組、遊戲 和其他類型的附加應用程式。

This book explains how applications are created with Mozilla and provides step-by-step information that shows how to create your own programs using Mozilla's powerful cross-platform development framework. It also includes examples of different existing applications to demonstrate the possibilities of Mozilla development.

這本書會介紹如何使用Mozilla來開發軟體，並且會提供詳盡的教學展示如何使用Mozilla強大的跨平台開發流程來建立屬於你自己的程式。其 中也包括了許多種不同種類的範例，用來證明Mozilla開發的可行性。
1. Mozilla的背景

When Netscape Communications Corporation was founded, it planned to create a better version of NCSA's Mosaic browser, the first application that made accessing the Internet possible for ordinary users. This new application would be a Mosaic Killer. In time, the word "Mozilla" became the shortened version of this phrase and the code word for Netscape's browsers.

當網景的Comunications有了相當基礎之後，它便計畫創造出更好的瀏覽工具。第一個應用程式就是讓一般的使用者可以存取網路的資源。這個 軟體將成為瀏覽器的殺手(Mosaic Killer)。在此時 Mozilla這個字就成為這個詞組的縮寫和網景瀏覽器的中心概念。

Mozilla has become more than a reference to one of Netscape's products. On March 31, 1998, http://www.mozilla.org/ was launched as the site where the development of Netscape's next-generation Communicator 5.0 browser suite would take place. At that point, Mozilla became an open source project and began to take on a life of its own beyond its origins at Netscape.

Mozilla目前已經不只是網景的產品之一。在1998年三月三十一號 http://www.mozilla.org/ 開始運作，並且成為網 景下一世代的瀏覽器的核心，在那個時候 Mozilla成為一個開放原始碼的專案，並且脫離了原來的Netscape開始了他自己的新生命。

When Netscape released its Communicator code to the open source community, it did something that was never done before: no other major software company had given away the source code to a proprietary product. At the time, many people in the software industry and the press debated the wisdom of this decision.

當網景將它的Communicator程式碼開放開放原始碼社群的時後，他達到了一個前所未有的境界
-從來沒有任何一家主流的軟體公司將他們所擁有的產品原始碼釋出。
在那個時候，許多在軟體業界和報社的人們都在爭論這個舉動背後所代表的智慧。

Many other companies have followed Netscape's lead and released their own products to the open source community. Sun Microsystems sponsors several projects, including http://www.openoffice.org/ and http://www.netbeans.org/. Apple also bases the core of its new operating system on an open source project called Darwin, hosted at http://developer.apple.com/darwin/.

許多其它的公司也已經跟隨著網景的腳步也將他們的產品原始碼釋放給開放原始碼社群。
昇陽主導了許多的計畫，包括http://www.openoffice.org/和http://netbeans.org。
蘋果電腦新的作業系統Darwin也是建立在他們自己所放出的原始碼專案上。網址在http: //developer.apple.com/darwin。

A year after the Mozilla source code was released, Mike Homer, a senior executive at Netscape, made the following comments: "Mozilla is larger than Netscape, and that was its intention. Mozilla is essentially a collaborative project that was sponsored by a commercial entity. Some of the people that staff mozilla.org are Netscape employees, and the code that was contributed was code previously owned by Netscape. However, it's also true that the code base will take on a life of its own someday."

在Mozilla原始碼釋放一年後，網景的資深經理 Mike Homer這樣評論著:
"Mozilla比Netscape還龐大許多，而這正是它的目的。"
"Mozilla實質上是個由商業組織以慈善為目的所發起的協同計畫。"
"某些受雇在mozilla.org工作的成員實際上是網景的員工。"
"這些程式碼所貢獻出來的能耐比之前被網景所掌控的時後還要多。"
"然而，總有一天這些底層的程式碼將會擁有他們自己的生命。"

Since the project's launch, many people outside Netscape have joined the community, although many Netscape (now AOL) employees still contribute to its advancement. The Mozilla community is growing beyond the original home of mozilla.org. Other community resources worth examining include http://www.mozillazine.org/, an advocacy and news site, and http://www.mozdev.org/, a project-hosting site for Mozilla applications.

自從這個專案啟動之後，網景之外的許多人也參與了這個社群，然而還是有許多的網景(AOL)員工
持續地貢獻心力來幫助這個專案的成長。Mozilla社群的成長幅度已經遠遠超過原來網站mozilla.org的程度。
其他的社群資源網站有:
http://www.mozillazine.org/一個提倡Mozilla和新聞報導網站
http://www.mozdev.org則是一個以專案開發為主的網站

Several companies, including IBM, Red Hat, ActiveState, and Sun Microsystems have also contributed to the Mozilla community. For instance, Red Hat has provided support for Mozilla because it wants to help drive development of an open source alternative to the closed source Netscape 4.x browser suite that they had included in their Linux distribution. AOL has also explored the use of Mozilla in its latest CompuServe and AOL clients.

許多的公司像是IBM、Red Hat、ActiveState和昇陽也已經對Mozilla做出了貢獻。
例如:Red Hat之前就已經提供支援給Mozilla。因為他們想要幫助這些開發者盡快地完成Netscape4.x的專案。
這樣一來他們就可以在他們的Linux中附上此套產品。
AOL也使用Mozilla在他們最新的CompuServe和AOL 客戶端上。

Because all Mozilla source code is made available to anyone who is interested, the community benefits from an increase in the number of suggestions, bug reports, patches, and new developers. Along with the people who were involved with the project when it was first released as open source, the new people and companies that joined the community have helped shape the direction and outcome of the Mozilla project.