App testing and troubleshooting

Set up your test environment

There are a number of tools you can install that perform useful testing functions for Firefox OS/open web apps. We'd recommend installing at least the following.

• Firefox for desktop. We'd recommend using a prerelease version for testing, such as Aurora or Nightly.
• WebIDE. This provides many useful tools such as debugging apps and installing them on emulators and real devices.

You should ideally also get hold of a real device for testing purposes. For more details, see our Developer phone guide.

Testing

Even though Open Web Apps use the same technology and delivery method as web pages, the user experience for apps is quite different since the app environment doesn’t contain browser chrome such as a URL bar or back button, and Firefox OS devices won’t have a hardware back button like Android does. These steps will help you ensure your app provides a great user experience.

1. Install the app. Make sure icon shows up on launch screen and app name isn’t cut off.
2. Launch the app. Make sure screen size and orientation are detected appropriately.
3. Make sure the user immediately sees your app, not your homepage. Remember, users who install your app through the Firefox Marketplace have already been sold on the features your app offers. There’s no need to make them jump through another hoop by sending them to a landing page that lists your app’s features all over again. The ideal first experience starts users on a Getting Started or Login page.
4. Run through the major features of your app. Specifically watch for navigational dead ends and content scaling issues.
5. Make sure that links to content that is outside your app experience, like links to other web pages or Twitter, open in a new window or frame that gives the user a way to navigate back to your app.
6. In the desktop browser, use Responsive Design View to look at your app on multiple screen sizes. We recommend checking resolutions from 320x480 to 1260x800.

Troubleshooting

• If you need help with developing apps, the App Center has a wealth of information including design and development techniques, app installation, supported APIs, and more.
• The Firefox OS zone has a wealth of information on the Firefox OS platform, for example building the OS, and hacking the default apps.
• For all the details of how to submit an app to the Firefox Marketplace, and what you'll need, see our Submitting an app to the Firefox Marketplace guide.
• The Marketplace FAQ answers a variety of common questions related to publishing on the Firefox Marketplace.
• To ask specific questions, there are a number of Mozilla help Forums available, including newsgroups, mailing lists and IRC. See the details at the bottom of the App Center, Firefox OS zone, and Marketplace zone landing pages for the most relevant places to go in this context.