View source for Firefox/Features/windows-scrolling

{{FeatureStatus
|Feature name=Support High Resolution Scrolling on Windows
|Feature stage=Shipped
|Feature status=Complete
|Feature version=Firefox 6
|Feature health=OK
|Feature status note=Main implementation bugs point to Firefox 6 as Milestone. Please correct me if I am wrong.
}}
{{FeatureTeam
|Feature product manager=Asa Dotzler
|Feature feature manager=Alex Faaborg
|Feature lead engineer=Masayuki Nakano
|Feature qa lead=George Carstoiu
|Feature ux lead=Alex Faaborg
}}
{{FeaturePageBody
|Feature overview=We need to enable users on windows to scroll with pixel level precision (when using a non-discrete wheel), similar to the fine grained level of control that users currently have on OS X.  Windows Vista introduced standard mouse events that contain a higher level of scrolling precision for mouse wheel movement in 2006.  Non discrete mouse wheels have been in the marketplace for awhile now, and mouse drivers are sending these events to applications.

We're doing this because:
*Moving to pixel scrolling where possible will make a very common browser activity feel faster, more responsive, and improve the general feel of the application.

This feature falls primarily in the '''Experience''' category (from the "Discover, Experience, and Connect" vision statement.)

==== Goals ====
The goal is to scroll on Windows as well as Firefox on OS X.  The fact that we only do line scrolling on windows impacts our perceived performance and responsiveness, and the general feel of the application.  Scrolling is something that users do literally constantly with a Web browser (much more than any other interaction or UI control), so changes to how the application scrolls should respectively be prioritized extremely high.  The fact that we don't support an important scrolling feature of Windows that was introduced 5 years ago may be indicative of just how few people at Mozilla actually use Firefox on Windows.
|Feature users and use cases="Scrolls like butter"
|Feature non-goals=Note that this bug is different than {{bug|590022}}.  Our smooth scrolling preference simply draws 10 frames when we receive an event that the user has moved their mouse wheel a single discrete step.  This project is about fine grained precision, and non-discrete mouse wheels.
|Feature ux design=Just pixel level scrolling precision, similar to scrolling in Firefox on OS X.  Currently on Windows we only do line scrolling.
|Feature qa review=Limitations:
* only applicable to Windows 7 and Windows Vista
* drivers need to send small delta value than 1 line (or, send 1.x lines)
* non-Logitech's user will not feel scroll smoother in default settings

* feature should be expanded to include other mouse producers and default Windows/Linux/Mac drivers
|Feature implementation notes=* [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=605648 Bug 605648 - Support high resolution scrolling on Windows]
* [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=658111 Bug 658111 - Enable Windows high resolution scrolling in default settings]
|Feature landing criteria=After we land the patch we need enough time for testing, since there is a wide range of mouse hardware out on the market (especially on Windows).
}}
{{FeatureInfo
|Feature priority=P1
|Feature roadmap=User Experience
|Feature list=Desktop
|Feature engineering team=Desktop front-end
}}
{{FeatureTeamStatus
|Feature products notes=Setting to complete since this has now landed.
|Feature security status=pass
|Feature qa status=Ready to land in Fx6
|Feature qa notes=improvement in scrolling noticeable on Win7
}}