Firefox 144 Lands View Transitions, Lit Framework Moves to OpenJS Foundation

Firefox has officially rolled out support for View Transitions in its latest stable release, version 144, launched on October 14th. This significant update brings a highly anticipated feature, previously exclusive to Chrome and more recently adopted by Safari, to all major browsers. The View Transitions API Level 1 enables developers to create smooth, animated transitions between different DOM states or pages, enhancing the user experience. While initial implementation in Firefox 144 has exhibited minor flickering in specific scenarios compared to Chrome, the web development community generally welcomes this foundational step. Beyond View Transitions, Firefox 144 also introduces several other platform enhancements, including the element.movefor API for efficient DOM element manipulation without recreation, improved Linear Gradient and Connect Gradient rendering, and new Get or Insert methods for Map and WeakMap. Additional features like new tab themes, tab grouping, improved picture-in-picture controls, and Perplexity AI search integration round out the update.

In a separate but equally impactful development for the web ecosystem, the Lit framework, a popular tool for building Web Components, is transitioning to open governance. Google, Lit’s original maintainer, has announced that the project will now be stewarded by the OpenJS Foundation as an Impact Project. This move, revealed at a recent US JavaScript conference, aims to revitalize Lit by shifting control from a single corporate entity to a broader community-led model. The new governance structure is expected to foster greater community participation, enhance sustainability, and provide clear pathways for contributions, mirroring the success seen with other OpenJS Foundation projects like Node.js, Express, Webpack, and Electron. This strategic shift is anticipated to secure Lit’s future and enable more robust and collaborative development of Web Components.