Here's The First Browser That Passed The MathML Acid2 Test

Firefox's nightly build ( which is available from nightly.mozilla.org ) , and more specifically, the Gecko rendering engine, became the first to have passed the MathML Acid2 test.

The findings were first disclosed on Planet Mozilla (caution: heavy webpage) by Frederic Wang, who stated that this has happened as a result of a patch applied to resolve a bug filed earlier.

How is MathML relevant today in web development?

Quoting from the README file of the MathML ACID tests:

MathML is a very old W3C standard, now integrated into HTML5 and EPUB3 so browser vendors can not claim having a standard-compliant rendering engine when this one lacks a native MathML implementation.

Thus, MathML serves as an important parameter in the evaluation of adhering to HTML 5. There are many other MathML tests too available, from Mozilla, W3C, etc., not all of which are automated.

Wang also states that Google Chrome's forked Webkit resulted in removal of some code that was not being planned to work upon in the short term, and this (removed) code included MathML. As a result, Chrome's Canary build does not pass the test.

When is this build of Firefox expected to be released as a stable update?

A work-in-progress webpage on the Mozilla developer network begins as follows:

Firefox 23, based on Gecko 23, will ship in August 2013.

As a web developer, how have you found testing your web pages/sites and applications on Firefox? Share with us your experience in the comments below!