If you're new or just need a little help getting around, you've come to the right place!

We'll try to keep this page up-to-date with useful information so that you can take full advantage of the QMO site.

FAQ

1. How do I create an account?

You can create an account at http://quality.mozilla.org/user/register and then follow the instructions on that page and in the confirmation email you should receive.

2. How do I join a Project?

You can join a project by first selecting the "Projects" link on the left hand side of the page, and then selecting the link for the individual project you are interested in. Once you enter the project page, select the "Join Project" button on the right hand side of the page and you're in like flint!

3. During testing I don't want to ruin my personal files like my bookmarks, history, cookies, etc. What can I do to test and back-up those files somewhere else?

Firefox has a profile for every logged-in user and can be backed-up/loaded/fumbled around with to that user's heart's content. To read more about how to interface with that profile, please check out the following link: http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Profiles

4: I've created a profile. I'm on the irc channel. Now what? Who can I contact in order to join a certain area of QA?

For now, just put up a question globally to the channel and someone will direct you to whoever is either in charge of that QA area or helps out there.

5: I love being on the bleeding edge of my web experience, so how can I get the latest and greatest in-development Firefox (Minefield and Shiretoko builds)?

The latest build is always found at the link below, but if you want to download any other current test builds, click on the Parent Directory link after going to the page below and out will pop a list full of every build made for any particular release.

http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/latest-trunk/ -> Minefield
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/latest-mozilla-1.9.1/ -> Shiretoko

During development we use codenames for our release. Minefield is the codename for the trunk, Shiretoko was the code name for the Firefox 3.5 release, and the code name for the next Firefox release is Namokora.

6.  Where can I find instructions on how to participate in a Test Day/Bug Day?

http://quality.mozilla.org/guide-firefox-test-daysbug-days

7. I don't have any experience in QA - is experience needed?

No prior experience is needed in QA.  We will work with you to slot you into an area you are interested in.  We have a number of folks within the QA team that can work to get you up to speed in the area you are interested in.

8. I have a day job - can I still help in the evenings/weekends?

Absolutely!  A good portion of the work we do can be done anytime you have spare time, and our test tools such as Litmus (litmus.mozilla.org) are open 24-7.  Also, there are often team members in our IRC channel that can help you with questions you may have (irc.mozilla.org in #qa)

9. Why is this work helpful to Mozilla?

Finding regressions ranges, confirming bugs and providing reliable steps to reproduce are important tasks that need to be done to make Firefox better!  Without a good set of steps to reproduce a bug, we can’t write a Litmus testcase or automated test to cover that functionality so it does not happen again.   If we don’t take the time to verify the set of fixed bugs, then we can’t be 100% sure the issue has been fixed.  Finally, regression hunting takes some patience but is essential in narrowing down actually when a checkin caused a problem.  And since Mozilla supports Windows, Mac and Linux,  we need to check many fixes on all three operating systems.

10. Is there a presentation online that gives a good overview of Mozilla QA?

http://www.slideshare.net/mozillamarcia/mozilla-under-the-hood-1257014