MozOrientation

Warning: This experimental API was removed in Gecko 6.0 (Firefox 6.0 / Thunderbird 6.0 / SeaMonkey 2.3), when support for the standard DeviceOrientationEvent was implemented. You should use that API instead.

An event that is repeatedly fired on the window as accelerator data is provided to the browser.

Note: This below describes how these values worked for the now obsolete MozOrientation.

The X axis represents the amount of right-to-left tilt. This value is 0 if the device is level along the X axis, and approaches 1 as the device is tilted toward the left, and -1 as the device is tilted toward the right.

The Y axis represents the amount of front-to-back tilt. The value is 0 if the device is level along the Y axis, and approaches 1 as you tilt the device backward (away from you) and -1 as you tilt the device frontward (toward you).

The Z axis represents acceleration vertically. The value is -1 when the device is undergoing standard Earth gravity (9.8m/sec2) but not moving. Moving the device upward causes the value to increase. The value is 0 if the device is being thrust upward. In free fall (weightless or falling as a result of a drop), the value remains -1.

In weightlessness, all values would be zero when the device is not moving, regardless of orientation, and would only change when being accelerated.

In Firefox versions 3.6, 4, and 5 Gecko utilized MozOrientation which was also built to support orientation data but with different APIs from the specified DeviceOrientationEvent.

To normalize between the two you can do something like this:

function orientationhandler(evt){

  // For FF3.6+
  if (!evt.gamma && !evt.beta) {
    evt.gamma = -(evt.x * (180 / Math.PI));
    evt.beta = -(evt.y * (180 / Math.PI));
  }

  // use evt.gamma, evt.beta, and evt.alpha
  // according to dev.w3.org/geo/api/spec-source-orientation


}

window.addEventListener('deviceorientation',  orientationhandler, false);
window.addEventListener('MozOrientation',     orientationhandler, false);

Example

window.addEventListener("MozOrientation", doFunc, true);

The example below simply displays the raw accelerometer data in the browser window as the events arrive.

Notes

This event is only dispatched if an accelerometer is available on the current device.

Specification

Not part of any specification.

See also