Latest Version of Firefox 3.0 Goes to Developers
12.19.07
Christmas came a little early for developers this year. Mozilla on Wednesday released the second beta version of Firefox 3.0 that promises enhanced security features and performance capabilities.
The release features an enhanced location bar that matches against page titles and addresses from local history, bookmarks and tags. It also incorporates feedback about security from Beta 1 testers, and includes an "effective top-level domain" that ensures that cookies and other Web content is only visible in a single domain, Mozilla said.
The company cautioned that the release is only geared toward Web developers and Mozilla's testing community, and is not intended for the average Web user.
"We encourage testers to download and install the Beta 2 release to test it against the Web sites they normally visit, and provide feedback about any incompatibilities," Mozilla said in a statement. "It is intended for testing purposes only."
Additional enhancements include more easily decipherable security notices, and a password manager that checks to make sure the correct password has been entered before Mozilla saves it. There is also an automatic check for insecure plugins, extensions and Java, and anti-virus integration with the new download manager.
Beta 2 also includes revamped personalization tools, improved text and graphics rendering, support for offline browsing and Web-based protocol handlers, and full-page zooming, Mozilla said.
Developers interested in testing out the release can visit the Mozilla developer center for more information.
Mozilla released version one of 3.0 in November. It later said it would fix only 20 percent of its known bugs before the latest version of the browser is released in its final version next year. Mike Shaver, Mozilla director of ecosystem development, subsequently penned a blog post that said that 20 percent prediction was a misunderstanding.
Editor's note: Story updated at 5:10pm EST with comments from Shaver.
Firefox 3 Beta 1
PREVIEW DATE: 11.29.07
If you're looking for a shiny new interface and major new features in this first beta of Firefox 3, you'll likely be disappointed. It looks nearly identical to FireFox 2. But beneath that same old skin beats an entirely new, updated heart. Though the interface is largely unchanged, the browser's page-rendering engine has been completely revamped for performance, stability, and security. And a few ease-of-use additions find their way into to product, too, making surfing a tad smoother. Most exciting―for developers at least―is this new version's support for off-line Web applications. The beta is available in versions for Windows, Mac, and Linux in 20 different language editions.
UI Enhancements
Since the user interface is what people notice most in their daily use, I'll go through the user interface tweaks of Firefox 3.0 first, but don't expect to be overly dazzled―yet. This first beta doesn't yet have the redesigned navigation elements slated to show up in the final version. You can get an idea of how they might look in this Firefox blog post, "The Shape of Things to Come?". Mac and Linux users may notice more differences right now, and the goal is to achieve a balance between blending in with each individual platform while maintaining Firefox's own distinctive look.
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What most upgraders are likely to notice first in this beta is the Places folder icon, which takes its place at the head of the links toolbar. Places is where you get easy access to your "starred" pages. The actual "star" is located just to the right of the address bar, and you click on it when you're at a page you want to designate as a favorite, exactly the way it's done in Internet Explorer 7. You can also add tags while doing so, and Places can display tags and the pages they're associated with. It's just like Internet Explorer's stars (or Safari's plus sign), except that Firefox's version doesn't open a sidebar, but rather a menu structure.
The bookmark manager is now called Places Organizer, and it adds helpful search, backup, and preview features. Instead of the large icons at the top of the Firefox 2.0 Bookmarks Manager, Places Organizer has a search bar at the top right and is divided into four panes: a master directory tree along the left (which includes the Places links), a drill-down tree of the selected folder on the left panel, and, below that, a preview window and item-property editor. At the top is a choice for importing and backing up bookmark sets. Creating a backup is a simple matter of choosing a name for the backup (by default the current date) and a file location. You can restore backed-up bookmark sets from the same menu choice.
Browsers have had the ability to auto-complete text you start typing in the address bar for a while, but Firefox 3 takes this a step farther than other browsers. Now you can type any part of a word in a URL that you've visited before, and full URLs with that text will appear in the address bar. For example, right now, if I type "scout" in any currently released browser's address bar, I'll likely get nothing, but doing so in Firefox 3 will correctly call up the full www.appscout.com address, which I recently visited. This even goes for the tail end parts of a URL, after the top-level domain (that is, ".com") and however many slashes there may be. This is a small tweak, but it's a huge convenience. I love this feature, and it seems to work very well already, even in beta 1.
The first time you download a file using your new Firefox 3.0, you'll see that the Download Manager has been updated. Not only is its design somewhat simplified, there's now a Pause button that lets you stop and resume downloads. And the first time you go to a site that requires a log-in, you'll appreciate the less intrusive password-remembering feature. It no longer pops up a dialog, but adds a bar below the address bar. This lets you decide whether you want the browser to save a password after a successful log-in, and it's a definite improvement in usability.
When you close a browser full of tabs, you'll get a dialog asking whether you want to save them―I guess this is preferable to being asked whether you want to resume a session every time you start up. Crash recovery still works as it did in Firefox 2: I did a hard restart, and the next time I ran Firefox 3, I was able to get back to the tabs I'd been at before the restart. The zoom feature has caught up with IE7's and Opera's, now zooming images on the page as well as text.
There are several other minor usability enhancements, like search prepopulating with selected text, a slightly simpler add-on installer, and resizable address and search bars. Personal preference will determine which of these matters most to you, but all seem stable and well-implemented in this version.
Two minor peeves of mine: Tab view isn't on by default, as it is in IE7, Safari, and Opera, and there's no Add a Tab button displayed by default. In this beta, there's also no one-click way to get the sidebar open so you can easily view your bookmarks and history, as you can in the three other browsers. I'd also love it if other browser makers would take the hint from Opera and implement a Paste and Go right-click menu choice. With this feature, after you copy or cut a URL, you can paste it into the address bar and load the page in one motion. Who knows how many cases of carpel tunnel syndrome this could prevent, thanks to saved mouse clicks. Maybe some of these features will show up in the next beta―I hope so.―Next: Security
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