The Download Blog

Usually not much happens to a software product from one point release to the next, much less one beta version to the next. But Mozilla has made quite a few changes with the second beta of Firefox 3.1, released Monday.

In the new version are support for video and audio built into Web pages, a built-in service for telling Web sites a user's location if users permit it, private browsing, Web worker support for more powerful Web-based programs, and my favorite feature, the TraceMonkey engine for running the JavaScript programs used to build sophisticated Web sites. TraceMonkey was released before, but now it's switched on by default.

The official announcement has more details for users, and programmers can check the developer site. CNET's Download.com site has the Windows and Mac OS X versions available.

The finished 3.1 version, code-named Shiretoko, is expected to arrive in early 2009 after a third beta, Mozilla has said. It arrives during a period of hot activity for browsers.

Apple is promoting its Safari browser for Windows as well as Mac OS X. Microsoft, the leader of the market, plans to release Internet Explorer 8 in 2009. And of course the biggest change is the arrival of Google Chrome, an open-source project that, like Safari, uses uses a project called WebKit for interpreting and displaying the basic HTML code used to describe Web pages. (Updated 10:05 p.m. PST to clarify that Chrome, not Firefox, uses WebKit.)

Mozilla Chairman Mitchell Baker is unfazed by the competition, though. Largely because of search-ad-related revenue from Google, the organization behind Firefox, the Mozilla Foundation, pulled in $75 million in 2007.

One of the most useful hot-key commands in Firefox is Ctrl+Tab. Unlike the Alt+Tab hot-key combo for Windows, which lets you jump from program to program in an interface based on the program's icon, the browsing tab switcher has never had a graphic interface--until now.

In this CNET TV Quick Tip, Molly Wood shows you the new tab switching GUI (graphical user interface) that's coming in Firefox 3.1. It's only in beta now, so if you're not comfortable installing unstable software, I recommend holding off for the official release.

After playing around with the feature a few weeks ago, all I can add is this: what on Earth took Mozilla so long?

Mozilla fans can now play with the anticipated speedier JavaScript engine in the first beta for Firefox 3.1, as well as explore improvements to the Smart Location Bar and a slick interface for hotkey tab switching. Now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux users, the new JavaScript engine, called TraceMonkey, is not turned on by default.

The latest Firefox beta introduces a visual tab switcher and rolls in the Geode geolocator plug-in.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

To activate it, type "about:config" into the Smart Bar, then type "javascript.options.jit.content" into the filter. Double-click on the preference listed to change the boolean setting from "false" to "true." Close the window and you should notice an immediate improvement to the JavaScript rendering speed.

Don't take my word for it, though. Using the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark test, Firefox 3.1 beta 1 completed the test in 2787.6 milliseconds--about twice as fast as the current stable release, Firefox 3.0.3, which clocked in at 5446.6 ms.

Using CTRL+Tab to jump between open tabs now has graphic overlay, much like the Windows Vista ALT+Tab program switcher. The Geode geolocator plug-in has been rolled into FF3.1. The Geode drop-down worked for me, but it wasn't always able to find my location.

You can now restrict searches in the Awesome Smart Bar using special characters such as "+" and "#". These and other aspects of the character restrictions are customizable through about:config.

Two much-anticipated features did not make it into this beta. Private Browsing, Mozilla's answer to Google Chrome's Incognito, and enhanced session management features were not available in this beta.

I found that several of my plug-ins were not compatible with the new tab switcher, so I just disabled all of them. Using a plug-in to force forward-compatibility in other plug-ins can lead to instability and crashes, arguably even more so because this is a beta. However, if you're interested in getting the fastest version of Firefox that we've seen to date, Firefox 3.1 beta 1 is going to deliver the goods.

You can read the full list of changes here.

One of the more useful tools that came with Internet Explorer 8 beta 1 was a toolbar button that easily switched between the beta and the previous stable iteration of the program, IE7. Nobody seems to have written a Firefox extension that does that--yet--but there are still several ways to have separate installations of Firefox 3 beta and the stable Firefox 2 on your computer, for both Mac and PC.

There's a Firefox logo somewhere on the non sequitar spaceman, so he must be relevant.

(Credit: Mozilla Foundation)

I covered one way Windows users can have dual installations back when FF3 beta 1 came out. Using PortableApps' Firefox 3 Portable beta 4, you can keep your Firefox 2 settings while tinkering with Firefox 3. This is especially important with the fourth beta release, as the plug-ins feature has been overhauled and many extension publishers are beginning to release FF3-compatible updates that might make your profile squeal in pain in FF2.

Another way that is more complicated involves creating a new profile in Firefox 2 before installing the FF3 beta. Once you've installed the beta, but before you launch it, you associate the shortcut for the beta executable with the new profile. It's a sound solution, but it's much easier to just grab the PortableApps version and be done with it.

Mac users aren't to be left out of this game, either. For those of you who pray at night at an altar decked out with photos of Steve Jobs and the Firefox logo, there's a simple solution to your dilemma. Download MultiFireFox, created by Dave Martorana.

MultiFireFox lets Mac users run stable and beta versions of Firefox simultaneously.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

This launcher application prevents the beta from wrecking your FF2 profile. Copy it and the included Firefox3.app to your Applications folder, and you'll be able to switch installations on the fly. Don't forget that you'll need to create a separate profile for the beta testing before you can try out the beta. Once you've got your profile created, update the Firefox 3 beta to the latest version. The current build of MultiFireFox comes with FF3 beta 3, not beta 4.

This solution is superior to the Windows one in that you'll be able to run both versions at the same time, switching between them at will. However, I haven't been able to get beta 4 for Mac to save my open tabs as it does in Windows.

Users who like their Web browsing to be liberally sprinkled with the flavor of the unknown can try out the nightly build of Firefox 3, code-named Minefield for a good reason: it's not for the faint-hearted.

Claiming a massive number of fixes, Mozilla has released Firefox 3 beta 4 (download for Windows and Mac). This version is more stable than previous FF3 betas, but it also showcases some of the more interesting new features that we'd been promised, but until now hadn't yet arrived.

Of the more than 900 changes and fixes, four of the most useful are the add-on finder, the full-page zoom, the one-click site info, and greater cross-platform integration. Extensions are handled the same way as in FF2: users can click on an XPI and it will automatically be saved to Firefox's add-ons folder. Now, though, you can search for add-ons and get your search results within the add-on window. You can also search for and add recommended add-ons. Peter Butler has taken a longer look at the changes Firefox 3 has wrought on some of his favorite extensions.

Upcoming versions of Firefox support searching for plug-ins from the Add-on box.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Although the new features installed plug-ins without a hitch, the discovery feature had some difficulty recognizing recommended Firefox 3-compatible add-ons that weren't installed.

The one-click site info finally takes the charming but useless favicon and turns it into something worthwhile. Clicking on it in FF3 beta 4 provides site information such as the Web site owner, their location, and whether the connection to the site is encrypted or not. Favicons for Web sites like PayPal that use Extended Validation SSL will turn green. Non-verified sites will indicate only that the site status is unknown.

The full-page zoom is a useful tweak to an old feature. Although you've been able to zoom in or out on text in Firefox 2, this new feature allows for entire pages--including graphics--to be enlarged or shrunk at constant proportions. It's a good improvement, although I'd also like to see a "quick restart" button standard on the Toolbar. They both strike me as being about as equally popular.

The cross-platform integration speaks to Firefox's desire for broad appeal: improvements have been made to Firefox iterations running on Windows Vista, as well as Linux and Mac platforms. The Vista improvements take advantage of Vista widgets in the browser and Web forms. The Mac changes are largely cosmetic, with a new OS X theme designed to make FF look like a native app, as well as support for OS X widgets and Growl notifications. The Linux changes are cosmetic as well, utilizing the native GTK theme.

The location bar favicon becomes useful by revealing site security and other info in Firefox 3 beta 4.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Another well-done change is the revamp of the auto-completion feature in the location bar. In Firefox 3, when you start typing a URL the auto-complete will scan your bookmarks for suggestions as well as recently visited sites, and you also get the site title along with the suggested URL. Site suggestions that come from your bookmarks are marked by yellow stars.

Revamps of the way that Firefox handles JavaScript and memory cycles should lead to even faster performance than previous beta versions of FF3, but honestly it was a little hard to eyeball that. Although Firefox 3's features are a major improvement to the wildly popular browser, faster response times in a Web-intensive site like Gmail make me hopeful that the engine work being done will have a big-time payoff.

The artwork for the Firefox 3 beta promotional campaign hints at a powerful galactic defender. But who are the menacing gray spaceships? ... Phishers!?!?

(Credit: Mozilla Foundation)

The big news today in the software world is a new beta version for Mozilla Firefox. The world has been sitting on Version 2 for almost a year and a half now, but the open-source foundation is making sure that Version 3 is fully baked before releasing a final version.

The latest beta release promises "more than 900 enhancements from the previous beta," but a large number of those improvements are back end and mostly invisible. Two significant features in the fourth beta that I appreciate are: an improved password manager toolbar that replaces the old semifunctional dialog; and better performance for system-intensive Web-based software like Gmail.

As for the promise of improved memory usage, I'm not sure I can call it a rousing success. I personally noticed slight memory improvements with Firefox 3 beta 4 compared with Firefox 2.0.0.12, but no major leaps. By default, Firefox 3 beta is still a fairly big browser that will definitely suck up your system resources once you have a number of tabs open or Web apps running.

Learn what else is new in this latest release from a First Look article by Download.com editor Seth Rosenblatt.

Another big hit in the blogosphere today was the publication of "10 Killer Firefox Extensions That You Don't Probably Know About" from the community site WebUpon. It's a hit or miss list, and I wouldn't call most of those overlooked, but Firefox users sure love finding new extensions.

In response to WebUpon's list, I've got my own three favorite "overlooked" Firefox extensions that have been selected specifically for power downloaders. Even better, all of these extensions--DownThemAll, CustomizeGoogle, and Download PDF--are compatible with the latest Firefox 3 beta release:

DownThemAll

Filters such as JPEG or MP3 can automatically detect all files on a given Web page.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

There are certainly right and wrong times to download content in mass batches. The right time is with free, legal content, and this lightweight Firefox add-on will certainly ease the strain of your downloading chores.

It's a built-in download manager that quickly analyzes all of the given links to possible downloads on a Web page and then presents them for you to save locally as you see fit. For collectors of free music, images, and movies, it's a downloading dream. Less clicking makes everyone happy.

CustomizeGoogle

The interface for CustomizeGoogle is nothing special, but streaming search Google results are a must.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

This long list of tweaks for Google's online services covers 13 of the software company's major applications, including Gmail, Web Search, News, Image Search, and Maps. Simply select a specific product in the left-hand navigation, then select from a series of customization options on the right.

Make Google Calendar automatically use a secure server. Add results from other product search sites in your Froogle/Google Product Search results. Best of all, you'll never have to click a "next" button on a Google search-results page ever again with the "Stream search results pages" option. You can stream literally hundreds of thousands of results (numbered, no less) on one Google search results page!

PDF Download

If you've ever gotten frustrated with PDF files pushing you around, PDF Download strikes back pre-emptively.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

OK, OK, I admit it's tough to defend a product with 2,400 downloads last week as "overlooked," but it's underappreciated regardless. This simple little extension gives you complete control over PDF files. The problem with opening PDF files in Firefox is that it tends to slow down your performance, especially if you open a number of them.

Rather than stick you all alone with a browser-jarring PDF file, the PDF Download extension provides you the option to: download the file locally; open it with Firefox using the PDF download options settings; view the PDF as an HTML file in the browser; bypass PDF Download; or cancel the link. If it's a PDF file I know that I'll refer to later, I always save it locally, then open it with a separate viewer. I'll need the file locally to share; and I also avoid slowing down Firefox.

As mentioned, these three extensions are all compatible with the latest Firefox 3 beta version. I was a little surprised there weren't more extensions compatible with 3.0b4, but I suppose it was only released today.

What do you think of the new Firefox 3 beta version? What are your picks for the most overlooked Firefox extensions? Tell me about it in the comments.

Mozilla has released a third beta version of Firefox 3, bringing about 1,300 changes to the widely used open-source Web browser.

Firefox 3 Beta 3 should be more stable, perform faster, use memory more efficiently, and fit in better on various operating systems than its predecessors, Mozilla said.

Beta 3 of Firefox 3, shown here running on Windows XP, uses new interface elements made of vector graphics. It helps improve performance, Mozilla said.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET Networks)

Having tried the new version out for a while this morning, my top impression hasn't changed since beta 2: the best thing about the new version is faster performance. Pages load faster.

Other improvements, according to the Firefox 3 release notes, include a better tool for seeing who owns a Web site; better protection against sites known to install viruses, spyware, or other malicious software; the plugging of 350 memory leaks that previously could waste more and more computer memory; the ability to locate downloaded files; a better tool to find and install plug-ins; and , now enabled by default.

The new Firefox beta can be downloaded from the Mozilla Web site, including versions for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux localized for several languages.

The new Firefox beta also adopts more of the native style of Mac OS X, Windows Vista, and Linux--the latter having been a point of some contention earlier given some technical difficulties. Also interesting from an interface standpoint and giving the beta a new look is the use of vector graphics for elements such as the back arrow and reload button.

I like Firefox 3's new location bar drop-down feature, in which Firefox presents various sites I've visited or bookmarked. For example, typing "can" retrieves a list that includes various Canon Web sites I've visited as well as Icanhascheezburger.com. (Alas, though, everyone's favorite LOLcats site seems to have a rendering problem with the new browser in the form of 10 "favorite" buttons.)

Beta 3 apparently improves the "frecency" formula that selects what to display in the drop-down list based on how frequently and recently you visited the sites. My only beef with the location bar drop-down so far is that it's a visually chaotic jumble of URLs, favicons, and titles in different fonts and colors.

Coincidentally, I was able to give the new Firefox 3 beta a short stress test, and it fared much better than its predecessor.

I found a misbehaving Flash ad Tuesday that made Firefox 2 chew up about 98 percent of my CPU power and thereby caused my system--especially Firefox--to slow to a crawl. Today, I found that same ad on another Web site while trying the Firefox 3 beta, and although it, too, maxed out my CPU, Firefox now was usable, though sluggish.

Firefox 3 sports a new add-on manager to find, add, disable, and uninstall plug-ins.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET Networks)

There are some reasons I won't be moving full time to the new beta, though.

Unsurprisingly, given warnings in the release notes, several plug-ins I use still aren't compatible: Foxmarks, del.icio.us, Fotofox, and FireFTP. And Yahoo Mail only can be used in its older classic mode for me.

For the Yahoo Mail problem, there's some hope: Mozilla is waiting on Yahoo for a bug fix for the mail site, and the Firefox release notes now offer a less pessimistic warning that the newer Yahoo Mail interface "may not work for all users right away."

The release notes also warn that Windows Live Mail doesn't work; a plug-in must be installed to play Windows Media Player content on Windows; Firefox often will stop responding to keystrokes when using Google Documents on Mac OS X; and printing is broken on many versions of Linux.

Mozilla fans can now download Firefox 3 beta 2 for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.

The new version sports a wide range of improvements over the first test version of the browser upgrade, most notably plugs for memory leaks, security fixes, and a download manager that includes improvements previously available only through plug-ins.

... Read more

Mozilla released Firefox 3 beta 1 on Monday.

(Credit: Mozilla)

A few months later than had been planned, Mozilla released on Monday night the first beta version of an overhauled Firefox, the widely used open-source Web browser.

Firefox 3 beta 1 includes a number of significant features that Mozilla said should improve security, ease of use, rendering of Web pages, and location of previously visited Web pages. And for the new era of rich Internet applications, the browser can run Web-based applications even when the computer is disconnected from a network.

The software is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux at Mozilla's download site in 20 languages. You can also download the English versions for Windows or Mac from CNET Download.com.

Although Microsoft's Internet Explorer remains the dominant Web browser, the open-source rival has achieved a critical mass of users--Firefox has been downloaded more than 400 million times--and it's now common for designers to make sure their Web pages work with the browser. Even Microsoft has bowed to the reality, testing its Live.com Web sites with Firefox and helping with technical issues such as playing Windows Media files from Web pages.

According to the release notes, the core Gecko rendering engine--the component that interprets Web page instructions and draws text and graphics on your screen--has seen major changes in the upgrade to the new version 1.9 used in Firefox 3.

"Gecko 1.9 includes some major re-architecting for performance, stability, correctness, and code simplification and sustainability," the notes said. Those changes "put foundations in place for major performance tuning which have resulted in speed increases in beta 1, and will show further gains in future beta releases."

The Firefox 3 beta had been due to arrive in July, and there's no word yet on when the software will come out of beta. "The final version of Firefox 3 will be released when we qualify the product as fully ready for our users," the release notes said--a polite way of saying it'll be ready when it's ready.

The location bar automatically presents Web pages with the text you type.

(Credit: Mozilla)

A quick test
A quick test of the new browser revealed that various important sites including eBay, Gmail, Amazon.com, and Icanhascheezburger appeared to work fine.

However, I got error messages at two, both with snazzier Web 2.0 user interfaces. Yahoo Mail threw errors and choked, and Adobe Systems' Buzzword online word processor told me the browser wasn't supported. On the other hand, others rich sites were happy, including Picnik and Flickr's Organizr.

Even in just a few minutes of use, I found the location bar's automatic search handy. It popped up lists of previously visited URLs and page titles that contained the words I typed into the location bar, trimming a couple steps out of a few searches.

Yahoo Mail wouldn't work for me with Firefox 3 beta 1.

(Credit: Mozilla)

One of Firefox's chief merits is the large collection of extensions that can be downloaded to bring new abilities to the browser. Alas, all four of the ones I use--Fotofox, FireFTP, Delicious Bookmarks, and Foxmarks--don't yet work with the new beta. That's no surprise--the release notes warn such breakage is likely.

Another feature I've been eagerly awaiting is the support for color profiles, which lets people see photos correctly even when they're encoded with color systems besides the long-in-the-tooth sRGB standard. It's not enabled by default, but I switched it on and was delighted to see the test images in a CNET News.com story displayed correctly.

New features
Besides Gecko 1.9, there are a number of areas of change for Firefox 3. Among them:

• Security. New features include the ability to integrate antivirus software with downloads; one-click Web site identity verification; automatic testing to make sure plug-ins aren't older versions found to be insecure and automatic disabling if they are; and support for Windows Vista parental controls.

The location bar indicates bookmarked Web pages with a star.

(Credit: Mozilla)

• Ease of use. Touted improvements include downloading that can be resumed after the browser has been restarted or network connection reset; users can zoom in and out of Web pages in their entirety, including layout, text, and graphics; plug-ins can be managed centrally with the Add-On Manager; and mailto links can now launch Web-based e-mail applications such as Gmail, not just local applications on the PC such as Outlook.

• Personalization. Web pages can be bookmarked with one click and tagged with a double-click (though the interface looked rough to me); the aforementioned feature provides a list of possible matching Web pages based on what you type in the location bar; and a new Smart Places folder provides access to pages that are frequently visited or that have been recently bookmarked and tagged.