Mozilla Delivers Firefox 3.1 Beta
by Sam Dean - Oct. 15, 2008Comments (0)- Related Blog Posts
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Mozilla has delivered the much-awaited first beta version of Firefox 3.1, which you can download here. There are also release notes covering what's new in this version, and a list of known issues. Mozilla notes that this beta version is for testing and community feedback, and not yet for use as a primary browser. I'm going to load it and start evaluating it within a virtualized environment. Here's what's new with version 3.1.
Mike covered Firefox 3.1 here, and found a few things to look forward to in this version. "The Ctrl+Tab tab switcher, complete with thumbnails, is very nice," he noted. Version 3.1 is also slated to deliver much improved Javascript performance, although The Register has a post up about this beta version not including Javascript speed boosts.
Firefox 3.1 is based on an improved version of the long-standing Gecko rendering engine, supports next-generation stylesheets (CSS 2.1 and CSS 3 properties), and has extensive HTML 5 support. (HTML 5 is particularly good for delivering online video and audio, and may cut into the amount of Flash on the web.) You can also use special characters in the Smart Location Bar to restrict searches, and version 3.1 natively supports OGG Theora and Ogg Vorbis for video and audio.
Many users may want to wait for a later beta version to start using Firefox 3.1, and if you are going to use it, it's wise to use it within its own folder or virtual machine. I'm going to start testing it, and will post findings this week.
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