Mozilla Launches Firefox 3.6 Beta With Features That Needs Tweaking

Jonathan Lovelock | Nov 03, 2009 | Comments

Mozilla Firefox is a browser that has threatened the monopoly of Internet Explorer in the industry. Ever since its inception, its popularity has grown by leaps and bounds and at present it holds a significant share of the overall browser market. Mozilla updates the software and keeps adding features from time to time to make it more user- friendly. In fact, some of the features seen in the browser’s latest version were earlier available as third party plug-ins. On Friday Mozilla made available the beta version of Firefox 3.6 for the users in its site.

The last full version of the browser known as Firefox 3.5 came out in June this year. Interface wise, the 3.6 Beta of Firefox offers fewer changes. The team developing the version had to cope with certain development issues like bugs and component tweaking which delayed the release to an extent. Mozilla has given the core of the browser some serious overhaul including the JavaScript rendering engine called TraceMonkey.

The new beta version contains a number of useful features that offers the user more customization. When a user opens a site that uses obsolete plug-ins he gets a warning from the browser. The Director of Firefox project, Mike Beltzner said in his statement that the beta version will offer support for DOM, HTML 5 as well as new CSS technologies. The JavaScript performance will be improved. This version will launch faster, too. It looks like that Firefox has taken a leaf from Google Chrome team in improving the browser.

However, some of the features originally meant for version 3.6 have been done away with in the beta release. One such miss is integration with Jump List in Windows 7. The beta version will support Aero Peek of Windows 7 and also work with taskbar thumbnail view. But this thumbnail preview facility is not enabled by default in 3.6 beta of Firefox. To use this feature the Firefox configuration file needs to be tweaked and it will require a browser restart as well.

Mozilla issued a warning for the users willing to use the beta version that all of the new features may not work properly. The smaller extensions commonly called add-ons may also be incompatible with the beta release. The users have been asked to download and use Mozilla’s Add-on Compatibility Reporter. The release date of Firefox 3.6 final version is yet to be determined. As one can expect, the final version will have more features and the compatibility issues are likely to be fixed in that release. The company has not decided in which form the final 3.6 version will be offered- as a security upgrade or a comprehensive update.

Though the interface of Firefox will not change much in the final release of version 3.6, its successor will be revamped from ground up. Firefox 3.7 will be launched in next year and version 4 may make its debut in the last quarter of 2010. The beta is available for Linux, Macintosh and Windows users. It offer support for more than 40 languages.

Download Firefox 3.6 Beta