Mozilla officially releases Firefox 4 Beta 1

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Mozilla has officially released the first of what will be many betas for Firefox 4. The organization published the Firefox 4 Beta 1 candidate build just last week, so if you are already running that version, this probably won't bring any significant changes. Anyone running the current stable build (3.6.6) is in for a surprise, though. Here are some of Firefox 4's highlights:

• New Add-Ons Manager: gives you more space to manage your Add-Ons, Themes and Plugins. Customizing your browser has never been easier!
• HD Video: Watch hardware-accelerated, super-smooth, HD-quality HTML5 video on YouTube using the new WebM format.
• Privacy improvements: Mozilla always puts privacy first, and this latest beta fixes flaws in some Web standards that could expose your browser history.
• Crash Protection: Experience uninterrupted browsing (now available on all platforms) – when a plugin crashes or freezes, you can resume browsing by simply refreshing the page.
• Performance: We know that performance is important. In this version, we focused on improving responsiveness at start-up and during page loads. This is just the beginning for performance improvements in Firefox 4.

For a more in-depth rundown of the latest build, have a look at the online release notes – or just download it now and see the changes firsthand. Oh, and be sure to share your thoughts in the comments. Like us, we know many of you are pulling for Firefox 4's success, because things just haven't been right performance-wise since version 3.5.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/39546-mozilla-officially-releases-firefox-4-beta-1.html

 

[Serag]

Here's hoping they would be able to finish everything planned for Firefox 4 while staying on track, I don't mind waiting more for it because I don't really care about the 50ms faster loading/JS time/performance I can get from Chrome, Opera or Safari, but I understand why they would try to rush it out.
All I care about is all the new extra features + response and startup time improvement, and of course the new layout.
And speaking about layout, the one button access to all menus doesn't exist for Windows XP, I did see some mockups for how it would look like in XP and I hope they implement it in the next beta's or the final release, as I can't see myself affording a move to windows 7 anytime soon.

 

[Guest]

You can right-click the menus section at the top of the window and uncheck "Menu Bar" to switch to the orange Firefox button.

 

[Serag]

cool!, thanks Guest.

 

[Aeonlinux]

I'm one of those that thinks the final version of FF 4 will be THE browser. It already is the best browser overall, but I'm talking about speed-wise. Hopefully the Jaegermonkey engine (did I say that right?) will be faster or as fast as the friendly competition.

 

[Reloader2]

So uhm... Am I the only one who doesn't have any "Close", "Minimize", "Maximize and "Make Small" (because of lack of better word) buttons in the top right corner?
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

 

[Guest]

^I think you lose those buttons if you are using a persona, theme or something. The default theme should bring it back.

 

[Archean]

I am using the Beta and it seems bit more sleek and faster. Will see how it fares in the longer run.

 

[Reloader2]

Uhh that worked, thanks mate

 

[Julio Franco]

Same here. Been using it for the last few hours, feels much snappier than 3.x, close to Opera and Chrome in terms of performance. Almost all add-ons are incompatible at this time, but for many functions even the vanilla Firefox 3.6 was sluggish for me depending on the site I visited.

Not a single crash so far, and I've been using it heavily on a production scenario. Nice job Mozilla, it was about time!

 

[foreverzero89]

looks like opera.

 

[Kibaruk]

Looks like... most nowadays browsers! They must be stealing! Gather the village and lets go burn theeemmmm...

Nah... talking seriously I never liked betas I always end frustrated for something that never worked right, still for the comments sounds great.

 

[gobbybobby]

just installed. looks more modern, but now my persona is hidden by everything, it remembered by persona and tabs but toolbar and add ons are not there. How am I supposed to browse the web without add blocker +!

 

[TJGeezer]

"Customizing your browser has never been easier!" and "Mozilla always puts privacy first" - shouldn't Mozilla's PR department share byline credit for this story?

Of course, I'm already downloading the beta as I write this snarky comment...

 

[Burty117]

gobbybobby said:
just installed. looks more modern, but now my persona is hidden by everything, it remembered by persona and tabs but toolbar and add ons are not there. How am I supposed to browse the web without add blocker +!

+1 for ad block!

 

[Serag]

With default theme used, Adblock plus icon exists..

 

[guyver1]

blatant rip of of Opera...... as usual

 

[Guest]

rip off of Opera? are really saying that? Firefox is has and most likely will be the standard for browsers to beat for years to come. long before Opera there was firefox, chose your words carefully before you say "they just made it look like Opera".

with that said, i can tell you that the changes made were by majority request.

Like the beta but am going to wait till official release before using as my main browser.

 

[Guest]

Ah Menu bar dude!!!

 

[guyver1]

Guest said:
rip off of Opera? are really saying that? Firefox is has and most likely will be the standard for browsers to beat for years to come. long before Opera there was firefox, chose your words carefully before you say "they just made it look like Opera".

with that said, i can tell you that the changes made were by majority request.

Like the beta but am going to wait till official release before using as my main browser.

Just ROFL!!!
Ignorance at its best

you need to read up on modern browser history

 

[Guest]

I don't really care if it's not as fast as chrome or opera, it's the add ons and customization that make Firefox for me. I think the new interface is pretty sexy, regardless whether they copied opera or not. And if there are new themes made that won't matter that much any way

 

[Aeonlinux]

guyver1 said:

Guest said:
rip off of Opera? are really saying that? Firefox is has and most likely will be the standard for browsers to beat for years to come. long before Opera there was firefox, chose your words carefully before you say "they just made it look like Opera".

with that said, i can tell you that the changes made were by majority request.

Like the beta but am going to wait till official release before using as my main browser.

Just ROFL!!!
Ignorance at its best

you need to read up on modern browser history

When Mozilla made the Firefox 3.7 mockups many months ago, they had already invented the menu bar (know also as the home tab) at the top, the App tabs (which Chrome later copied) and overall look of the browser. Opera took this idea (making a home tab, and including the Aero glass in the panel behind tabs) and included it in an early Opera 10.50 alpha.

The only thing Mozilla has mimicked, is using tabs on top, which, was first introduced by Safari but later dropped for unknown reasons. Not Opera.

Not to mention, that most if not all of the layout engine standards were studied and later implemented from Gecko (Firefox), which is one of the oldest, and most complex layout engines. Firefox has never copied something because of popularity, or fashion; they things they have copied have been done as a way to comply with modern standards, and always backing up their decision with facts. So yeah, you should be the one reading up modern browser history before talking.

 

[Guest]

Development of the layout engine now known as Gecko began at Netscape in 1997
Netscape source code was the base for Mozilla Firefox
Netscape Navigator 1.0 – December 15, 1994

Opera released - late 96
Opera began in 1994 as a research project
Presto is a layout engine for the Opera web browser developed by Opera Software. After several public betas and technical previews, it was released on January 28, 2003 in Opera 7.0 for Windows

 

[Julio Franco]

Regardless of the release dates, I witnessed over the years how Opera came up with many of today's standard browser features ahead of Firefox, but it was the latter that added the ultimate polish to them and made them popular. Unfortunately for Opera, it's always been a great alternative browser but has never quite made it to the mainstream.

 

[Guest]

ad block?
use NoScript dudes
works perfect with 4