Mozilla releases second Firefox 3.6 beta with 190 fixes, new features

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Mozilla released a second version of the Firefox 3.6 beta yesterday, and issued an update for the first Firefox 3.6 beta. The new build contains over 190 fixes from the original beta, along with several improvements for web developers, add-on developers, and users.

Among the fixes is a mechanism that prevents incompatible software from crashing Firefox. New features include built-in support for Personas, an alert for out of date plug-ins, the ability to display open, native video at full screen, support for poster frames, the WOFF font format, new CSS DOM and HTML5 web technologies, and improved JavaScript performance as well as overall browser responsiveness and startup time.

Mozilla notes that developers can read more about the new features in Firefox 3.6 on the Mozilla Developer Center. You can download the second Firefox 3.6 beta here: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux. Remember that many add-ons may not work with 3.6 yet, but you might have luck with this workaround.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/36925-mozilla-releases-second-firefox-36-beta-with-190-fixes-new-features.html

 

[kimsland]

Yes my 3.6b1 updated to 3.6b2 all by itself
(Obviously I have updates turned on, but I'm glad that Mozilla issued an automatic update, and I didn't have to un install the old one

I've been using b1 (and now b2) for some time now, all seems ok, runs fast and is presently at 95Meg of Ram
Mind you I presently have 5 tabs opened - wait I'll close the extra tabs... hmm still on ~90Meg
OK I'll fully close b2 and start again with this one page open, I'll submit this message then edit it

Edit:
Running at about 40Meg (it started at 35Meg, and quickly got up to 40Meg
Hmm, just checked again, its now on 46Meg, but seems to be steady
I wonder how that compares to users on Firefox non beta

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Firefox v3.5.5 at the default Firefox/Google homepage on Windows 7 Ultimate X64 launches about 21.5MB, settles at about 23.9MB -- if that eases any curiosity. I have various add-ons/plug-ins as well, so I'm sure that adds to it, by some degree.

*Edit*

I installed the second beta build, and RAM usage remained identical.

 

[Julio Franco]

Once again my issue with Firefox is the unexplained slowdowns in JavaScript execution. From gmail, to phpmyadmin, and even the admin tools on TechSpot cause it to slowdown horribly on a very fast machine, while other browsers work just fine.

That said, it remains my favorite browser thanks to customizability, a few add-ons and well, habit.

 

[Rick]

Interesting. I don't know if you've bothered to troubleshoot at all, but have you tried Firefox in safe mode? It could be plugin/addon related. Gmail and PHPAdmin have always worked great for me on Firefox.

 

[Julio Franco]

I've done everything and it's still a no go, from running a clean install of Firefox to a clean install of the OS with a clean Firefox. It's really odd I know, but I've heard similar stories from many other users and even our own staff members.

 

[freedomthinker]

AWESOME !

 

[Puiu]

Julio said:
I've done everything and it's still a no go, from running a clean install of Firefox to a clean install of the OS with a clean Firefox. It's really odd I know, but I've heard similar stories from many other users and even our own staff members.

Maybe it's hardware related? I don't have this problem on my PC (the one from work and my laptop both work fine)
PS: i'm still waiting for the official release.

 

[njel]

It seems faster than FF 3.5 for me.
I am going to give it a try and see if it is more stable than the 3.6b1.

 

[njel]

njel said:
It seems faster than FF 3.5 for me.
I am going to give it a try and see if it is more stable than the 3.6b1.

I just tested the 3.6b2 with some Facebook Flash games and there is a big problem with some of them. It is slow slow slow. There should be a problem between FF3.6b2 and the Flash Plugin.

For example: when you have a tab with Cafe World started and you want to switch to another tab, it takes a few seconds. And when you go in "Use gifts", it take a few seconds to come back.

So it seems they still have a lot of work to do on that version...

 

[ron5334]

Greetings,
after seeing the article, i decided to try out the beta. it does appear to load much faster and seems stable. i'll have to put it through a workout and see what happens this weekend.
read njel's comment about the flash games, my wife plays a few of those so i'll spend some time playing them too to see how it goes. More later.

 

[kimsland]

My Firefox Version 3.6b3, just automatically installed http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html
That's good
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/3.6b3/releasenotes/#

What’s New in Firefox 3.6 Beta (revision 3)

Firefox 3.6 Beta is built on Mozilla's Gecko 1.9.2 web rendering platform, which has been under development for several months and contains many improvements for web developers, Add-on developers and users. This version is also faster and more responsive than previous versions, and has been optimized to run on small device operating systems such as Windows CE and Maemo.

 

[Guest]

I'm seeing unusual slowdowns on my gmail as well (actually on Google Apps mail for domains) in the past week.
The 3.6RC2 release has roughly coincided with Google rolling out a new SSL default, so I wonder if between the two, there some issues.

I have not yet tried with other browsers for any length of time.