Mozilla Firefox 11 stable available for download now

Jos

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Mozilla has pushed out version 11 of its Firefox browser complete with the usual security patches, as well as a few new features, such as add-on sync and two new developer tools. The company was able to meet its six-week release schedule, even though earlier in the week it had announced that Firefox 11 would be delayed due to two vulnerabilities discovered at the Pwn2Own competition.

Apparently, the vulnerability in question was one that Mozilla had already identified and fixed on its own, so they decided to go ahead with the release. However, to avoid conflicts with Microsoft's Patch Tuesday, Firefox 11 will initially be pushed out through manual updates only and not via the automatic update mechanism.

Download: Windows | Mac | Linux

The most notable new feature for end users is the ability to sync add-ons across multiple computers, something that's been available to Google Chrome users since late 2010. To enable the new feature, Firefox 11 users will simply need to have signed up for the free Sync service, which also synchronizes your bookmarks, passwords, settings, history, add-ons, and tabs with Firefox on other computers.


3D Page Inspector View (Tilt)

For developers, Mozilla has included a new style editor and WebGL visualisation tool. The first lets developers edit CSS documents on-the-fly and immediately see the effect it has on the design of the page without leaving the browser. Meanwhile, Page Inspector 3D View (nicknamed 'Tilt'), is a WebGL-powered "view source" option on steroids, which highlights what raw code looks like when the public sees it on a live Web site.

firefox
Style Editor in Firefox 11

Release notes:

  • Firefox can now migrate your bookmarks, history, and cookies from Google Chrome
  • With Sync enabled, add-ons can now be synchronized across your computers
  • The CSS text-size-adjust property is now supported
  • Redesigned media controls for HTML5 video
  • The outerHTML property is now supported on HTML elements
  • View source syntax highlighting now uses the HTML5 parser (see bug 482921)
  • The Style Editor for CSS editing is now available to web developers
  • Web developers can now visualize a web page in 3D using the Page Inspector 3D View
  • SPDY protocol support for faster page loads is now testable
  • XMLHttpRequest now supports HTML parsing
  • Files can now be stored in IndexedDB (see bug 661877)
  • Websockets has now been unprefixed
  • Various security fixes
  • Firefox notifications may not work properly with Growl 1.3 or later (691662)

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I like the addition of the addon sync. I have loved the bookmark sync, since between different computers and OS's I have FF installed 4 times. Hopefully the addon sync works as well across different versions of windows and linux.
I'm going to have to check out the new style editor and page inspector. Boss is talking about re-designing 2 of our websites.
 
i wish that they release at least two version, Normal & Lite or Normal & Developers, firefox it's getting hevier by release and pretty anoying.

And what with the frenzy numerycal advance? this should be like.....version 8
 
Stopped using FireFox since last week. It suddenly started crashing on start-up, and no re-installation could help. Weird thing, but I couldn't find a fix for it. Now have to use Chrome instead...
 
bugejakurt said:
Can't see the purpose for the 3D page inspector.

As someone who pretends to occasionally design web sites, I think the 3D page inspector is great.

It's a rather novel approach to identifying page elements. I feel like this could be really useful while trying visualize the underpinnings of designs and quickly isolate elements of interest.

I won't be switching to Firefox until they fix the tabs though. The tearing and dragging feels so unnatural in Firefox compared to every other browser. I used to not really care, but I think Chrome has spoiled me.
 
For web developers, Firefox remains the only browser good enough to work with. (nobody is perfect)
If you just want to use the email, read a few news articles or watch youtube then you can stick to Chrome, but for me Firefox remains the go to browser.
 
Guest said:
i wish that they release at least two version, Normal & Lite or Normal & Developers, firefox it's getting hevier by release and pretty anoying.

And what with the frenzy numerycal advance? this should be like.....version 8

It's not a bad idea, but you should know that firefox actually got faster with each version.
I have all browsers installed (except safari) because i need to test my websites with them and i can clearly say that FF improved the most in the past year or so.
 
VitalyT said:
Stopped using FireFox since last week. It suddenly started crashing on start-up, and no re-installation could help. Weird thing, but I couldn't find a fix for it. Now have to use Chrome instead...
Does it crash when you use it in safe mode with networking?
 
i left firefox a week ago too after using it for years got sick of the issues, installed chrome and what a difference much better
 
I'll probably download it... not really worried about resources. I love chrome but firefox remains my browser of choice, for now.
 
You have to uninstall it from add/remove or programs and features, depending what OS, then do a reg edit to remove all the remnants of it from the registry. Reboot, reinstall, and you should be ok. If its not you may want to consider a thorough cleaning of your system, there may be something malicious in there.
 
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