New 'fox performance is on fire
- TAGS:Firefox, JavaScript, Mozilla, privacy, Private Browsing
- IT TOPICS:Desktop Apps, Emerging Technology, Internet, Open Source, Security
In Tuesday's IT Blogwatch, Richi Jennings watches bloggers watch Firefox 3.1 get ready to rumble. Not to mention Remi Gaillard's real-life Mario Kart...
Gregg Keizer reports:
Mozilla Corp. [on Monday] released Firefox 3.1 Beta 2, the first version of its flagship browser to turn on a much faster JavaScript engine and sport a working privacy mode.
Following the first beta by about eight weeks, the newest preview switches on TraceMonkey, the JavaScript engine ... [and] "Private Browsing," the privacy mode that Mozilla decided to add in September, but didn't add to a test build until early last month ... a reaction to similar additions in other browsers, including Apple Inc.'s Safari, Google Inc.'s Chrome and Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8. Privacy mode lets users surf without leaving obvious traces of where they've been, which has led to the feature being dubbed "porn mode" in a nod to one of its more obvious uses.
...
Firefox accounted for 20.8% of all browsers used during November, marking the first time that the open-source browser broke the 20% barrier for an entire month.
Kevin C. Tofel adds:
The latest and greatest beta version of Firefox 3.1 hit the web today ... the Private Browsing mode is there as expected. Using this mode, all of your browsing history, cookies, passwords and other cached items stealthily disappear into the ether when you close down your browser.The biggest reason I'm excited for the final version Firefox 3.1 is the faster JavaScript engine, aka: TraceMonkey. It's still there in the beta and when I turned it on in the prior version, I immediately noticed some speed improvements on certain sites. I still like those tab previews too ... The whole browser feels extremely zippy ... on my Mac.
Ryan Paul teaches history:
The 3.1 roadmap began to coalesce after the release of 3.0 earlier this year. Firefox 3.1, which is codenamed Shiretoko, will include many improvements and several important features that were originally planned for the 3.0 release but were deferred for various reasons. Mozilla released the first 3.1 alpha in July with some new CSS features, AwesomeBar completion enhancements, and a new user interface for switching between tabs. The second alpha, which arrived in September, introduced support for the HTML 5 video element.
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One of the most significant user interface changes that was planned for Firefox 3.1 was a new tab switching implementation. Originally introduced in the first alpha, the new tab switcher displayed thumbnail previews of pages and also changed the behavior of the default tab switching shortcut so that it would rotate through tabs based on most recent usage. Although these user interface adjustments were very promising, the developers determined that more work will be needed before the graphical tab switcher can be included.
So, Percy Cabello talks tabs:
Tab browsing is getting much attention in this release ... true tab drag and drop between windows ... as well as tab tearing or taking a tab to its own window by simply dragging the tab out of Firefox’s tab bar. You can also press the Ctrl key while pressing the Reload button to reload the current page in a new tab. While this is coherent with overall Firefox behavior, if you tend to use this mouse and keyboard combination for hard page reloads, prepare to be annoyed a few times.
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With a third beta in the horizon there’s still room for some planned features to get in including Windows theme refresh and polishing, tab animations, and better audio/video playback controls are all expected to land soon, along with the usual dose of performance and stability improvements.A reviewed location bar that would exclude bookmarks tagged as “private”, and will search open tabs has been pulled back from this release.
Gina Trapani has more:
The release notes list what else you get:
- This beta is now available in 54 languages.
- Added functions to make it easy to clear recent history by time as well as remove all traces of a website.
- New support for web worker threads.
- Improvements to the Gecko layout engine, including speculative parsing for faster content rendering.
- Removed the new tab-switching behavior based on feedback from users
- Support for new web technologies such as the <video> and <audio> elements, the W3C Geolocation API, JavaScript query selectors, CSS 2.1 and 3 properties, SVG transforms and offline applications.
Oh and one thing the release notes don't include: an awesome welcome screen with a new robot..
Scott M. Fulton, III thinks wishfully:
There had been some discussion about how to characterize private browsing as an icon. As of Beta 2, Mozilla's artists have chosen to go with a clever, 19th century formal mask icon, like something you'd find in a masquerade ball. This could help the feature evade its current characterization elsewhere in the press as "porn mode."
And finally...
- MARIO KART (REMI GAILLARD)
- Bonus link: Super Manrio kart
Buffer overflow:
Other Computerworld bloggers:
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- Preston Gralla: Vista SP2: Less than meets the eye
- Don Tennant: Finally, a Roger Covey sighting?
- Douglas Schweitzer: You may not know Vishing, but in some cases, the FTC has your back
- Dan Tynan: The devil made me do it
- Shark Tank: 'Tis the season
- Shark Bait: Unforseen circumstances
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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/adviser/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and spam. A 23 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You can follow him on Twitter, pretend to be Richi's friend on Facebook, or just use boring old email: blogwatch@richi.co.uk.
Previously in IT Blogwatch:
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