Update: 03/13/09 – Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 is available for download now!
Firefox 3.1 is a little bit closer to it’s final release with the availability of beta 2. This beta brings about some cool new features such as
- A new Private Browsing Mode or more popularly dubbed as the Porn Mode. {more info}
- Function to easily clear recent history by time as well as remove all traces of a website (more porn friendliness?)
- Support for web worker threads {more info}
- Adds the new TraceMonkey Javascript engine and it’s on by default unlike previous versions
- Improvements to the Gecko layout engine for faster content rendering
- Removed the new tab-switching behaviour
- Support for new web technologies such as <video>, <audio> elements, W3C Geolocation API, CSS 2.1 & 3 properties, SVG transforms, etc. {more info}
We looked at what Firefox 3.1 new features in an earlier post.. Again, the Firefox 3.1 beta 2 is not for mainstream use and mostly for developers and testers.
Multi-Touch for MacBooks
If you have one of the new MacBooks with Multi-Touch Support, Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 supports multi-touch – pinching, wiping movements to browse through tabs, history, etc.
I like to be on the cutting edge of Firefox especially once it hits the beta versions and I have it running in my linux desktop. If you are going to try it, beware that a lot of your current extensions might not work in Firefox 3.1 beta 2.
Instead of wiping out your current Firefox 3 install, you could follow the same instructions for running Firefox 2 & Firefox 3 simultaneously to run your Firefox 3 and Firefox 3.1 beta 2 together side-by-side to evaluate what’s new. I could put together a new post if there is enough interest in that topic.
Also, look out for a post detailing how to install unsupported extensions in Firefox 3.1 shortly.
Download Firefox 3.1 Beta 2
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9. December 2008 at 12:12 pm
The web worker threads support sounds interesting. Thanks for posting.
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9. December 2008 at 1:02 pm
Perhaps its my past bad experience with using beta software, but I am not inclined to dabble into the Firefox 3.1 unless it is out of the beta stage. Anyway, I would like to take this opportunity to extend my appreciation for inviting me for the WebNotes.
10. December 2008 at 9:53 am
I’d have to agree I am going to wait until we have a nice solid version released.
10. December 2008 at 11:01 pm
Really? I just downloaded Firefox 3.0, was on the old for the longest, like the fresh and modern look, I think I’ll wait till they work out the bugs before I switch
11. December 2008 at 2:08 pm
It’s rather nice, but I don’t like beta versions
8. January 2009 at 7:12 pm
I really like firefox but I would wait and not download the beta version. I did this for version 2.0 and it still had many bugs on it.