Author Topic: Firefox 3.5 [FINAL] (Read 31687 times)

Ehtyar · « **on:** October 18, 2008, 05:42 PM »

Now don't get your knickers all bunched up just yet folks, this post is about BETA 1 only. I thought it best to consolidate all 3.1-related posts in one thread, save filling the forum with it. As anyone who reads the Tech News Weekly (and I imagine many who don't) will know, Firefox BETA 1 was released this week. As it hasn't been dole already, I thought I might take the opportunity to plug my favorite browser a little. Firefox 3.1 includes many new features that should excite almost every user group, though the most excitement will be felt by developers, particularly those keeping abreast with HTML 5 developments.
As yet there doesn't seem to be a consolidated list for features, but I'll link to more detailed information where I can. OK, here are the new features in the most awesome browser ever....bias? what? who? *cough*:

For Everyone

The obligatory JavaScript performance improvement, looks like a big one this time guys.
The slightly-rough-around-the-edges-but-still-awesome tab switcher .

Firefox 3.5 [FINAL]

Filter results in the Smart Location Bar (Awesome Bar) with keywords.
The long-overdue ability to drag tabs from one window to another.
The too-little-too-late new tab button. Really, if we wanted to go all the way to the right hand corner to open a new tab we'd just double click that micro-thin layer of blank tab bar above all our open tabs. All hail Tab Mix Plus.

Firefox 3.5 [FINAL]

For Web Developers

Support for the HTML 5 <video> and <audio> tags. Yeah baby!!!
Support for downloadable fonts in CSS
Support for CSS word-wrap and text-shadow properties in addition to a host of other CSS properties and selectors.
Support for ICC Color Correction (only for tagged images atm)
Support for Geolocation.
Support for Drag & Drop in HTML 5 pages.
Several other DOM Changes.
Full support for the HTML 5 <canvas> element and API.
Some improvements and additions to SVG support.

For Extension Developers

A search attribute for the XUL textbox, which fires the command function on content modification, much like the Firefox inbuilt find does.
A level attribute for the XUL panel, used to determine which panel should be atop another.
Support for cross-site XMLHttpRequests.
Support for progress events in XMLHttpRequest.
Support for removing <keyset>s.
Native JSON support.
Various theme changes

Well I hope that sums it up well. Please let me know if I missed anything. I'd like to put together a demo HTML 5 page so people can try out the new HTML 5 elements if they'd like, so keep an eye out

.
For those of you who'd like to run the BETA alongside their existing installation, download Portable Firefox here. Once installed, copy the FirefoxPortable.ini from Other\Source into the root directory, and change 'AllowMultipleInstances' to 'true'.

Ehtyar.

[edit]
Here's the demo peoples, be sure to read the warnings before clicking the links. Enjoy

[/edit]

Deozaan · « **Reply #1 on:** October 18, 2008, 05:51 PM »

The too-little-too-late new tab button. Really, if we wanted to go all the way to the right hand corner to open a new tab we'd just double click that micro-thin layer of blank tab bar above all our open tabs. All hail Tab Mix Plus.
-Ehtyar (October 18, 2008, 05:42 PM)

Ctrl-T works great.

Ehtyar · « **Reply #2 on:** October 18, 2008, 05:56 PM »

The too-little-too-late new tab button. Really, if we wanted to go all the way to the right hand corner to open a new tab we'd just double click that micro-thin layer of blank tab bar above all our open tabs. All hail Tab Mix Plus.
-Ehtyar (October 18, 2008, 05:42 PM)
Ctrl-T works great.
-Deozaan (October 18, 2008, 05:51 PM)

As far as buttons go, the new one is a bit of a joke...

Ehtyar.

ewemoa · « **Reply #3 on:** October 18, 2008, 06:01 PM »

Thanks for the summary!

P.S. Thanks for Tech News Weekly too -- very much appreciated!

Ehtyar · « **Reply #4 on:** October 18, 2008, 06:13 PM »

Thank you ewemoa, and welcome to the forum

Ehtyar.

Paul Keith · « **Reply #5 on:** October 18, 2008, 07:44 PM »

The long-overdue ability to drag tabs from one window to another.

I'm not using the beta and I can do this. Did you mean dragging multiple tabs or a Windows panel like the one in Opera?

Ehtyar · « **Reply #6 on:** October 18, 2008, 07:58 PM »

Sorry I should have been more clear. In previous versions, Firefox would simply close the tab in the previous window, and open a new tab in the new window at the URL of the old tab. Now, the new page is loaded entirely from the memory cache of the old one (Firefox won't hit the server again), and all aspects of the tab are copied across, including history, permissions etc.

Ehtyar.

jgpaiva · « **Reply #7 on:** October 18, 2008, 08:38 PM »

As far as buttons go, the new one is a bit of a joke...

Ehtyar.
-Ehtyar (October 18, 2008, 05:56 PM)

Actually, I wouldn't say it's a joke. Even though it isn't the best position to place the button (imo ie7's choice - later copied by opera - is way better), I think it's important in terms of usability, people that never used tabs will much more easily press the button than double-click the tab bar.

Ehtyar · « **Reply #8 on:** October 18, 2008, 08:52 PM »

I can't disagree with you there, though part of what makes it so silly is that they're the last of the major browsers to implement it, and they've done it in the least user-friendly way.

Ehtyar.

Ehtyar · « **Reply #9 on:** October 18, 2008, 08:55 PM »

Well no one way around in the IRC channel to test this, so I hope it's working as it should. Here is the HTML 5 demo I promised. Be sure to read the warning before clicking any of the links.

Ehtyar.

cmpm · « **Reply #10 on:** October 18, 2008, 09:06 PM »

If you get 'toolbar buttons' addon you will have a button for new tab as well as many more for functions.
The buttons will be in the 'customize' box.
I use version 0.5.0.5.
It seems the newer versions mess up my button system.

https://addons.mozil...2377#version-0.5.0.5

Ehtyar · « **Reply #11 on:** October 18, 2008, 09:18 PM »

There's also this addon which adds a new tab button similar to IE's to Firefox.

Ehtyar.

city_zen · « **Reply #12 on:** October 19, 2008, 02:12 PM »

There's also this addon which adds a new tab button similar to IE's to Firefox.

Ehtyar.
-Ehtyar (October 18, 2008, 09:18 PM)

I was just going to post about "New Tab Button on Tab Right". Unfortunately, it is not compatible with TabKit, the extension I use to get multirow tabs, so I can't use that extension to add a New Tab button.

Edvard · « **Reply #13 on:** October 20, 2008, 12:56 PM »

There's always been a new tab button, it's just not in there by default:
Right-click your toolbar area and select "Customize"
Find the "New Tab" icon and drag it to your toolbar.

Although I really like IE7's implementation; it's there by default, and it's intuitive.

*downloading "Tab on Right" exension*
Thanks for the tip!

Ehtyar · « **Reply #14 on:** October 20, 2008, 02:35 PM »

Edvard, the New Tab Button you refer cannot be placed on the tab bar. Rather nonsensical to me.

Ehtyar.

Edvard · « **Reply #15 on:** October 20, 2008, 02:42 PM »

Right, I wasn't debating that.
I think having a new tab button available at the tab location is WAY more intuitive and useful, glad to see they're finally doing something to implement that, and I am glad someone came up with a nice little extension for it.

It simply sounded like everybody was saying a new tab button didn't exist and I was trying to clear that up.
FTR it's been there since the pre-1.0 betas. Ever since I discovered tabbed browsing, I've stuck a New Tab button in my toolbar as the first thing after installing a new version of Firefox.

Ehtyar · « **Reply #16 on:** October 20, 2008, 03:00 PM »

I used that New Tab button on the leftmost side of my bookmarks bar for a short while, as close to it's proper position as possible. But for all the use it was it may as well have not existed, it's difficult to get into the habbit of going to the bookmarks bar when you want to perform a tab-related operation IMO.

Ehtyar.

Edvard · « **Reply #17 on:** October 20, 2008, 06:15 PM »

I had no problem forming the habit...
In fact it's so bad that now I have installed and am really liking the Tab on Right extension, but I still hit the new tab button at least 3 out of 5 times

mouser · « **Reply #18 on:** October 21, 2008, 03:32 AM »

Thanks for the nice summary.

Ehtyar · « **Reply #19 on:** October 21, 2008, 05:47 AM »

I had no problem forming the habit...
In fact it's so bad that now I have installed and am really liking the Tab on Right extension, but I still hit the new tab button at least 3 out of 5 times
-Edvard (October 20, 2008, 06:15 PM)

I must say, now I'm kinda glad I never fell into the habbit

Thanks for the nice summary.
-mouser (October 21, 2008, 03:32 AM)

My pleasure as always Mouse Man

Ehtyar.

zridling · « **Reply #20 on:** October 21, 2008, 02:42 PM »

[Ehtyar]: here are the new features in the most awesome browser ever....bias? what? who? *cough*

Hard to dispute that. Firefox is pretty much setting the standard these days.

Ehtyar · « **Reply #21 on:** December 26, 2008, 06:24 PM »

I've just discovered Firefox 3.1 BETA 2 portable (release notes) is out, so I just had to go and test (Follow the instructions here to run the beta concurrently to your 3.0 installation).

As most people are likely aware, Firefox 3.1 will include a new private browsing mode (known to many as "porno mode") which will see your browser forget everything that you did while it was enabled. This feature is now available in BETA 2. From the tools menu, select "Private Browsing". Firefox will revert back to your current session when you're finished.

Many will be thanking the gods that 3.1 now includes preliminary support for Web Workers. That is, multithreading support in the javascript engine. This will see the departure of days where you browser would lock up if it encountered a particularly nasty script somewhere that required more computation than your machine could provide in a reasonable amount of time.

TraceMonkey, Firefox's new and improved javascript engine, is enabled by default so you should see some added zippyness™ when visiting Gmail et al.

They've removed the new tab switching behavior shown here in post 1 due to negative user feedback.

The support for HTML 5 elements is now completely stable (as far as my experience goes). Give them a try yourself here.

Ehtyar.

J-Mac · « **Reply #22 on:** December 27, 2008, 11:18 PM »

I probably won't use 3.1 for about three or four months after its release, if not later. Same with all new major/semi-major versions. They break most of the extensions, and frankly, IMO, Firefox isn't worth the time or effort if most of the extensions I use don’t work. Easier to jump back to Opera till I can add the extensions again. And yes, I do use the Nightly Tester Tools extension to force compatibility of extensions, but that usually works only for minor "point" updates. E.g., Tab Mix Plus would make the discussion about the Tab button moot.

As I always say, the best thing about Firefox is the extensions, and the worst thing about Firefox is the extensions!

Thanks!

Jim

Fedorov · « **Reply #23 on:** December 28, 2008, 03:16 PM »

I'm using the nightly branch builds of 3.1 pre-beta3 and all my extensions such as NoScript, Adblock, TabMixPlus etc are all working fine. Most extensions, especially the really popular ones like those I just listed already have new versions released that work for Firefox 3.1

Ehtyar · « **Reply #24 on:** December 28, 2008, 03:45 PM »

I was using almost 50 extensions when 3.0 came out. At the end of two weeks I was missing only two, and neither of them was ever upgraded, so I did it myself.

Ehtyar.