Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 Download!

Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 is out.

CHANGE LOG:


Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 is based on the Gecko 1.9.1 rendering platform, which has been under development for the past 7 months. Gecko 1.9.1 is an incremental release on the previous version with significant changes to improve web compatibility, performance, and ease of use:

* This beta is now available in 54 languages - get your local version.
* Added a new Private Browsing Mode.
* 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.
* The new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine is on by default for web content.
* 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. More information.




Download Here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html

 

I wonder how long it would take to release 3.1...

By the way, if your favourite add-ons do not wotk with new beta, use this: Nightly Tester Tools to force they to install.

And for all other languages, download here: http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/3.1b2/win32/

 

Thank you!
Will check it tonight when home from work.


Cin

 

Nice, I wonder when we can expect the RCs to come out.

 

Hopefully there's only 3 betas at max. Then 3 or less RCs, then final version!

 

Watch for release plans here

 

I was looking for something like that. I had thought when FF 3 came out they had said they planned to get to 3.1 by the end of the year. I was looking for something to back that up.

 

Just curious. What features are people looking for from FF that it doesn't already have? To me it has more than enough.

 

I just look forward to the increased stability and speed. There are a ton of add-ons out there to address functionality. I think if Mozilla tries to move too many of them from add-ons to the main browser it will just bog it down.

 

There's always room to improve. Plus, if it stops improving, it'll just be another IE6.

There are definitely some good features to come to Firefox that will benefit most people, though. Weave, a project to be integrated into Firefox 4, is one of them. It synchronizes bookmarks, preferences, history, extensions (soon), and and tags between multiple computers running Firefox. So, to give an example of its use, a person (like many of us) who use both a notebook and a desktop on a daily basis. Wouldn't it be great to bookmark something when you're on the go and then be able to pull it up when you're on your desktop? That's one of the nice things to come. Less distant, though, are the speed and privacy improvements Firefox 3.1 offers.

 

Here is one source

And here is a working document

 

3.1 is going to have private browsing and the ability to drag tabs in and out like Chrome currently has. And the new ctrl+tab interface. Not to mention others.

EDIT: Updated the change log.

 

Sadly, the "tab-tearing" feature is in desperate need of improvement. It is the one feature that I feel should be pulled from 3.1, worked on, and added to 3.2. If, when you click on a tab, you move it slightly (say 1 pixel), it will tear off the tab into a new window. It is overly sensitive and is annoying. There was also an issue with not being able to bookmark a site by dragging the tab to the bookmarks toolbar, but this has since been resolved.

 

I agree, the tab tearing in FF fails compared to Chrome's. I like how in Chrome you can see your tab preview in a mini window. Seems more seamless and smooth compared to FF.

 

As always, there's an extension for this. I'm not sure if there are plans to implement this into Firefox in the near future, though.

 

LOL, I should have known. Does this work for beta 2? Or do I have to force it to work.

 

I couldn't live without this add-on. I have become dependent on it like Aero's window preview.

 

It says "1.5 - 3.0.*", so yes, you will need to bypass the compatibility check with Nightly Tester Tools (the easy way), the about:config setting (the annoying way), or by modifying the install file (the insane way).

It's actually even better because it allows you to control the tab's page via the preview box. (Back, forward, stop, reload, click links, etc.)