Mozilla has just released the first beta version of their latest Firefox 4.0 web browser and is now available for download for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux based operating systems. Stay tuned, as the Firefox team has planned to release new beta version every two or three weeks.
Firefox 4.0 beta 1 includes dozens of major features and improvements. You can test this beta version now and can also submit your feedback to the support team for improvements. Once you download this beta version then you’ll be a part of their beta program and will also receive regular updates as more features launch.
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If you are using the Firefox 4.0 beta 1 on a Windows PC, then the most noticeable new feature will be the look of the Web browser. The new UI changes includes, tabs has been moved to the top to make it easier to focus on the web content and easier to control the tools in your Web browser.
If you are on Windows 7 or Windows Vista then you’ll notice that the Menu bar was replace with a single Firefox button making it easier for you to get the most used options with just one click. These changes will soon be available for Mac OS X and Linux versions.
Mozilla Firefox 4.0 Beta 1 – What’s New
- Tabs are now on top by default on Windows only – OSX and Linux will be changing when the theme has been modified to support the change
- On Windows Vista and Windows 7 the menu bar has been replaced with the Firefox button
- You can search for and switch to already open tabs in the Smart Location Bar
- New Addons Manager and extension management API (UI will be changed before final release)
- Significant API improvements are available for JS-ctypes, a foreign function interface for extensions
- The stop and reload buttons have been merged into a single button on Windows, Mac and Linux
- The Bookmarks Toolbar has been replaced with a Bookmarks Button by default (you can switch it back if you’d like)
- Crash protection for Windows, Linux, and Mac when there is a crash in the Adobe Flash, Apple Quicktime or Microsoft Silverlight plugins
- CSS Transitions are partially supported
- Full WebGL support is included but disabled by default at this time
- Core Animation rendering model for plugins on Mac OS X. Plugins which also support this rendering model can now draw faster and more efficiently
- Native support for the HD HTML5 WebM video format
- An experimental Direct2D rendering backend is available on Windows, turned off by default
- Web developers can use Websockets for a low complexity, low latency, bidirectional communications API
- Web developers can update the URL field without reloading the page using HTML History APIs
- More responsive page rendering using lazy frame construction
- Link history lookup is done asynchronously to provide better responsiveness during pageload
- CSS: visited selectors have been changed to block websites from being able to check a user’s browsing history
- New HTML5 parser
- Support for more HTML5 form controls
Mozilla Firefox 4.0 Beta 1 – Features
- New Add-Ons Manager
Gives you more space to manage your Add-Ons, Themes and Plugins. Customizing your browser has never been easier! - HD Video
Watch hardware-accelerated, super-smooth, HD-quality HTML5 video on YouTube using the new WebM format. - Privacy improvements
Mozilla always puts privacy first, and this latest beta fixes flaws in some Web standards that could expose your browser history. - Crash Protection
Experience uninterrupted browsing (now available on all platforms) – when a plugin crashes or freezes, you can resume browsing by simply refreshing the page. - Performance
We know that performance is important. In this version, we focused on improving responsiveness at start-up and during page loads. This is just the beginning for performance improvements in Firefox 4.
Mozilla Firefox 4.0 Beta 1 – Download
Mozilla Firefox 4.0 Beta 1 is now available for free to download for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux in a variety of languages, though this first version is only available in English.