Mozilla plots February Firefox 4 release

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    Mozilla plots February Firefox 4 release


    Posted: 12 Jan 2011
    Firefox 4 is nearly ready for showtime, according to a recent post on Mozilla's mailing list.
    "I'm seeing the same burst of excitement and activity that we've seen in the endgame of every release," the open source browser maker's platform engineering director Damon Sicore enthusiastically noted yesterday.
    He said that Mozilla has around 160 hard blockers to knock down, before proceeding to Release Candidate stage of the next iteration of the outfit's browser.

    "We have to reach Release Candidate status as quickly as possible, ideally finishing the hard blockers by the beginning of February and shipping final before the end of February," he said.
    Mozilla plots February Firefox 4 release • The Register
    yowanvista's Avatar Posted By: yowanvista
    12 Jan 2011



  1. Posts : 342
    Windows 7
       #1

    I know I'm going to sound naive - but is there a comprehensive list of improvements?
    My biggest concern is it's leaching of memory (as with most FF users).
    Not too fond of the Opera styling - I like variety between my browsers (FF, IE9, Opera, SRiron) - That's what makes me curious is the different stylings and operational offerings of each. I'm sure that's just the default skin.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 8,383
    Windows 10 Pro x64, Arch Linux
    Thread Starter
       #2

    I know I'm going to sound naive - but is there a comprehensive list of improvements?
    • Uses JägerMonkey, a new, faster JavaScript engine
    • Certain rendering operations are now hardware-accelerated using Direct3D 9 on Windows XP, Direct3D 10 on Windows Vista and 7, and OpenGL on Mac OS X
    • Improved web typography using OpenType with support for ligatures, kerning and font variants
    • HTML5 Forms API makes web based forms easier to implement and validate
    • Support for the new proposed Audio Data API
    • Direct2D Hardware Acceleration is now on by default for Windows 7 users
    • Firefox button has a new look for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users
    • Support for HSTS security protocol allowing sites to insist that they only be loaded over SSL
    • Firefox Sync is now included by default
    • A new feature gives users a visual overview of all open tabs, allowing them to be sorted and grouped
    • An experimental API is included to provide more efficient Javascript animations
    • Firefox now supports the HTML5 video "buffered" property
    • Tabs are now on top by default on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux
    • You can turn any tab into an "App Tab" by right-clicking on it and selecting "Make into App Tab" from the context menu
    • Web developers can animate content using CSS Transitions
    • Responsiveness and scrolling improvements from the new retained layers layout system
    • JavaScript speed improvements due to engine optimizations
    • Changes to how XPCOM components are registered in order to help startup time and process separation
    • 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 OS X, 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 OS X 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
    • 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
    • Web authors can now get touch events from Firefox users on Windows 7 machines
    • A new way of representing values in JavaScript that allows Firefox to execute heavy, numeric code (used for things like graphics and animations) more efficiently

    My biggest concern is it's leaching of memory (as with most FF users).
    Beta 9 will include some memory improvements, mine uses ~250Mb with 20 tabs
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  3. Posts : 342
    Windows 7
       #3

    Thanks a bunch for the list - rep for you

    FF is my dedicated browser on my Win7/mac machines, my ubuntu is Chrome. I don't know if it was just me, my distro, or my machine, but FF didn't click well with it.

    I am looking forward to this release- but hoping it won't require a bunch of readjustments to get it back to my preferred operation.

    and I hope Open Font doesn't welcome some wonky font decisions by developers, site owners. Verdana, Arial work just fine.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 1,487
    Windows 7 x64 / Same
       #4

    I'm skeptical they'll make this deadline after all others were missed last quarter. But I will be excited to try the final version. Been using it since 2004.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 2,344
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #5

    Without the extensions updated by the various developers it will be useless to me.
    That is the reason I am not using the Beta
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 1,326
    Windows 10 Professional 64-bit
       #6

    ^ Maybe they only wait for a final stable release. :]

    As for my comment, I say : Don't rush things Mozilla. Take your time, we can wait even if you have to release 100 betas.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 1,653
    Windows 10 Pro. EFI boot partition, full EFI boot
       #7

    Messes up my mouse. Hustle Firefox!
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 1,996
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
       #8

    kodi said:
    Without the extensions updated by the various developers it will be useless to me.
    That is the reason I am not using the Beta

    That's my concern also. As long it can use Adblock Plus, at the least, I'm happy.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 1,483
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1
       #9

    Y'all would be quite surprised at the number of add-ons and extensions that work with the betas. If you have a few you cannot live without, go to their web sites and look for development or beta builds - you will be pleasantly surprised in most cases.

    The new look of FF 4 is going to take a bit of adjusting for some but I really like it and still mod it through my userChrome.css file.

    Mozilla plots February Firefox 4 release-screenshot00391.jpg
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