Mozilla has released a new version of its popular, cross-platform web browser, Mozilla Firefox. The fourth beta of Firefox 3.6 for Mac OS X includes changes to how the developer allows third party software to integrate with Firefox in order to prevent crashes, and more. Read on for the full scoop.

“This is a beta version of the next feature release of the Firefox web browser, which will update itself during the beta period and eventually to the final release,” says Mozilla. “Firefox 3.6 Beta is built on Mozilla's Gecko 1.9.2 web rendering platform, which has been under development for several months and contains many improvements for web developers, Add-on developers and users. This version is also faster and more responsive than previous versions, and has been optimized to run on small device operating systems such as Windows CE and Maemo.”

As noted above, Mozilla has changed the way it allows third party software to integrate with Firefox in order to prevent crashes, according to the release notes for the new version. The ability to run scripts asynchronously to speed up page load times has also been included, along with more than 140 bug fixes from the last beta to improve performance, stability, security, and features.

With the fourth Firefox 3.6 beta being available in more than 60 languages, users worldwide are encouraged to get their local version, although they should exercise caution when using this development release of the browser.

Users can now change their browser's appearance with a single click, with built-in support for Personas, the changelog reveals on. You’ll also be alerted when plugins are out of date, just to be on the safe side, Mozilla suggests. Other improvements include

- Open, native video can now be displayed full screen and supports poster frames.
- Support for the WOFF font format.
- Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness and startup time.
- Support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies.

Download Mozilla Firefox for Mac (Free)