Firefox 16 Beta Improves JavaScript Responsiveness

Mozilla released the new beta for Firefox 16 for desktops. It is available for all supported platforms (Windows, Mac and Linux) and among the highlights is the initial support for web apps.

Another important modification in the desktop build of the browser quicker access to Developer Tools by pinning a “Developer Toolbar” in the lower part of the screen.

For Mac users, the new release comes with preliminary VoiceOver support turned on by default. Up until now this was available only in the nightly builds.

JavaScript responsiveness has been improved through incremental garbage collection (Firefox 16 will be the first release to support it), which is intended to make the browser respond quicker to various input (keyboard, mouse) as well as enhance user experience with animations and games.

Garbage collector is designed to gather memory no longer in use by JavaScript programs.

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