14 DAY TRIAL // The first Beta for Mozilla's Firefox 3.1 has been released to the public. Beta 1 adds one of the coolest features ever to hit the popular web-browser – a new tab-switching shortcut, bringing an enhanced Mac-feeling to the browsing experience.
First of all, everyone should note that Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 is a public preview release intended for developer testing and community feedback. Although the beta includes a host of new features, and performance improvements, it is highly recommended that you read the release notes, as well as the known issues before installing it.
And now for the good stuff. Among the new additions in Firefox 3.1 Beta is added support for CSS 2.1 and CSS 3 properties. The newly-added support for “CSS @font-face” allows users to specify a true type font file that includes a specific font they want to use to render a web page. This was one of the most widely-request features in Firefox, according to the development team. The Mac version, as well as the Windows one, includes @font-face support. Firefox for Linux, however, doesn't, but adding support is underway and “will be done by Firefox 3.1 final,” according to Mozilla.
Also worth noting is that Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 is the first beta from Mozilla to include support for the <video> and <audio> elements. The open-source browser developers are also busy working on backend support for QuickTime for Mac, GStreamer for Linux and Windows Media for Microsoft's OS. These backends aren't planned to arrive before 3.1 final is ready, but Mozilla is trying to make it happen.
The above-mentioned new tab-switching shortcut, which shows previews of the tab you’re switching to, mimics an existing Firefox add-on called Ctrl-Tab. The feature provides a much more intuitive browsing experience, but you'll simply have to try it out yourself to see how useful it is.
Improved control over the Smart Location Bar has also been added, using special characters to restrict your search, while web standards improvements have also been made in the Gecko layout engine. The added support for new web technologies such as the <video> and <audio> elements, the W3C Geolocation API, JavaScript query selectors, web worker threads, SVG transforms and offline applications rounds up the list of enhancements for Firefox 3.1 Beta 1.
“There are several other features that are scheduled for Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 and are partially implemented in this beta that we’ll talk about more once Beta 2 is available. Some of the things you can expect are Worker Threads for JavaScript, new graphics, SVG and CSS capabilities and probably other things as well ... So stay tuned - we’ve got lots of new stuff coming up for Firefox 3.1!” says Mozilla.
You can download the latest version of your favorite web browser, but also stable versions of the software using the links below.
Mozilla Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 for Mac Mozilla Firefox 3.0.3 Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.17