14 DAY TRIAL // Mozilla has recently announced the launch of a public beta of Firefox for Windows 8, which means that adopters of Microsoft’s modern operating system are finally provided with a powerful alternative for the built-in Internet Explorer.
According to Mozilla’s very own release notes, the new so-called Firefox for Windows 8 Touch Beta packs a tile-based Firefox start screen and gives one-tap access to the most important sections, including Top Sites, Bookmarks, and history.
At the same time, popular Firefox features, such as the Awesome Bar, are still available, and so are Windows 8 options, such as snap view support.
“These options let you chose if you want to view an app full-screen, or ‘snapped’ to a narrow region of the screen (typically to the left of the screen like a sidebar), or if you’d like your app to ‘fill’ the remaining screen area not already occupied by an app in ‘snapped’ state,” Mozilla explained.
“The big tiles on the start screen make browsing a more visually-rich experience and are easy to recognize and tap. The tile-based interface simplifies auto-complete and makes searching quick and easy.”
Firefox for Windows 8 also comes with support for the share charm, so you can share a web page or text, image, or link you find online to any social app installed on your device.
“This touch-friendly, tile-based Firefox is optimized for Microsoft’s Windows 8 Modern UI and designed to ensure users get the best Firefox browsing experience possible on their Windows 8 tablets, touch-screen laptops and other compatible devices.”
In order to try out the application, you need to install the standard Firefox Beta package and then set it as the default browser on your Windows 8 computer. A Firefox live tile should be located on the Start screen, while on Windows 8.1 you need to manually access the All Apps view to launch the browser.