14 DAY TRIAL // Mozilla has just announced that Firefox for Windows 8 with a Modern UI is now available in the Aurora release channel, which means that adopters of Microsoft's new operating system can finally give it a try.
Just as expected, the Modern flavor of Firefox tries to make the most of the Metro UI, so it features a touch-optimized interface with support for swipe gestures and large buttons.
Similar to the desktop version, the new build of Firefox is based on the Gecko rendering engine and obviously supports WebGL and Mozilla's very own asm.js “which supercharges JavaScript in the browser,” as the developing team explained.
“Hardware accelerated full HTML5 video is also supported, including open video formats like WebM and proprietary formats such as H.264,” it added.
In addition, Firefox for Windows 8 features OS integration, so you can run it in snap view mode and use the share charm to send links to your friends.
“This touch-friendly version of Firefox has been designed to ensure people get the best browsing experience on their Windows 8 tablet. It has a tile-based Firefox Start experience and supports Firefox Sync, Windows 8 touch and swipe gestures, Snapped and Fill views, and Windows Share integration all delivered with a streamlined, modern and beautiful interface,” Mozilla explained.
Keep in mind that after installation, you need to make Firefox Aurora your default browser, otherwise the Metro version won't work. In addition, it won't share bookmarks, history, and passwords with the desktop build, but instead you can set up Firefox Sync to easily transfer your content from one interface to another.
Aurora is not available for Windows RT right now, so you can only install Firefox for Windows 8 on the desktop builds of the operating system, including on Microsoft's very own Surface Pro tablet.
Update: we've published several screenshots showing Firefox for Windows 8 in action on the x64 version of the operating system.