Mozilla Starts 'Firefox 3.5 for 35 Days' Program

Firefox 3.5's release date is still in the shrouds as more delays have pushed even the Release Candidate version beyond its initial schedule. What's more, an unplanned interim version was released today, dubbed Firefox 3.5 Preview and marked as Beta 99, to act as a stepping stone between Firefox 3.5 Beta 4 and the Firefox 3.5 R.C. coming later this month.

Firefox 3.5 was originally planed as a small update and consequently named 3.1. But as the numbers of features and changes began to swell the developers decided to update the version number and mark it as an important update. In preparation for the upcoming version Mozilla developers are announcing a program called "Firefox 3.5 for 35 days" in which many of the changes will be detailed, each in its own post, on the hacks.mozilla.org blog.

“The upcoming release of Firefox 3.5 is a big upgrade for users. It includes new privacy features, improvements in interactive performance and a new JavaScript engine that will improve the experience for users using script-heavy web sites. These are all features that users will appreciate and talk about,” the post announcing the program reads.

The aim is for 70 posts, two per day, and in true Mozilla fashion most of these will be contributed by the community. The first post will document in depth a feature explaining it and giving examples of its use. The second posts will feature examples or demos made by users to showcase the changes made in Firefox 3.5.

“My personal belief is that these posts represent Mozilla’s dreams for the future of the web. We are not a company like every other browser vendor – our core mission is to improve and protect the web. Firefox 3.5 represents what we think the next stage of the web will be – interactive applications, video, web sites collaborating and sharing information – all via the browser. Our hope is that each of you will take what we post here, encourage other browser vendors to implement similar features where they haven’t already, and do your part to keep the web vibrant,” wrote Christopher Blizzard from the Mozilla team.

Posts already began to be published yesterday and we will keep you informed on the more interesting features.