14 DAY TRIAL // Firefox 3.0 is but a day away from its official launch. On June 17, 2008, the successor of Firefox 2.0 will be unleashed, with Mozilla aiming to break all records for the most software downloads in the first 24 hours. Firefox 3.0, now at Release Candidate 3 stage, is bound to find fertile soil on the browser market in order to increase its install base, what with Internet Explorer 8 not even on the horizon. One crucial aspect that will help Firefox 3.0 convert the audience away from Internet Explorer is the new feature set of the browser. Mozilla's Deb Richardson put together the Field Guide to Firefox 3.0, the ultimate presentation of the new features that will delight users.
"The new features cover the full range from huge and game-changing to ones so subtle you may not notice them until you realize that using Firefox is just somehow easier and better. The range of improved features is similar - whole back-end systems have been rebuilt from scratch, while other features have been tweaked slightly or redesigned in small ways. Overall, the result is the fastest, safest, slimmest, and easiest to use version of Firefox yet," Richardson explained.
Firefox 3.0 will bring to the table a new add-on manager allowing users to explore a world of available add-ons, and to install new items effortlessly. The new bookmarks infrastructure of the browser will make it easier for new items to be added and managed with options such as Bookmark Stars, Bookmark Tags, and Smart Bookmark Folders. Advanced CSS support was also in the focus of the development process, Firefox 3.0 passing the Acid2 Test without any problems, even though it is still quite a long way away from acing the Acid3 Test.
The successor of Firefox 2.0 is the first open source browser from Mozilla developed to understand color profiles. Firefox 3.0 features not only Cairo subsystem and a completely new graphics layer, but also an overhauled text-rendering system.
The next generation of the Mozilla open source browser delivers both full page zoom and text only zoom, and comes with the ability to remember custom settings even after a restart. The History feature evolved to become not only the number one source of information for the Smart Location Bar, but also a part of the Firefox Library.
Firefox 3.0 features an improved HTML Canvas implementation, support for Location bar UTF-8, Malware protection, Microformats API, Offline web application support, a new Password manager, Phishing protection, the Site Identification button, the Smart Location Bar, revamped tabs and themes, enhanced preview pages for video and audio feeds, integration with Vista parental controls and even Web application protocol handlers.
Without a doubt, the new options of the Download manager will help users make the most of mundane tasks, but Firefox 3.0 really hits the spot when it comes down to performance. "Firefox 3 is the fastest, slimmest version of Firefox yet. Speed tests are showing a 2-4x improvement over Firefox 2 and 9x over Internet Explorer 7. Memory usage tests measure that Firefox 3 is 2x more efficient than Firefox 2 and 4.7x more efficient than IE7. There's been a tremendous focus on performance for this release, and an incredible amount of effort has gone in to achieving these numbers," Richardson said.
Firefox 3.0 RC3 is available for download here.