14 DAY TRIAL // Mozilla has released Firefox 4 Beta 2, a developer preview release of its new generation Firefox web browser being made available for testing purposes only. Firefox beta releases target web developers and Mozilla’s testing community to gain feedback before advancing to the next stage in the release process, although everyone is free to download, install, and use the software at will.
According to the release notes published by the browser’s makers, this is the second Firefox 4 Beta, based on the Gecko 2.0 Web platform. This release is considered to be stable and safe to use for daily web browsing, though the features and content may change before the final product release, Mozilla notes. A complete list of changes specifically attributed to this release is provided below:
- Tabs are now on top by default on Windows and OSX - Linux will be changing when the theme has been modified to support the change. - You can turn any tab into an "App Tab" by right-clicking on it and selecting "Make into App Tab" from the context menu. - Web developers can animate content using CSS Transitions. - Responsiveness and scrolling improvements from the new retained layers layout system. - JavaScript speed improvements due to engine optimizations. - Changes to how XPCOM components are registered in order to help startup time and process separation.
Weighing in on the developer goodies, Mozilla Tech. Evangelist Paul Rouget notes that “The two major features for web developers with this release are Performance improvements and CSS3 Transitions on CSS3 Transforms.” Over at the Mozilla Hacks blog, he reveals that Firefox 4 Beta 2 comes with a new page building mechanism called Retained Layers. “This mechanism provides noticeable faster speed for web pages with dynamic content, and scrolling is much smoother,” Rouget explains. “The major change for web developers is probably CSS3 Transitions on CSS3 Transformations,” he adds. “CSS3 Transitions provide a way to animate changes to CSS properties, instead of having the changes take effect instantly […] This feature was available in Firefox 4 Beta 1, but in this new Beta, you can use Transitions on Transformation,” Rouget reveals. Read his full post here.