Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 Offers Better Performance
Mozilla has unleashed its third beta release of Firefox 3.1 to testers. Available in 64 languages as well as separate builds for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 includes several new features and enhancements for boosting browser performance, Web compatibility, and speed.
The sheer volume of work that has already gone into the development of Firefox 3.1, which is code-named Shiretoko, makes the new browser feel like much more than a small, incremental improvement over Firefox 3, said Mike Beltzner, Mozilla’s director of Firefox development.
For this reason, Beltzner noted, a proposal was put forward at last week’s Firefox/Gecko delivery meeting “to change the version number for Shiretoko to Firefox 3.5.” If Mozilla decides to adopt the proposal, “the following fourth beta will be numbered Firefox 3.5b4a,” Beltzner said.
New Features
The browser’s developers have continued to make improvements to the Tracemonkey JavaScript engine, which they say is more stable and faster than previous beta releases. Furthermore, they have added a new capability to the private browsing feature that will give users the ability to select Forget This Site from the application’s history sidebar.
Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 also marks the completion of developer changes related to an enhanced scripting feature called “Web worker threads” that gives Web site builders a way to move extensive JavaScript computation to a background thread. This allows the user interface to remain responsive to commands even as the JavaScript engine churns away. Moreover, navigating away from the Web page pauses the computation.
Other notable improvements include a significant upgrade to the Firefox Gecko layout and rendering engine. The plug-in previously required for video and audio elements has been eliminated by adding support for some aspects of the forthcoming HTML 5 spec, which is expected to remain a work in progress for years…
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