Jump to content

Firefox 3.0: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
FlaBot (talk | contribs)
222,981 edits
m robot Adding: hu:Mozilla Firefox 3
Line 141: Line 141:
== References ==
== References ==
{{reflist|2}}
{{reflist|2}}

http://www.thechetan.com/2008/07/mozilla-firefox-3-disappoints-me-so-i-uninstalled-it/


== External links ==
== External links ==

Revision as of 23:24, 24 March 2009

Firefox 3.0
Developer(s)Mozilla Corporation, Mozilla Foundation
Initial releaseJune 17, 2008 (2008-06-17)
Repository
Written inC++, XUL, XBL, JavaScript
Operating systemMicrosoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, BSD, Solaris
PlatformCross-platform
Size7.2 MB (Windows), 17.2 MB (Mac OS X), 8.7 MB (Linux) (all archived)
Available inOver 45 languages
TypeWeb browser, FTP client, gopher client
LicenseMPL/GPL/LGPL/Mozilla EULA (for binary redistribution)
Websitefirefox.com
Related articles
Origins and lineage
Category

Mozilla Firefox 3 is a version of Mozilla Firefox, a web browser released on June 17, 2008 by the Mozilla Corporation. [1]

Firefox 3 uses version 1.9 of the Gecko layout engine for displaying web pages. The new version fixes many bugs, improves standard compliance, and implements new web APIs compared to Firefox 2.0. Other new features include a redesigned download manager, a new "Places" system for storing bookmarks and history, and separate themes for different operating systems.

Firefox 3 had 5.67% of the recorded usage share of web browsers by July 2008, and had over 8 million unique downloads the day it was released, setting a Guinness World Record.[2] As of February 2009, the usage share of Firefox 3.0 had grown to 19.11% of the market.[3]

It was codenamed Gran Paradiso during its development, which included 8 alpha, 5 beta, and 3 release candidates released over 2007 and early 2008. Development continued with a planned 3.1 version codenamed Shiretoko during the summer of 2008. [4]

Development

The development name for Mozilla Firefox 3.0 was Gran Paradiso.[5] "Gran Paradiso", like other Firefox development names, is the name of an actual place; in this case the seventh-highest mountain in the Graian Alps.

In 2006, the development team asked users to submit feature requests that they wish to be included in Firefox 3.[6]

The Mozilla Foundation released the first beta on November 19, 2007,[7] the second beta on December 18, 2007,[7] the third beta on February 12, 2008, the fourth beta on March 10, 2008, and the fifth and final beta on April 2, 2008.[8] The first release candidate was released on 16 May 2008. The second release candidate was released on June 4, 2008 followed by a third release candidate (differing from the second release candidate only in that it corrected a serious bug for Mac users) on June 11, 2008. Mozilla shipped the final release on June 17, 2008.[1][9] The final release of Firefox 3.0 featured in popular culture, mentioned on, among others, The Colbert Report on its release date.[10]

See also: History of Mozilla Firefox

Version 3.5

After three initial beta releases under the Firefox 3.1 moniker, Mozilla developers have decided to change the numbering of this release to version 3.5, to reflect a significantly greater scope of changes than was originally planned.[11] Version 3.5, codenamed Shiretoko,[12] is planned to include support for the <video> tag as defined in the HTML 5 specification. Cross-site XMLHttpRequests (XHR), which would allow for more powerful web applications and an easier way to implement mashups, is also in planning. Native JSON DOM binding, a powerful feature for web developers, may also be included, together with full CSS 3 selector support.[13][14] Firefox 3.5 will use the Gecko 1.9.1 engine, which includes a few features that were not included in the 3.0 release.[15] A popular feature named Private Browsing, often called Porn mode, will also be added. A minor change will be made for Russian builds of Firefox 3.5: the popular Russian search engine Yandex will become the default search engine (rather than Google as with previous releases), due to the result of a survey of Russian Firefox users who preferred Yandex over Google.[16]

Version 3.1 Alpha 1 was released in late July 2008.[17]

Version 3.1 Alpha 2 was launched on September 6, 2008, adding new video support and enhancing the speed of some JavaScript computations. Code named "Shiretoko," Mozilla said it will be the last in a short series of alpha editions, and timely released just days after Google introduced Google Chrome.[18][19][20]

On October 14, 2008, the first beta of Firefox 3.1 was released,[21] on December 8, 2008, Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 was released.[22], and on March 12, 2009 Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 was released.[23]

Subsequent 3.x release

The release following Firefox 3.1 (since changed to Firefox 3.5) was originally referred to as 3.2. Since the change, Mozilla developer Mike Shaver has indicated that the release number will be referred to as 3.6 ad interim.[24] The precursory releases of upcoming Firefox releases are codenamed "Minefield", as this is the name of the trunk builds. At the 2008 Firefox Summit, it was announced that development would be aimed for a release of Firefox 3.1(3.5) in December, and Firefox 3.2(3.6) in the second quarter of 2009, both these development branches branching off the trunk builds. As of December 2, the daily development trunk has begun showcasing pre-release builds of the first Firefox 3.6 Alpha 1 Pre (Preview release).

A new operating-system-like tab-switching interface previously intended for 3.5 is due to be included in 3.6.[25]

Future

The forthcoming release after Firefox 3.6 is currently widely expected to be Firefox 4.0, which will be based on Mozilla 2, unlike the Firefox 3.5 builds being based on the Mozilla 1.9 branch (3.0).

Changes and features

Backend changes

One of the big changes in Firefox 3 is the implementation of Gecko 1.9, an updated layout engine. The new version fixes many bugs, improves standard compliance, and implements new web APIs.[26] In particular, it makes Firefox 3 the first official release of a Mozilla browser to pass the Acid2 test, a standards-compliance test for web-page rendering. It also gets a better score on the Acid3 test than Firefox 2.

Some of the new features are defined in the WHATWG HTML 5 specification,[26] such as support for web-based protocol handlers, a native implementation of the getElementsByClassName method, support for safe message-passing with postMessage, and support for offline web applications. Other new features include APNG support, and EXSLT support.[26]

A new internal memory allocator, jemalloc,[27] is used rather than the default libc one.[28][dead link]

Gecko 1.9 uses Cairo as a graphics backend,[29] allowing for improved graphics performance and better consistency of look and feel on various operating systems. Because of Cairo's lack of support for Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me and Windows NT (versions 4.0 and below), and because Microsoft ended support for Windows 98 and Windows Me on July 11, 2006, Firefox 3 does not run on those operating systems. Similarly, the Mac version of Firefox 3 runs only on Mac OS X 10.4 or higher,[30] but, unlike previous versions, has a native Cocoa widget interface.[31]

Frontend changes

New Firefox 3 Download Manager in Ubuntu Studio.

As for the frontend changes, Firefox features a redesigned download manager with built-in search and the ability to resume downloads.[32] Also, a new plug-in manager is included in the add-ons window[33] and extensions can be installed with a package manager. Microformats are supported for use by software that can understand their use in documents to store data in a machine-readable form.[34]

New location bar auto-complete feature in Firefox 3.

The password manager in Firefox 3 asks the user if they would like it to remember the password after the log on attempt rather than before. By doing this users are able to avoid storing an incorrect password in the password manager after a bad log on attempt.[35]

Firefox 3 uses a "Places" system for storing bookmarks and history in an SQLite backend.[36] The new system stores more information about user's history and bookmarks, in particular letting the user tag the pages. It is also used to implement an improved algorithm for the new location bar auto-complete feature (dubbed the "Awesomebar").[37][38]

The Mac version of Firefox 3 supports Growl notifications, the OS X spell checker, and Aqua-style form controls.

Themes

To give the browser a more native look and feel on different operating systems, Firefox 3 uses separate themes for Mac OS X, Linux, Microsoft Windows XP, and Microsoft Windows Vista. When running on GNOME, Firefox 3 displays icons from the environment; thus, when the desktop environment icon theme changes, Firefox follows suit.[39] Additional icons were also made to be used when no appropriate icon exists; these were made following the Tango Desktop Project guidelines.[40] Additionally, the GTK version has replaced the non-native tab bar that was implemented in Firefox 2.0 and instead uses the native GTK+ tab style.

The default icons and icon layout for Firefox 3 also changed dramatically, taking on a keyhole shape for the forward and back buttons by default on two of the three platforms.[41] However, the keyhole shape does not take effect in Linux or in the small-icon mode. The Iconfactory created the icons for the Microsoft Windows platform. In addition, separate icons sets are displayed for Windows XP and Vista.

Microsoft Windows Vista "Strata"[42] visual style.

Microsoft Windows XP "Strata"[42] visual style.

Mac OS X "Firelight"[42] visual style.

Linux "Tango"[42] theme on Ubuntu.

Breakpad

Mozilla Crash Reporter on Debian GNU/Linux with Xfce4

Breakpad (previously called "Airbag") is an open-source crash reporter utility which replaced the proprietary Talkback. It is being developed by Google and Mozilla, and used in Firefox and Thunderbird.[43][44] This product is significant because it is the first open source multi-platform crash reporting system.[citation needed]

During development Breakpad was first included May 27, 2007, in Firefox 3 trunk builds on Windows NT and Mac OS X, and, weeks later, on Linux.[45] Breakpad replaced Talkback (also known as the Quality Feedback Agent) as the crash reporter used by the Mozilla software to report crashes of its products to a centralized server for aggregation or case-by-case analysis.[46] Talkback was proprietary software licensed to the Mozilla Corporation by SupportSoft.

Usage

Firefox market share by version
— NetApplications.com, February 2009[47]
Firefox 1.0 0.08%
Firefox 1.5 0.18%
Firefox 2.0 2.27%
Firefox 3.0 19.11%
All versions[48] 21.77%

NetApplications noted that the use of Firefox 3 beta rapidly increased to a usage share of 0.62% in May 2008. They interpreted this increase to mean that Firefox 3 betas were stable and that users were using it as their primary browser.[49] Within 24 hours after the release of Firefox 3.0, usage rose from under 1% to over 3% according to NetApplications.[50]

Guinness World Record

World map of all downloads of Mozilla Firefox since June 17, 2008
Wikinews has related news:

The official date for the launch of Firefox 3 was June 17, 2008, named "Download Day 2008". Firefox was aiming to set the record for most software downloads in 24 hours.

Download Day officially started at 11:16 a.m. PDT (18:16 UTC) on June 17.[51] With the announced date, the download day was June 18 for timezones greater than GMT +6, which includes half of Asia and all of Oceania.

The large number of users attempting to access the Mozilla website on June 17 caused it to become unavailable for at least a few hours and attempts at upgrading to the new version resulted in server timeouts. The site was not updated for the download of Firefox 3 until 12:00 PDT (19:00 UTC), two hours later than originally scheduled.[52][53]

When "Download Day" ended at 11:16 AM PDT (18:16 UTC) June 18,[54] 8,249,092 unique downloads had been recorded.[55] On July 2 Mozilla announced they had won the record, with 8,002,530 unique downloads [56] with parties in over 25 countries [57]. As of July 7, 2008, more than 31 million people had downloaded Firefox 3.[58][59]

Gareth Deaves, Records Manager for Guinness World Records, complimented Mozilla, saying, "Mobilizing over 8 million internet users within 24 hours is an extremely impressive accomplishment and we would like to congratulate the Mozilla community for their hard work and dedication."[60]

Critical response

The most popular criticism was that of the new default interface for Mac OS X and Windows.[citation needed] While the new functionality of the location bar, dubbed the "Awesomebar", was overall well received,[61] there were those who did not like it due to UI and performance changes,[62][63][64] so much that extensions were made to revert it.[65][66] Firefox 3 received CNET Editors' Choice in June 2008.[67]

References

  1. ^ a b "Coming Tuesday, June 17th: Firefox 3". Mozilla Developer News.
  2. ^ "Market share for browsers, operating systems and search engines". Net Applications. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
  3. ^ "Market share for browsers, operating systems and search engines". Net Applications. Retrieved 2009-03-19.
  4. ^ PC Pro: News: Firefox aims for 3.1 release this month
  5. ^ Vukicevic, Vladimir (June 2, 2006). "Gecko 1.9/Firefox 3 ("Gran Paradiso") Planning Meeting, Wednesday [[June 7]], 11:00 am". Google Groups: mozilla.dev.planning. Retrieved 2006-09-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  6. ^ Reimer, Jeremy (2006-10-13). "Firefox accepting feature suggestions for version 3". Arstechnica.com. Retrieved 2007-02-05.
  7. ^ a b Mike Beltzner. "Firefox 3 Beta 1 now available for download". Mozilla Developer News.
  8. ^ Rooney, Paula (2008-02-26). "Firefox 3 beta 4 code freeze tonight, beta 5 release looks likely". ZDNet. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
  9. ^ Anick Jesdanun (2008-06-12). "New Firefox Web browser to be released Tuesday". Delaware News-Journal. New York: Gannett Corporation. Retrieved 2008-06-13. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ "Colbert Report episode June 17, 17th minute". Retrieved 2008-06-18.
  11. ^ beltzner (2009-03-06). "Shiretoko to be named Firefox 3.5". Mozilla. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  12. ^ "Firefox 3.1 "Shiretoko"". 2008-06-12. Retrieved 2008-06-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ "Firefox 3.1 passes selectors test". 2008-06-05. Retrieved 2008-06-05.
  14. ^ "Firefox 3.1 New Features". 2008-06-09. Retrieved 2008-06-09.
  15. ^ "Very early draft of Firefox 3.1 plan available for comment". 2008-06-10. Retrieved 2008-06-16.
  16. ^ Shankland, Stephen (January 9th, 2009). "Firefox in Russia dumps Google for Yandex". CNET News. Retrieved 2009-01-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ Percy Cabello (2008-07-29), First step to Firefox 3.1: Alpha 1 is here, Mozilla Links, retrieved 2008-07-29
  18. ^ computerworld.com, Mozilla updates Firefox 3.1 with Alpha 2 build
  19. ^ stuff.techwhack.com, Firefox 3.1 Alpha 2 released
  20. ^ news.cnet.com, Mozilla releases second Firefox 3.1 alpha
  21. ^ Firefox 3.1 beta Release Notes
  22. ^ [1]
  23. ^ [2]
  24. ^ "Firefox 3.1 becoming Firefox 3.5". Google Groups. March 5th, 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. ^ "Tab Navigation: Tradeoffs". 2008-08-18. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
  26. ^ a b c "Firefox 3 for developers". Mozilla Developer Center. 2007-07-17. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  27. ^ Evans, Jason (2006-04-16). "A Scalable Concurrent malloc(3) Implementation for FreeBSD" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-02-13.
  28. ^ Michael John Ventnor. "Beta 3!". Retrieved 2008-02-13.
  29. ^ "Mozilla Cairo Vector Graphics". mozillaZine. 2005-04-24. Retrieved 2007-01-24. A page describing the future usage of Cairo.
  30. ^ "Gran Paradiso - System Requirements". mozilla.org. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
  31. ^ CNET staff (2006-12-12). "Firefox 3 (Gran Paradiso) Alpha 1". ZDNet.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-02-05.
  32. ^ "Firefox 3 Beta 1 Release Notes date=2007-11-19". mozilla.com. Retrieved 2007-12-05. {{cite web}}: Missing pipe in: |title= (help)
  33. ^ Cabello, Percy (2007-08-11). "First look to Firefox 3's new download manager". mozillalinks.org. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
  34. ^ "Microformats (Mozilla Wiki)". 2007-05-24. Retrieved 2007-06-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  35. ^ Cabello, Percy (2007-09-01). "Firefox's password manager gets smarter". mozillalinks.org. Retrieved 2007-09-07.
  36. ^ Mozilla Wiki contributors (2006-10-16). "Places". Mozilla Wiki. Retrieved 2007-02-05. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  37. ^ 3.0a8 release notes
  38. ^ Places:Fx3UIPlan - MozillaWiki
  39. ^ Ryan Paul (2007-11-15). "A first look at the Firefox 3 visual refresh for Linux". Retrieved 2008-07-11.
  40. ^ Alex Faaborg (2007-11-13). "A first look at the Firefox 3 visual refresh for Linux". Retrieved 2008-07-11.
  41. ^ Alex Faaborg (2007-01-23). "Keyhole Shape". Alex Faaborg. Retrieved 2007-01-23.
  42. ^ a b c d Firefox 3: Tango, Strata, Firelight - Mozilla Links
  43. ^ Deploying the Airbag. BSBlog (Mozilla developer Benjamin Smedberg's weblog).
  44. ^ Using Breakpad with Gran Paradiso (1.9a3). BSBlog (Mozilla developer Benjamin Smedberg's weblog).
  45. ^ Bug 381099 – Turn on crash reporting by default (Win+Mac), mozilla.org bug tracker]
  46. ^ "Mozilla Talkback server". Retrieved 2006-09-21.
  47. ^ "Top Browser Share Trend". NetApplications.com. February 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-18.
  48. ^ "Top Browser Share Trend". NetApplications.com. February, 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  49. ^ "Firefox 3.0 BETA Gaining Market Share". NetApplications. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  50. ^ "Firefox 3.0 Usage Share (EDT)". Net Applications. 2008-06-19. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
  51. ^ The Official Download Day Time at www.spreadfirefox.com
  52. ^ Kelly Fiveash (2008-06-17). "Firefox 3 Download Day falls flat on face". The Register. Retrieved 2008-07-30.
  53. ^ The Mozilla Blog - Firefox 3 coming soon!
  54. ^ Download Day is here!:: The Mozilla Blog
  55. ^ Firefox 3 sets new Download World Record, I4U News
  56. ^ Spread Firefox | Download Day 2008
  57. ^ "http://article.ezedir.com/news/article_Mozilla_The_Record_Maker_2008_07_02.html". 2008-07-23. Retrieved 2008-07-23. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  58. ^ "http://www.spreadfirefox.com/en-US/worldrecord/". 2008-06-17. Retrieved 2008-06-17. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  59. ^ "Live Firefox Download Counter". 2008-06-19. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
  60. ^ Naventi, Steve (2008-07-02). "Mozilla Sets New Guinness World Record with Firefox 3 Downloads". Mozilla. Retrieved 2008-10-07.
  61. ^ Seltzer, Larry (2008-06-18). "First Impressions of Firefox 3". Ziff Davis Enterprise Holdings. Retrieved 2008-08-08. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |1=, |2=, |3=, |4=, |5=, and |6= (help)
  62. ^ Muchmore, Michael (2008-07-30). "Firefox Alpha Improves the AwesomeBar". pcmag. Retrieved 2008-10-09. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |1=, |2=, |3=, |4=, |5=, and |6= (help)
  63. ^ Brinkmann, Martin (2008-06-14). "Firefox 3 Location Bar Controversy". Retrieved 2008-08-08. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |1=, |2=, |3=, |4=, and |5= (help)
  64. ^ ""AwesomeBar" is totally NOT awesome". MozillaZine. Retrieved 2008-08-08. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |1=, |2=, and |3= (help)
  65. ^ Spitzer, Seth (2008-02-14). "oldbar :: Firefox Add-ons:". Mozilla. Retrieved 2008-08-08. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |1=, |2=, |3=, |4=, |5=, and |6= (help)
  66. ^ "Old Location Bar :: Firefox Add-ons:". Mozilla. 2008-06-19. Retrieved 2008-08-08. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |1=, |2=, |3=, and |4= (help)
  67. ^ "Firefox 3 Browser reviews - CNET Reviews". Retrieved 2008-07-18.

http://www.thechetan.com/2008/07/mozilla-firefox-3-disappoints-me-so-i-uninstalled-it/

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Firefox_3.0&oldid=279470482"