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'''Mozilla Firefox 4''' is a version of the [[Mozilla Firefox]] [[web browser]]. The first [[Beta (software)|beta]] was made available on July 6, 2010, and the current version (Release Candidate 1) was released on 9 March 2011.<ref>{{cite web
'''Mozilla Firefox 4''' is a version of the [[Mozilla Firefox]] [[web browser]]. The first [[Beta (software)|beta]] was made available on July 6, 2010, and the current version (Release Candidate 1) was released on March 9, 2011.<ref>{{cite web
| url=https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/4/Beta Firefox/4/Beta
| url=https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/4/Beta Firefox/4/Beta
| title=MozillaWiki
| title=MozillaWiki

Revision as of 17:02, 15 March 2011

Mozilla Firefox 4
Original author(s)Mozilla Corporation
Developer(s)Mozilla Corporation
Mozilla Foundation
Repository
Written inC++, JavaScript,[1] CSS,[2][3] XUL, XBL
EngineGecko
Operating systemCross-platform
Available in81 languages
TypeWeb browser
FTP client
LicenceMPL/GNU GPL/GNU LGPL[4]
Websitewww.firefox.com/beta/
Related articles
Origins and lineage
Category

Mozilla Firefox 4 is a version of the Mozilla Firefox web browser. The first beta was made available on July 6, 2010, and the current version (Release Candidate 1) was released on March 9, 2011.[5][6] It is codenamed Tumucumaque[7] and has been confirmed as the last 'largest' release cycle Mozilla will do. The Mozilla team will instead opt for smaller and quicker releases as other browser vendors have been doing. [8]

The primary goals for this upgrade include improvements in performance, standards support, and the user interface.[9]

History

On October 13, 2006, Brendan Eich, Mozilla's Chief Technology Officer, wrote about the plans for "Mozilla 2", referring to the most comprehensive iteration (since its creation) of the overall platform on which Firefox and other Mozilla products run.[10] Most of the objectives were gradually incorporated into Firefox through versions 3.0, 3.5, and 3.6. The largest changes, however, were deferred to Firefox 4.0.

In early May 2010, Mozilla's plans for Firefox 4.0 were officially detailed through a blog post by Mike Beltzner, director of Firefox.[9]

Features

Mozilla Firefox 4 includes many new features since version 3.6.[11]

User interface

Firefox 4 will bring a new, "faster" user interface.[12] Early mockups of the new interface on Windows,[13] Mac OS X,[14] and Linux[15] were first made available in July 2009.

New features include improved "doorhanger" notifications, Firefox Panorama,[16] application tabs, a redesigned extension manager,[17] Jetpack extensions support, integration with Firefox Sync,[18] and support for multitouch displays.[19] Many changes were made to the user interface. By default, tabs are now on the top of the window.[20] The "stop" "refresh" and "go" buttons have been combined into a single button, placed on the right side of the address bar. The button dynamically changes based on the current state of the page.[21] On Windows Vista and Windows 7, the menu bar is hidden by default with the most common actions moved to a new "Firefox" menu in the upper left hand corner of the browser (similar to the menu button found in Opera). Users can create persistent "app tabs", and customize the tab bar, as well as the bookmark and navigation bars.[citation needed]

Engine

Firefox 4 is based on the Gecko 2.0 engine, which adds and improves support for HTML5,[22] CSS3, WebM, and WebGL.[9] Also, it includes a new JavaScript engine (JägerMonkey)[23] and better XPCOM APIs.

JägerMonkey is a new JavaScript engine, designed to work alongside the TraceMonkey engine introduced with Firefox 3.5. It improves performance by compiling "non-traceable" JavaScript into machine language for faster execution.[24]

Firefox 4 is the first version of Firefox to drop native support of the Gopher protocol; however, continued support is available through an add-on.[25]

Firefox 4 introduces an audio API, which provides a way to programmatically access or create audio data associated with a HTML5 audio element.[26] It allows, for example, to visualize raw sound data, to use filters or to show the audio spectrum.[27]

Performance

Firefox 4 has marked a major change in performance in comparison to former versions 3.6 and 3.5. The browser has made significant progress in Sunspider JavaScript tests as well as improvements in supporting HTML5.[28]

Since Firefox 4.0 Beta 5, hardware acceleration is enabled by default on Windows Vista and Windows 7 machines using Direct2D.[29] Using hardware acceleration allows the browser to tap into the computer's graphics processing unit, lifting the burden from the CPU. This allows pages to be rendered much faster.

Development

Nightly builds were marked as 4.0a1pre between February and June 2008,[30][31] but were renamed to 3.1a1pre afterward.

Timeline

Release Release Date Notes
Alpha 1 February 10, 2010.[32][33] Firefox 3.7 (Gecko 1.9.3)
Alpha 2 March 1, 2010
Alpha 3 March 17, 2010
Alpha 4 April 12, 2010
Alpha 5 June 16, 2010
Beta 1 July 6, 2010 The version number was changed to 4.0 (Gecko's 2.0)
Beta 2 July 27, 2010
Beta 3 August 11, 2010
Beta 4 August 24, 2010
Beta 5 September 7, 2010
Beta 6 September 14, 2010
Beta 7 November 10, 2010 Originally scheduled for the second half of September, but was delayed in order to stabilize the new JavaScript engine and finish the planned features
Beta 8 December 22, 2010
Beta 9 January 14, 2011
Beta 10 January 25, 2011
Beta 11 February 8, 2011 Ship eleventh revision of beta, with more betaN+ hardblockers fixed (14 betaN+ hardblockers not fixed)
Beta 12 February 25, 2011 Ship twelfth revision of beta, with all betaN+ hardblockers fixed. Mozilla senior engineering director Damon Sicore, urging his team to take this hill and push through to ship a release candidate by February 25.[34][35][36]
RC 1 March 9, 2011[37] Complete work on all blocking 2.0:final + bugs, generate release candidates

The official release of Firefox 4 was originally planned for November 2010, but its schedule was revised to early 2011.[38] Nightly builds, for testing only, are available at http://nightly.mozilla.org/ .

References

  1. ^ "Firefox's addons are written in JavaScript". Rietta.com. Retrieved 2009-12-19.
  2. ^ "Firefox uses an "html.css" stylesheet for default rendering styles". Davidwalsh.name. Retrieved 2009-12-19.
  3. ^ "The Firefox addon, Stylish takes advantage of Firefox's CSS rendering to change the appearance of Firefox". Userstyles.org. Retrieved 2009-12-19.
  4. ^ Mozilla End-User Licensing Agreements. Mozilla.com. Retrieved on 2010-11-08.
  5. ^ Firefox/4/Beta "MozillaWiki". Wiki.mozilla.org. 8 February 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2011. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  6. ^ http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/firefox-4-rc-expected-to-ship-roughly-on-march-9/8386
  7. ^ "Tumucumaque Park". Mozilla.org. 5 October 2010. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
  8. ^ "Last Release". PC Pro. 28 February 2011. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
  9. ^ a b c Beltzner, Mike (2010-05-10). "Firefox 4: fast, powerful, and empowering". Retrieved 2010-09-21.
  10. ^ Eich, Brendan (2006-10-13). "Mozilla 2". Retrieved 2006-09-16.
  11. ^ "Firefox 4.0 beta 6 release notes". Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  12. ^ "Mozilla spills plan for, yes, Firefox 4". The Register. 10 May 2010. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
  13. ^ "Firefox 4.0 Windows Theme Mockups". Mozilla. 2 June 2010. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
  14. ^ "Firefox 4.0 Mac Theme Mockups". Mozilla. 16 June 2010. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
  15. ^ "Firefox 4.0 Linux Theme Mockups". Mozilla. 21 July 2010. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
  16. ^ Aza Raskin. "Firefox Panorama: Tab Candy Evolved". Retrieved 2010-09-11.
  17. ^ Stephen Shankland (2010-05-11). "Firefox 4 release plan: The need for speed". cnet. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
  18. ^ "Sync in Firefox 4 Beta". Mozilla Labs. 2010-08-24. Retrieved 2010-09-11.
  19. ^ Stephen Shankland (2010-05-28). "Mozilla prepares coders for Firefox 4 features". cnet. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
  20. ^ Why Tabs are on Top in Firefox 4 « Alex Faaborg. Blog.mozilla.com (2010-06-24). Retrieved on 2010-11-08.
  21. ^ "Firefox/4.0 Windows Theme Mockups – MozillaWiki". Mozilla. 2009-07-27. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
  22. ^ Henri Sivonen (2010-05-11). "Firefox 4 HTML 5 parser". Retrieved 2010-05-11.
  23. ^ Christopher Blizzard (2010-03-08). "a quick note on JavaScript engine components". Retrieved 2010-03-19.
  24. ^ David Mandelin (2010-02-26). "Starting JägerMonkey".
  25. ^ "Firefox 4 for Developers – MDC". 2010-08-25.
  26. ^ "Audio Data API". Mozilla. 2010-08-25. Retrieved 2010-09-29.
  27. ^ IB Times Staff Reporter (2010-09-08). "Firefox 4 beta flaunts audio API to create music visuals". International Business Times. Retrieved 2010-09-29.
  28. ^ jsullivan (2010-11-10). "Fasten Your Seatbelts – Firefox 4 Beta adds new JavaScript power and faster graphics". Retrieved 2010-11-10.
  29. ^ "Firefox 4: hardware acceleration". Mozilla. 2010-09-07.
  30. ^ FTP.Mozilla.org
  31. ^ FTP.Mozilla.org
  32. ^ "Platform/2010-02-02 – Mozilla Wiki". Mozilla. 2010-02-02. Retrieved 2010-02-06.
  33. ^ Release Notes: Mozilla Developer Preview. Mozilla.org. Retrieved on 2010-11-08.
  34. ^ "Firefox 4 RC targeted for Feb 25, final by March".
  35. ^ "Mozilla confirms Firefox 4 beta 12 is FINAL test build".
  36. ^ "Releases Mozilla Wiki".
  37. ^ "Mozilla Firefox 4 RC Release Notes". Retrieved 9 March 2011.
  38. ^ Beltzner, Mike. "Firefox 4: Updated Beta Schedule". Retrieved 4 March 2011.
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