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Firefox 4

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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 in24 languages
TypeWeb browser
FTP client
LicenseMPL/GNU GPL/GNU LGPL[4]
Websitewww.firefox.com/beta/

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Origins and lineage
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Template:Fix bunching Mozilla Firefox 4 is an upcoming version of the Mozilla Firefox web browser, expected for release in early 2011. The first beta was made available on July 6, 2010, and the current version (beta 7) was released on November 10, 2010.[5]

The primary goals for this milestone include improvements in performance, standards support and the user interface.[6]

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.[7] 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. The main goals included making Firefox "fast, powerful, and empowering".[6]

Features

Mozilla Firefox 4 includes many new features since version 3.6.[8]

User interface

Firefox 4 will bring a new, "faster" user interface.[9] Early mockups of the new interface on Windows,[10] Mac OS X,[11] and Linux[12] were first made available in July 2009.

New features include improved "doorhanger" notifications, Firefox Panorama,[13] application tabs, a redesigned extension manager,[14] integration with Firefox Sync,[15] and support for multitouch displays.[16]

File:Firefox panaroma.JPG
Screenshot of the new Firefox Panorama mode

Many changes were made to the user interface. By default, tabs are now on the top of the window.[17] 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.[18] 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]

JägerMonkey engine

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.[19]

Hardware acceleration

Since Firefox 4.0 Beta 5, hardware acceleration is enabled by default on Windows Vista and Windows 7 machines using Direct2D.[20] 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.

Audio API

Firefox 4 introduces an audio API, which supports many effects for presenting sound data in HTML5 pages. It allows, for example, to visualise raw sound data, to use filters or to show the audio spectrum.[21] Both reading and writing audio data is possible.[22]

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.[23]

Development

Nightly builds were marked as 4.0a1pre between February and June 2008,[24][25] but were renamed to 3.1a1pre afterward.

Firefox 3.7 (Gecko 1.9.3) Alpha 1 was released on February 10, 2010.[26][27] Alpha 2 was released on March 1, Alpha 3 was released on March 17, Alpha 4 was released on April 12 and Alpha 5 was released on June 16. The version number was changed to 4.0 (and Gecko's was changed to 2.0) starting with the first beta, released on July 6. The second beta was released on July 27. The third beta was released on August 11. The fourth beta was released on August 24. The fifth beta was released on September 7. The sixth beta was released on September 14. The seventh beta was originally scheduled to be released in the second half of September, but was delayed until November 10 in order to stabilize the new JavaScript engine and finish the planned features. The eighth beta is tentatively scheduled sometime in December.[28] The official release of Firefox 4 was originally planned for November 2010, but has now been revised to early 2011. Mozilla has also decided to change the number of beta versions from 8 to 10 with the RC (release candidate) versions to appear in early 2011.[29]

Firefox 4 is based on the Gecko 2.0 engine, which adds and improves support for HTML5,[30] CSS3, WebM, and WebGL.[6] Also, it includes a new JavaScript engine (JägerMonkey)[31] and better XPCOM APIs.

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.[32]

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. ^ https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/4/Beta
  6. ^ a b c Beltzner, Mike (2010-05-10). "Firefox 4: fast, powerful, and empowering". Retrieved 2010-09-21.
  7. ^ Eich, Brendan (2006-10-13). "Mozilla 2". Retrieved 2006-09-16.
  8. ^ "Firefox 4.0 beta 6 release notes". Retrieved 2010-07-07.
  9. ^ "Mozilla spills plan for, yes, Firefox 4". The Register. 2010-05-10. Retrieved 2010-05-10.
  10. ^ "Firefox 4.0 Windows Theme Mockups". Mozilla. 2010-06-02. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  11. ^ "Firefox 4.0 Mac Theme Mockups". Mozilla. 2010-06-16. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  12. ^ "Firefox 4.0 Linux Theme Mockups". Mozilla. 2010-07-21. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  13. ^ Aza Raskin. "Firefox Panorama: Tab Candy Evolved". Retrieved 2010-09-11.
  14. ^ Stephen Shankland (2010-05-11). "Firefox 4 release plan: The need for speed". cnet. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
  15. ^ "Sync in Firefox 4 Beta". Mozilla Labs. 2010-08-24. Retrieved 2010-09-11.
  16. ^ Stephen Shankland (2010-05-28). "Mozilla prepares coders for Firefox 4 features". cnet. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
  17. ^ Why Tabs are on Top in Firefox 4 « Alex Faaborg. Blog.mozilla.com (2010-06-24). Retrieved on 2010-11-08.
  18. ^ "Firefox/4.0 Windows Theme Mockups - MozillaWiki". Mozilla. 2009-07-27. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
  19. ^ David Mandelin (2010-02-26). "Starting JägerMonkey".
  20. ^ "Firefox 4: hardware acceleration". Mozilla. 2010-09-07.
  21. ^ IB Times Staff Reporter (2010-09-08). "Firefox 4 beta flaunts audio API to create music visuals". International Business Times. Retrieved 2010-09-29.
  22. ^ "Audio Data API". Mozilla. 2010-08-25. Retrieved 2010-09-29.
  23. ^ jsullivan (2010-11-10). "Fasten Your Seatbelts – Firefox 4 Beta adds new JavaScript power and faster graphics". Retrieved 2010-11-10.
  24. ^ FTP.Mozilla.org
  25. ^ FTP.Mozilla.org
  26. ^ "Platform/2010-02-02 - Mozilla Wiki". Mozilla. 2010-02-02. Retrieved 2010-02-06.
  27. ^ Release Notes: Mozilla Developer Preview. Mozilla.org. Retrieved on 2010-11-08.
  28. ^ "Releases - MozillaWiki". 2010-11-10. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
  29. ^ "Mozilla: Firefox 4 delayed until 'early 2011'". 2010-10-28. Retrieved 2010-11-12.
  30. ^ Henri Sivonen (2010-05-11). "Firefox 4 HTML 5 parser". Retrieved 2010-05-11.
  31. ^ Christopher Blizzard (2010-03-08). "a quick note on JavaScript engine components". Retrieved 2010-03-19.
  32. ^ "Firefox 4 for Developers - MDC". 2010-08-25.
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