Firefox 3.0 a New Beginning
The development name for Mozilla Firefox 3 is Gran Paradiso. The precursory releases are codenamed ?Minefield?, as this is the name of the trunk builds. ?Gran Paradiso?, like other Firefox development names, is an actual place; in this case the highest mountain group in the Graian Alps. The development team has asked users to submit feature requests that they wish to be included in Firefox 3. On November 19, 2007, Firefox 3 Beta 1 was released. The second beta (Firefox 3 Beta 2) was released on December 18, 2007. With at least three total beta releases planned, it is estimated that Firefox 3 will be released in early 2008. 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 and implements new web APIs. In particular, it will make Firefox 3 the first official release of a Mozilla browser to pass the Acid2 test, a standards-compliance test for web-page rendering.
Many of the new features are defined in the WHATWG HTML5 specification. In particular, support for the controversial ?ping? attribute in and HTML elements is implemented and enabled by default. The purpose of this attribute is to allow tracking clicking on links without the disadvantages of traditional methods such as redirects and JavaScript, which can be cumbersome to implement and often slow the user from reaching their intended destination. Another advantage over current techniques is that the user has the option of turning the ?ping? feature off (although as of Firefox 3 Beta 1, it can only be turned off using about:config). LWN notes that ?[t]he redirect technique is arguably worse than the ping attribute?. Other new features include support for offline web applications, cross-site XMLHttpRequest, and APNG support.
Gecko 1.9 uses cairo as a graphics backend, 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 will not run on those operating systems. Similarly, the Mac version of Firefox 3 will only run on Mac OS X 10.4 or higher, but, unlike previous versions, will have a native Cocoa widget interface.
Michael is the developer of FireFox, features many articles telling user how they can help improve their web browsing experience. http://www.spreadfoxfire.com Find more Web browsing Advice on our Nice Blog(at)spreadfoxfire.com/blog .
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Firefox 3.0 a New Beginning