Mozilla released Firefox 101 on May 31, 2022. This is the sixth major browser update in 2022.
This is the thirteenth update for the new Proton user-interface which was released in June 2021.
In this blog post, I cover some of the notable changes in this new browser update.
In the past couple of years, Mozilla has been releasing updates almost on a monthly basis for the Firefox web browser. However, not all of their updates include major changes and new features.
In this new Firefox 101 release, there is not much to report in terms of new features, but I will cover a few notable changes in this blog post.
First up, as usual there were several high and medium level security fixes implemented in this new browser update including fixes to bugs and security vulnerabilities to help keep Firefox users safe online.
Secondly, Firefox now supports the prefers-contrast media query which allows sites to detect if the user has requested that web content is presented with a higher (or lower) contrast.
Thirdly, Firefox now allows users to use as many microphones as they want at the same time, during video conferencing. Additionally, you can also switch your microphones at any time, if your conferencing service provider enables this flexibility to do so.
And finally, Mozilla had optimized the Download Flow in Firefox 98 in which you would no longer see a download prompt when downloading files in Firefox similar to how it is in Google Chrome.
Well, Mozilla has now rolled this back. In the Firefox Setting page, under General and Applications, you’ll find two download options: to save the files or; ask whether to open or save files (as I show you in the video below).
So, these were some of the notable changes in this new Firefox 101 browser update. You can check the list of detailed changes in the Release Notes.
In terms of the Browsermark Benchmark test results, the overall performance of Firefox remained steady compared to the earlier version. On the other hand, Google Chrome continues to outperform. Thanks for stopping by!
CREDITS: Browser Benchmark Tests Performed Using Browsermark from Basemark: http://web.basemark.com/ | Firefox information and logos used under Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission | Images and graphics used are public domain via Pixabay unless otherwise mentioned | Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Mozilla released Firefox 100 on May 3, 2022. This is the fifth major browser update in 2022.
This is the twelfth update for the new Proton user-interface which was released in June 2021. In this blog post, I cover some of the notable changes in this new browser update.
In the past couple of years, Mozilla has been releasing updates almost on a monthly basis for the Firefox web browser. However, not all of their updates include major changes and new features.
In this new Firefox 100 release, there is not much to report in terms of new features, but I will cover a couple of notable changes in this blog post.
First up, an improvement in PiP (or Picture-in-Picture mode). Firefox, now supports captions & subtitles display on YouTube, Prime Video, and Netflix videos you watch in Picture-in-Picture. Firefox will also support video captions on websites that use WebVTT (or Web Video Text Track) format like Coursera, CBC, and others.
Secondly, Firefox Spell Check in multiple languages. If you have Spelling Check enabled, Firefox spell checking now checks spelling in multiple languages. You would need to add the respective language dictionaries.
Thirdly, Firefox Color Schemes. Users can now choose preferred color schemes for websites you can do so, by going to “about:preferences” and in the GENERAL tab under the WEBSITE APPEARANCE section.
And lastly, Firefox 100 is the first 3-digit version. This may cause some websites to break due to the new 3-digit number. You can read about it via this blog post.
So, these were a couple of changes in Firefox 100. You can check the list of detailed changes in the Release Notes.
In terms of the Browsermark Benchmark test results, the overall performance of Firefox remained steady compared to the earlier version. On the other hand, Google Chrome continues to outperform. Thanks for stopping by!
CREDITS: Browser Benchmark Tests Performed Using Browsermark from Basemark: http://web.basemark.com/ | Firefox information and logos used under Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission | Images and graphics used are public domain via Pixabay unless otherwise mentioned | Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Mozilla released Firefox 99 on April 5, 2022. This is the fourth major browser update in 2022.
This is the eleventh update for the new Proton user-interface which was released in June 2021.
In this blog post, I cover a couple of the notable changes in this new browser update.
In the past couple of years, Mozilla has been releasing updates almost on a monthly basis for the Firefox web browser.
However, not all of their updates include major changes and new features. In fact, in this browser update, there were only a couple of notable changes.
First up, a new shortcut in Reader Mode which is a feature in Firefox that allows you to strip away ads and other website content, so you're only left with a clean page with the content of the article.
In Firefox 99, you will find a new shortcut "N" when you want to turn on and off the narrator mode.
Secondly, a small enhancement in the search functionality in the PDF viewer in Firefox. In the new version of Firefox, you will now be able to search words with or without diacritics (or accents).
There were a couple of other minor changes: (1) Firefox now supports credit card auto-fill and capture in Germany and France; (2) The Linux sandbox has been strengthened - processes exposed to web content no longer have access to the X Window system (X11).
So, these were a couple of changes in Firefox 99. You can check the list of detailed changes in the Release Notes.
In terms of the Browsermark Benchmark test results, the overall performance of Firefox remained steady compared to the earlier version. On the other hand, Google Chrome continues to outperform. Thanks for stopping by!
CREDITS: Browser Benchmark Tests Performed Using Browsermark from Basemark: http://web.basemark.com/ | Firefox information and logos used under Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission | Images and graphics used are public domain via Pixabay unless otherwise mentioned | Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Mozilla released Firefox 98 on March 8, 2022. This is the third major browser update in 2022.
This is the tenth update for the new Proton user-interface which was first released in June 2021.
In this blog post, I cover some of the notable changes in this new browser update.
In the past couple of years, Mozilla has been releasing updates almost on a monthly basis for the Firefox web browser. However, not all of their updates include major changes and new features.
In this new Firefox 98 release, there is not much to report in terms of new features, but I will cover a couple of notable changes in this blog post.
First up, Mozilla has optimized the Download Flow. First of all, you will no longer see the download prompt when downloading files in Firefox, unless you changed the settings to "Always Ask". This download behavior is similar to what you see in Google Chrome.
Secondly, once you download a file you will see some new right-click options. For example, you can "Always Open Similar Files" automatically after they are downloaded.
You can open the folder where the files are downloaded. You can now also delete the files right from there. You can check this detailed Firefox Support article.
Next up, Firefox allows users to set a default search engine from one of several built-in search engines options.
In this new Firefox 98 release, some users who had previously set a default engine might notice their default search engine has changed since Mozilla was unable to secure formal permission to continue including certain search engines in Firefox.
So these were some of the notable changes in Firefox 98. You can check the list of detailed changes in the Release Notes.
In terms of the Browsermark Benchmark test results, the overall performance of Firefox remained steady compared to the earlier version. On the other hand, Google Chrome continues to outperform. Hope you found this brief review helpful and thanks for stopping by!
CREDITS: Browser Benchmark Tests Performed Using Browsermark from Basemark: http://web.basemark.com/ | Firefox information and logos used under Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission | Images and graphics used are public domain via Pixabay unless otherwise mentioned | Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Mozilla released Firefox 97 on February 8, 2022. This is the second major browser update in 2022.
This is the ninth update for the new Proton user-interface which was first released in June 2021.
In this blog post, I cover some of the notable changes in this new browser update.
In the past couple of years, Mozilla has been releasing updates almost on a monthly basis for the Firefox web browser. However, not all of their updates include major changes and new features.
In this new Firefox 97 release, there is not much to report in terms of new features, but I will cover one notable change in this blog post.
First of all, as usual there were a few security fixes implemented. Secondly, one of the notable changes in Firefox 97 is the expiration of the Colorways theme colors feature.
This was a limited-time temporary feature that was implemented in version 94 of Firefox. Colorways can be accessed via the Add-on page and if you enabled one of the options, you will be able to keep it as long as it remains enabled.
If you’re on Windows 11, Firefox now supports and displays the new style of scrollbars. So that was pretty much it terms of updates in Firefox 97. You can check the list of detailed changes in the Release Notes.
In terms of the Browsermark Benchmark test results, the overall performance of Firefox remained steady compared to the earlier version. On the other hand, Google Chrome continues to outperform. Hope you found this brief review helpful and thanks for stopping by!
CREDITS: Browser Benchmark Tests Performed Using Browsermark from Basemark: http://web.basemark.com/ | Firefox information and logos used under Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission | Images and graphics used are public domain via Pixabay unless otherwise mentioned | Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Mozilla released Firefox 96 on January 11, 2022. This is the first major browser update in 2022.
This is the eight update for the new Proton user-interface which was first released in June 2021.
In this blog post, I cover some of the notable changes in this new browser update.
In the past couple of years, Mozilla has been releasing updates almost on a monthly basis for the Firefox web browser.
However, not all of their updates include major changes and new features.
In this new Firefox 96 release, there are three main notable changes I would like to highlight which I will cover in this blog post below.
First up, improvements in video conferencing. So when it comes to video conferencing, Mozilla has significantly improved noise-suppression, auto-gain control, as well as some enhancements to echo-cancellation. So, you should have a better user-experience overall.
Secondly, Firefox 96 focuses on reducing main-thread load which is designed to help the browser function better on older and slower systems that don't have a lot of memory resources.
Thirdly, CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery) attacks. Mozilla has changed the way Firefox handles cookies. In Firefox 96, cookies will default to having a "SameSite=Lax” attribute - this will help defend against Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks. If you're interested, you can read more about it via this web document.
So these were some of the notable changes in Firefox 96. You can check the list of detailed changes in the Release Notes. In terms of the Browsermark Benchmark test results, the overall performance of Firefox remained steady compared to the earlier version. On the other hand, Google Chrome continues to outperform. Hope you found this brief review helpful and thanks for stopping by! CREDITS: Browser Benchmark Tests Performed Using Browsermark from Basemark: http://web.basemark.com/ | Firefox information and logos used under Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission | Images and graphics used are public domain via Pixabay unless otherwise mentioned | Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Mozilla released Firefox 95 on December 7, 2021. This is the eleventh and final major browser update in 2021.
This is the seventh update for the new Proton user-interface which was released in June 2021. In this blog post, I cover some of the notable changes in this new browser update.
In the past couple of years, Mozilla has been releasing updates almost on a monthly basis for the Firefox web browser. However, not all of their updates include major changes and new features.
In this new Firefox 95 release, there are several notable changes to highlight and I will cover some of the key changes in this brief blog post. You will also find a video covering what's new in this new stable release.
First up, Mozilla has introduced RLBox sandboxing technology which is designed to isolate subcomponents, to make the browser more secure. This technique uses WebAssembly to isolate potentially-buggy code and isolates these five modules: Graphite, Hunspell, Ogg, Expat and Woff2.
Secondly, Site Isolation which is a security feature in Firefox that protects users against side-channel attacks such as Spectre. This was being rolled out to users starting in Firefox 94. It is now enabled for all Firefox users.
You can read more about it in this in-depth article by Anny to better understand how Site Isolation works.
Thirdly, an improvement to the Picture-in-Picture mode. You can now move the Picture-in-Picture toggle button to the opposite side of the video by right-clicking on the button and choosing “Move Picture-in-Picture Toggle to Left Side”.
And finally in the Microsoft Store you can now download Firefox, for Windows 10 & Windows 11 operating system. There were also a couple of performance improvements implemented like improved page load performance by speculatively compiling JavaScript ahead of time. Mozilla, also made memory allocator improvements.
So these were some of the notable changes in Firefox 95. You can check the list of detailed changes in the Release Notes. In terms of the Browsermark Benchmark test results, the overall performance of Firefox improved slightly compared to the earlier version. On the other hand, Google Chrome continues to outperform.
Well, that's it for now. Like I said, there were only a few changes in this new browser update. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments section. Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Thanks for stopping by!
CREDITS: Browser Benchmark Tests Performed Using Browsermark from Basemark: http://web.basemark.com/ | Firefox information and logos used under Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission | Images and graphics used are public domain via Pixabay unless otherwise mentioned | Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Mozilla released Firefox 94 on November 2, 2021. This is the tenth major browser update in 2021.
This is the sixth update for the new Proton user-interface which was released in June 2021. In this blog post, I cover some of the notable changes in this new browser update.
In the past couple of years, Mozilla has been releasing updates almost on a monthly basis for the Firefox web browser. However, not all of their updates include major changes and new features.
In this new Firefox 94 release, there are several notable changes to highlight which I will cover in this blog post.
First up, Colorways theme colors - when you first install Firefox or update to the latest version, you will see a dialog box to select a color palette. You'll find 6 main seasonal colors which you can further customize. There are three other color tones for each main seasonal color: Soft, Balanced, and Bold. You can also find these Colorways by going to "about:addons” in the Themes section.
Secondly, with Tabs Unloading in Firefox 94 you can manually unload tabs that are hogging system resources without closing the tabs. You can go to "about:unloads" to see all the open tabs and use the Unload button, when needed.
Thirdly, introduces Windows Background Updates - if you go to "about:preferences" (in the GENERAL tab) under “Allow Firefox to" you can set up updates to happen automatically using the background agent. I've personally disabled this automatic update feature by unchecking the appropriate box.
Fourthly, Site Isolation in Firefox will now protect users against side-channel attacks such as Spectre. This new security architecture allows Firefox to completely separate code originating from different sites and, in turn, defends against malicious sites trying to access sensitive information from other sites you are visiting. You can read more about how this works via this blog post by Anny.
Fifthly, Firefox will no longer warn users, by default, that multiple tabs are open when the browser is closed. However, if you go to “about:preferences” (under GENERAL) in the Tabs section; you can check the appropriate box, if you want to get a warning message.
And finally, Mozilla has rolled out the Firefox Multi-Account Containers extension with integration of Mozilla's VPN service. This lets you use a different server location for each container.
So these were some of the notable changes in Firefox 94. You can check the list of detailed changes in the Release Notes. In terms of the Browsermark Benchmark test results, the overall performance of Firefox remained steady compared to the earlier version. On the other hand, Google Chrome continues to outperform.
Well, that pretty much covers it in terms of the Firefox 94 update. Hope you found this review helpful. If you have any questions or feedback to provide, please leave them in the section. Thanks for stopping by!
CREDITS: Browser Benchmark Tests Performed Using Browsermark from Basemark: http://web.basemark.com/ | Firefox information and logos used under Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission | Images and graphics used are public domain via Pixabay unless otherwise mentioned | Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Mozilla released Firefox 88 on April 19, 2021. This is the fourth major browser update in 2021. Mozilla continues to roll out new browser updates every month this year, as it did in the year 2020.
There was not much in terms of major updates in this new release, but I’ll cover a couple of notable changes in this Firefox Review.
The key changes that I'll cover in this new browser update include: protection against privacy leaks; a small change in Firefox Screenshots; and JavaScript support in PDF forms. So now let's dive right in...
First up, Mozilla has introduced a new protection against privacy leaks on the web. Trackers are no longer able to abuse the “window.name” property to track users across websites. In Firefox 88, Window.name data is limited to the website that created it, in order to protect against cross-site privacy leaks. I won’t get too technical about this but you can read more about it in this detailed blog post.
Next up, a little change in Firefox Screenshots. The Take Screenshot option is no longer listed under Page Actions. Firefox users can right-click on a page and then select Take Screenshot. Alternatively, if you go to the Customize Menu (in the top-right corner of the browser) and choose Customize Toolbar. Here you will see a Take Screenshot button which you can drag and drop to the Firefox toolbar.
And finally, Firefox 88 now supports JavaScript embedded in PDF files. This was included because some PDF forms use JavaScript for validation and other interactive features. So these were some of the notable changes in Firefox 88.
You can check the list of detailed changes in the Release Notes, you’ll find the links below. In terms of the Browsermark Benchmark test results, the overall performance of Firefox remained steady compared to the earlier version. On the other hand, Google Chrome has continued to outperform. Well, that's it for now, until next time, thanks for stopping by!
CREDITS: Browser Benchmark Tests Performed Using Browsermark from Basemark | Firefox information and logos used under Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission | Images and graphics used are public domain via Pixabay unless otherwise mentioned | Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Firefox is among the top three internet browsers when it comes to global browser usage (see chart below). At one point, it was at the top of the list, but Google Chrome has taken over since mid-2012 and has maintained that top spot ever since.
Mozilla updates Firefox approximately once every six weeks in the form of rapid releases. They have been making a lot of effort to keep the browser relevant by implementing performance boosting tweaks, enhanced security, new features and functionality, and continuous bug fixes as well as fixes to security vulnerabilities.
At the time of writing this Firefox Review, the latest rapid release version is Firefox 54 which was released June 13, 2017. And this is the fourth rapid release update in 2017.
In 2016, Mozilla focused a lot of their efforts on one of the biggest projects they have ever undertaken on browser overhauls. They dubbed it Project Electrolysis (or Project e10s) using multi-process architecture.
Essentially, it splits up the browser into multiple processes which is designed to improve responsiveness, stability as well as security of the browser. This is an on-going project and we can expect to see many positive changes in browser performance as this project evolves.
Mozilla has taken a phased approach to implementing multi-process architecture (e10s) as they roll out that changes to the Firefox user-base.
In phase one, Mozilla will split Firefox into UI process and content process. So when a resource-intensive webpage is loading, it won't lock up tabs, buttons, and menus (for example).
In phase two, Mozilla will be further splitting up content processes so that one resource-intensive webpage won't slow down another webpage while loading.
In phase three, the plan is to sandbox Firefox add-ons or extensions in order to ensure that problem add-ons don't slow down the browser or webpages when loading.
I've personally seen a significant difference in web browser performance when multi-process was enabled in my browser in Firefox 50. You can see the results of the Browsermark Benchmark Tests I ran, in the video above, comparing performance of Firefox 50 vs Firefox 51.
Project Electrolysis remains on-going, while Mozilla continues to work on other relevant projects to enhance the performance and security of Firefox. In that regard, Mozilla has undertaken another big project called Project Quantum.
It is Mozilla's ambitious plan to create a next-generation web engine that leverages from modern hardware. The first component of Project Quantum is Quantum Compositor. It made its way into the stable release in Firefox 53, though a small portion of the Firefox userbase will have it enabled on their browsers.
Quantum Compositor is designed to speed up Firefox as well as to prevent graphics crashes on Windows. Quantum Compositor will be enabled for about 70% of Firefox users. Those on Windows 7 SP1, and above; and on computers equipped with, Intel, Nvidia or AMD, graphics cards.
Based on initial tests conducted by Mozilla with Quantum Compositor enabled: 17% fewer driver related crashes; 22% fewer Direct3D related crashes; and 11% fewer Direct3D accelerated video crashes.
In Firefox 51, Mozilla added support for WebGL2. WebGL stands for Web Graphics Library. It is a JavaScript API, for rendering interactive 2D & 3D computer graphics without the need for plugins. WebGL2 comes with many new features, mostly focused towards increased performance & visual fidelity.
In Firefox 52, NPAPI support was removed, for Firefox plugins except for Adobe Flash. NPAPI or Netscape Plugins API is a plugins infrastructure, that was developed way back in 1995, for the Netscape browser, on which Mozilla built Firefox.
Due to the age of the API and security issues, as well as, the adoption of plugin-free web technologies such as HTML5 major web browser vendors, began to phase out NPAPI support, back in 2013. In September 2015, Google permanently dropped NPAPI support in Google Chrome 45.
Mozilla had announced that this change was coming via their blog in October 2015. If you still need to use NPAPI plugins, you can download the ESR (Extended Support Release) version of Firefox.
Some of the other enhancements that Mozilla introduced in 2017 include the following:
In terms of Security Enhancements, Mozilla introduced a new warning that is displayed when a login page does not have a secure connection. It will be in the form of a grey-lock icon, with a red strike-through on the address bar. And you can click on it, to get more information. This security feature was further enhanced in Firefox 52 for login pages that don't have a secure connection.
The Firefox Sync feature was also enhanced. You can now send and open tabs from one device to another. In order to use the Sync feature, you will need to have a Firefox account and be logged in.
Mozilla introduced support for FLAC playback, which is an audio format similar to MP3, but lossless, meaning that audio is compressed in FLAC, without any loss in quality. This means that you can now play, any FLAC file directly in Firefox.
In Firefox 52, you will find a an improved experience for managing your downloads. In the Downloads area, you will have quick access to five recent downloads as opposed to three (in previous versions). You will also find larger Cancel and Restart buttons.
In Firefox 53, Mozilla introduced two new Compact Themes. One light and one dark theme that you will find in your Add-ons section, under Appearance. You can activate one of the compact themes by clicking on the Enable button corresponding to the respective theme.
As is evident, Mozilla continues to put in significant effort into enhancing the performance and security of the Firefox internet browser. With Project Electrolysis and Project Quantum well underway, we can expect 2017 to be a year in which we see many positive changes in Firefox.
CREDITS: Browser Benchmark Tests Performed Using Browsermark from Basemark: http://web.basemark.com/ | Firefox information and logos used under Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) | Global Browser Usage from StatCounter.com | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries | Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission | Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Firefox 23 is the latest Rapid Release version of Mozilla’s internet browser which was released in August 2013. Mozilla has been releasing these web browser updates approximately once every six weeks.
In 2013, they have released seven upgrades so far, and I’ve used every one of them. In most of these upgrades, we see several fixes to bugs, including security vulnerabilities. Some of the notable new Firefox browser features and changes implemented in 2013, are discussed below:
Mixed Content Browsing is a security feature introduced in FF23 to protect users when using HTTPS pages. Some of these HTTPS sites include mixed content which are essentially unencrypted HTTP through which hackers can get access to sensitive information when visiting such sites. A warning signal will be displayed to users when such sites are visited and mixed content is blocked.
Mozilla had introduced a sharing / social API feature in Firefox 17. This feature enabled to integrate social media platforms like Facebook directly in any website, on the right sidebar. This feature was enhanced and made available to all developers. Social sites like Facebook, msnNOW, Mixi, and Cliqz are currently available via this social API.
Through WebRTC (Real-Time Communication) Firefox users can now effectively communicate via video, voice, and text without requiring to install add-ons to do so. Essentially, all the 3 components (getUserMedia, PeerConnection and DataChannels) of WebRTC have now been enabled by default.
The Do Not Track (DNT) feature was implemented in May 2013. This DNT feature allows enables FF users to opt-out from being tracked from a behavourial ad tracking perspective. Users can choose from one of three options in terms of controlling how websites track their browser usage behaviour.
We’ve seen some performance enhancements too. For example, enabling “asm.js optimization” module, via OdinMonkey has optimized JavaScript performance. In Firefox 21, we saw the introduction of the Firefox Health Report to help track and enhance browser performance.
Some others new features that were implemented were Private Browsing per window through which users can browse privately on one window, while still browsing regularly through another window. Also, Firefox simplified how downloads are managed without having to open a new window. For a detailed look at changes that were implemented on each of these Rapid Release versions, visit Firefox Reviews 2013. You can check the YouTube video review of the latest Firefox 23 browser below:
Firefox is definitely one of my favourite browsers, but Google Chrome has come to the forefront in the past year or so and taken over from Internet Explorer and Firefox, in terms of Global Usage share. As you can see from the Top Internet Browsers chart below, courtesy StatCounter as at August 2013:
From the results of the latest Peacekeeper Browser Benchmark tests that I ran, you can see below that Google Chrome continues to outperform Firefox in terms of overall performance:
Image Credit: Firefox Logo Used Under Creative Commons CC Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Firefox 13, the latest Rapid Release version of Mozilla's browser was released on June 5, 2012. Having upgraded to this latest version and running the Peacekeeper Browser Benchmark test, it's a much better version than the earlier Firefox 12.
In fact, the last Firefox 12 version was one of their worst, as far as I'm concerned. It crashed frequently, especially during the first few days, though it got better later. I reported all the crashes to Firefox with strong critiques and details that they required to fix that issue.
Anyway, lest I digress, Firefox 13 comes with over 1,300 bug fixes, is much smoother, and faster overall. So what did Mozilla do to get Firefox 13 to run better than its previous version? Well, for starters they enabled smooth browsing by default.
The restored tabs that run in the background do not load by default, rather only the current open tab. Once you click on the other restored tabs, they start to load. This increases the start-up time and in the process less memory is used.
SPDY is also now enabled by default. SPDY is a networking protocol, similar to HTTP, which increases browser security and increases web page load time. This feature only affects those websites that use SPDY protocol like Google Search, Twitter, Gmail.
There are a couple of new features in Firefox 13. One of them is the New Tab and the other one is the redesigned Home Page. The New Tab now displays large icons of the most visited and most recent tabs. These icons can be customized by dragging them to different places on the page as well as pinning or deleting them. Web developers will see some improvements as well in Firefox 13.
The new redesigned Home Page now displays your default search engine as well as some menu options as icons like Downloads, Bookmarks, History, Add-ons, Sync, and Settings. If you haven't customized your Home Page, you can click "Home" icon. If not, you can type "about:home" in the browser URL bar to display the default Home Page.
Below are the results of the Peacekeeper Browser Benchmark test that I ran on Firefox 13 and Google Chrome 19. Overall, Firefox 13 did much better than Firefox 12 in all areas, however, Google Chrome still continues to outperform Firefox.
Below is an interesting Global Browser Usage chart which compares the top internet browsers year-over-year as at June 2012. As you can see, Firefox which was in second place has been overtaken by Google Chrome.
Mozilla released its latest version of their web browser, Firefox 10.0.2 on February 16, 2012. Keeping with their Rapid Releases, it is Mozilla's 8th upgrade since March 2011.
Though there were over 1,400 bug fixes implemented in this new Firefox release, there are no significant changes especially in terms of new features. Most of the changes in Firefox 10 are to do with web development: WebGL, CSS Style Inspector, CSS 3D Transforms, API support and the like.
One of the major issues that Firefox users face with Rapid Release updates is the incompatible add-ons. Firefox is making the Extended Support Release (ESR) for companies. These releases will be maintained for a year or so which gives companies some time to work around add-ons.
This time when I upgraded to Firefox 10, I had no problems with my add-ons, most of which were compatible. However, my Hotmail still seems sluggish and I think it has to do with conflicting add-ons. If I run Firefox in Safe Mode, Hotmail seems to run just fine.
Check my Firefox Review, for a more detailed look at what's new including platform improvements, bug fixes, and Firefox release notes. Based on the PeaceKeeper browser benchmark test (see below) results comparing Firefox and Google Chrome, the latter still outperforms overall. I still find Google Chrome much speedier and less prone to hangups. See which internet browser is leading in terms of World Wide Usage.
Firefox has been a popular internet browser for several years and Mozilla has been striving to enhance the web browser these past few years. In early 2011, Mozilla started releasing Rapid Release updates of their browser starting with Firefox 3.6.
Since then we've seen several Firefox updates with the current stable release, Firefox 9.0.1. I've beta tested a few of the rapid release updates and am currently using the latest version of Firefox. Personally, Firefox has been my favourite internet browser, but the past couple of upgrades have not been their best.
Overall, I've enjoyed the enhancements, new features, security and safety upgrades, however, since upgrading to Firefox 8 and Firefox 9, my internet browser seems to have become sluggish running some websites. I've tested the same websites on other browsers like Internet Explorer and Google Chrome, and they seem to run fine.
Especially, my Hotmail got really sluggish with the upgrade to Firefox 8. The problem seemed to have gotten better with the Firefox 9 upgrade, but it's still not up to par. Running Firefox in Safe Mode seems to better the performance of the browser, but then I can't use any of the add-ons.
Check my Firefox 9.0 Review, for a more detailed look at what's new including platform improvements, bug fixes, and Firefox release notes. Also, I ran a PeaceKeeper browser benchmark test (see below) on Firefox and Google Chrome, the latter still outperforms overall. I find Google Chrome much speedier and less prone to hangups.
See which internet browser is leading in terms of World Wide Usage.
The new version Firefox 7.0 was released on September 27, 2011. This new version and release is part of Mozilla's rapid releases which started in March 2011.
Overall, there have been improvements and several thousand bug fixes since Mozilla started their rapid releases. This new version Firefox 7.0 boasts drastic improvements in terms of memory usage thereby providing speedier web browsing.
I've been using the new version Firefox 7.0 for a couple of weeks and have conducted some performance benchmark tests on Firefox 7.0 as well as Google Chrome.
Based on the tests, Firefox 7.0 performs better than its predecessor versions, however, it's still not comparable to Google Chrome's overall performance. The results of the peacekeeper tests are listed below. Please note that these benchmark performance test results will vary depending on various factors.
Mozilla released its latest Firefox 6.0 version of their internet web browser on August 16, 2011. Since early 2011, Mozilla has been making rapid releases to keep with the competition mainly Internet Explorer and Google Chrome.
With the new Firefox 6.0, you won't find much in terms of cosmetic changes, though they have enhanced the start-up speed in Panorama (Tab Groups). There were over 1,400 bug fixes from the earlier version, as well as some security and stability issues resolved.
Web developers will find the new Firefox version a little more appealing with additions like a ScratchPad, latest version of WebSockets, a new Web Developer menu item, to name a few, as well as improved usability of the WebConsole.
Mozilla Firefox has been beta testing its version 4 for many months and finally after running 12 beta tests on it, they released Firefox 4 Release Candidate on March 9, 2011.
When compared to Firefox 3.6 and the first beta, they have made significant improvements with over 7,000 bug fixes, faster speed and better stability, crash protection, better “look & feel”, and some cool features for developers as well, like HTML5, WebGL, Web console.
I’ve had the chance to do some beta testing on Firefox 4 beta 12 and was happy with the improvements that they’ve made, especially in term of speed and overall stability. However, I still prefer Google Chrome for its speed. Also, I ran a Peacekeeper Browser Benchmark test to do a comparison and Google Chrome did better overall compared to Firefox 4.
Having said so, I still prefer Firefox over Google Chrome due to its overall versatility and have hope that will continue to improve. I’ve written an in-depth SQUIDOO LENS which covers all the above in more detail, and includes video overviews and the Peacekeeper Browser Benchmark results.
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Mozilla released its latest 