Firefox 3.6: Speed, Look, and Video

01/22/2010

The Mozilla Firefox 3.6 browser is now available and provides performance improvements and numerous technical enhancements.

TThe TraceMonkey JavaScript engine used in the new release is supposed to be 3x faster than in Firefox 3.0 and 20 percent faster than in 3.5. To mitigate security risks from older plugins, the project suggests removing them before installing 3.6.

The new browser version now provides audio and video output in Ogg Theora format according to HTML 5 specifications, and in full picture mode with videos. Also new are CSS color profiles that no longer drop colors from background images as before. Furthermore, Web Open Font Format (WOFF) support serves in loading fonts more quickly.

The new browser also includes a new drag-and-drop API and an interface for location and motion sensing, much like what is built into MacBooks. Annding an individual persona to your browser is now easier, too.

Mozilla's Mike Beltzner, director of Firefox development, demos the new features in a two-minute YouTube video.

Firefox 3.6 is available in numerous languages and for download to multiple platforms.

( Mathias Huber)

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