New Firefox released

More than more tabbed-browsing

Released in September in a beta format, the latest version of the Firefox browser includes many new features, both cosmetic and in its engineering. Tristan Nitot, president MozillaEurope, spoke to IT Week days before the browser was released.

Nitot said that the casual user might not notice any of the differences, but added that web developers and IT managers might. This is because of enhanced developer tools, as well as a new approach to roll-out, patching and updates.

One of the most interesting new features for corporate IT managers could be the ability to deploy Firefox across thousands of PCs with ease. Something that Nitot said was possible because of the ability to get MSI installed packages, a windows installer tool. “This” he said, “will be very useful for our large accounts.”

Users that want to update their browser as and when new features become available will benefit from much faster downloads, as the firm will only install those new features, not the browser wholesale. “People on the road, or using modems, will be able to update whenever they want, ensuring they always have the most secure version” said Ninot. These downloaded updates will happen automatically, thus removing the need for user input in the process.

Other features, such as the ability to change backgrounds, text size and colour, should benefit the visually impaired. While better support for file extensions, cascading style sheets and SVG graphics should appeal to developers. One new feature that makes the most of these is the ability to automatically create graphical representations of figures on a site with no additional coding.