Firefox 3 is
based on the
Gecko 1.9
Web
rendering
platform,
which has
been under
development
for the past
34 months.
This new
platform
includes
more than
15,000
changes to
improve
performance,
stability,
rendering
correctness,
and code
simplification
and
sustainability.
Firefox 3 is
built on top
of this new
platform
resulting in
a more
secure,
easier to
use, more
personal
product with
a lot more
under the
hood to
offer
website and
Firefox add-on
developers.
* One-click
site info:
Click the
site favicon
in the
location bar
to see who
owns the
site and to
check if
your
connection
is protected
from
eavesdropping.
Identity
verification
is
prominently
displayed
and easier
to
understand.
When a site
uses
Extended
Validation (EV)
SSL
certificates,
the site
favicon
button will
turn green
and show the
name of the
company you're
connected
to. (Try it
here!)
* Malware
Protection:
malware
protection
warns users
when they
arrive at
sites which
are known to
install
viruses,
spyware,
trojans or
other
malware. (Try
it here!)
* New Web
Forgery
Protection
page: the
content of
pages
suspected as
web
forgeries is
no longer
shown. (Try
it here!)
* New SSL
error pages:
clearer and
stricter
error pages
are used
when Firefox
encounters
an invalid
SSL
certificate.
(Try it here!)
* Add-ons
and Plugin
version
check:
Firefox now
automatically
checks add-on
and plugin
versions and
will disable
older,
insecure
versions.
* Secure add-on
updates: to
improve add-on
update
security,
add-ons that
provide
updates in
an insecure
manner will
be disabled.
* Anti-virus
integration:
Firefox will
inform anti-virus
software
when
downloading
executables.
* Vista
Parental
Controls:
Firefox now
respects the
Vista system-wide
parental
control
setting for
disabling
file
downloads.
* Effective
top-level
domain (eTLD)
service
better
restricts
cookies and
other
restricted
content to a
single
domain.
* Better
protection
against
cross-site
JSON data
leaks.
Easier to
Use
* Easier
password
management:
an
information
bar replaces
the old
password
dialog so
you can now
save
passwords
after a
successful
login.
* Simplified
add-on
installation:
the add-ons
whitelist
has been
removed
making it
possible to
install
extensions
from third-party
sites in
fewer
clicks.
* New
Download
Manager: the
revised
download
manager
makes it
much easier
to locate
downloaded
files, and
you can see
and search
on the name
of the
website
where a file
came from.
Your active
downloads
and time
remaining
are always
shown in the
status bar
as your
files
download.
* Resumable
downloading:
users can
now resume
downloads
after
restarting
the browser
or resetting
your network
connection.
* Full page
zoom: from
the View
menu and via
keyboard
shortcuts,
the new
zooming
feature lets
you zoom in
and out of
entire pages,
scaling the
layout, text
and images,
or
optionally
only the
text size.
Your
settings
will be
remembered
whenever you
return to
the site.
* Podcasts
and
Videocasts
can be
associated
with your
media
playback
tools.
* Tab
scrolling
and
quickmenu:
tabs are
easier to
locate with
the new tab
scrolling
and tab
quickmenu.
* Save what
you were
doing:
Firefox will
prompt users
to save tabs
on exit.
* Optimized
Open in Tabs
behavior:
opening a
folder of
bookmarks in
tabs now
appends the
new tabs
rather than
overwriting.
* Location
and Search
bar size can
now be
customized
with a
simple
resizer
item.
* Text
selection
improvements:
multiple
text
selections
can be made
with
Ctrl/Cmd;
double-click
drag selects
in
"word-by-word"
mode;
triple-clicking
selects a
paragraph.
* Find
toolbar: the
Find toolbar
now opens
with the
current
selection.
* Plugin
management:
users can
disable
individual
plugins in
the Add-on
Manager.
*
Integration
with
Windows:
Firefox now
has improved
Windows
icons, and
uses native
user
interface
widgets in
the browser
and in web
forms.
*
Integration
with the
Mac: the new
Firefox
theme makes
toolbars,
icons, and
other user
interface
elements
look like a
native OS X
application.
Firefox also
uses OS X
widgets and
supports
Growl for
notifications
of completed
downloads
and
available
updates. A
combined
back and
forward
control make
it even
easier to
move between
web pages.
*
Integration
with Linux:
Firefox's
default
icons,
buttons, and
menu styles
now use the
native GTK
theme.
More
Personal
* Star
button:
quickly add
bookmarks
from the
location bar
with a
single
click; a
second click
lets you
file and tag
them.
* Tags:
associate
keywords
with your
bookmarks to
sort them by
topic.
* Smart
Location
Bar: type in
all or part
of the
title, tag
or address
of a page to
see a list
of matches
from your
history and
bookmarks; a
new display
makes it
easier to
scan through
the matching
results and
find that
page you're
looking for.
Results are
returned
according to
their a
combination
of
frequency,
and recency
of visits to
that page,
ensuring
that you're
seeing the
most
relevant
matches. An
adaptive
learning
algorithm
further
tunes the
results to
your
patterns!
* Library:
view,
organize and
search
through your
bookmarks,
tags and
browsing
history
using the
new Library
window.
Create or
restore full
backups of
this data
whenever
with a few
clicks.
* Smart
Bookmark
Folders:
quickly
access your
most visited
bookmarks
from the
toolbar, or
recently
bookmarked
and tagged
pages from
the bookmark
menu. Create
your own
Smart
Bookmark
Folders by
saving a
search query
in the
Library.
* Web-based
protocol
handlers:
web
applications,
such as your
favorite
webmail
provider,
can now be
used instead
of desktop
applications
for handling
mailto:
links from
other sites.
Similar
support is
available
for other
protocols
(Web
applications
will have to
first enable
this by
registering
as handlers
with
Firefox).
* Download &
Install
Add-ons: the
Add-ons
Manager
(Tools >
Add-ons) can
now be used
to download
and install
a Firefox
customization
from the
thousands of
Add-ons
available
from our
community
add-ons
website.
When you
first open
the Add-ons
Manager, a
list of
recommended
Add-ons is
shown.
* Easy to
use Download
Actions: a
new
Applications
preferences
pane
provides a
better UI
for
configuring
handlers for
various file
types and
protocol
schemes.
Improved
Platform for
Developers
* New
graphics and
font
handling:
new graphics
and text
rendering
architectures
in Gecko 1.9
provides
rendering
improvements
in CSS, SVG
as well as
improved
display of
fonts with
ligatures
and complex
scripts.
* Color
management:
(set
gfx.color_management.enabled
on in
about:config
and restart
the browser
to enable.)
Firefox can
now adjust
images with
embedded
color
profiles.
* Offline
support:
enables web
applications
to provide
offline
functionality
(website
authors must
add support
for offline
browsing to
their site
for this
feature to
be available
to users).
* A more
complete
overview of
Firefox 3
for
developers
is available
for website
and add-on
developers.
Improved
Performance
* Speed:
improvements
to our
JavaScript
engine as
well as
profile
guided
optimizations
have
resulted in
continued
improvements
in
performance.
Compared to
Firefox 2,
web
applications
like Google
Mail and
Zoho Office
run twice as
fast in
Firefox 3,
and the
popular
SunSpider
test from
Apple shows
improvements
over
previous
releases.
* Memory
usage:
Several new
technologies
work
together to
reduce the
amount of
memory used
by Firefox 3
over a web
browsing
session.
Memory
cycles are
broken and
collected by
an automated
cycle
collector, a
new memory
allocator
reduces
fragmentation,
hundreds of
leaks have
been fixed,
and caching
strategies
have been
tuned.
*
Reliability:
A user's
bookmarks,
history,
cookies, and
preferences
are now
stored in a
transactionally
secure
database
format which
will prevent
data loss
even if
their system
crashes.
