Firefox 2.0 Features Preview

[mandy]

Mozilla blog discusses planned features of Firefox 2.0 which is expected to be released mid-year.

Firstly, Firefox 2 is based off the same Gecko branch that shipped Firefox 1.5, so they should be compatible from a web developer's point of view. APIs might be added, but none should be changed.

From a development point of view, the idea of Firefox 2 is to deliver significant user experience enhancements on top of a relatively stable rendering engine as significant retooling is done on the main development trunk for what will become Firefox 3...

full article: http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/ben/archives/009607.html

Features planned include: New Bookmarks and History, Tabbed Browsing Enhancements, Improved Basic Content Type Handling, Web Search, Bug Fixing, Visual Uplift, Inline Spell Check, Exit Survey, and UI Consolidation and Simplification

Firefox 2 roadmap page: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/roadmap.html

[mandy]

An upcoming version of Firefox will include protection against phishing scams, using technology that might come from Google.

The phishing shield is a key new security feature planned for Firefox 2, slated for release in the third quarter of this year, Mozilla's Mike Shaver said in an interview on Tuesday...

With the continued rise in online attacks, security tools have become something web browser makers can use to try to stand out. Microsoft plans to include features to protect surfers against online scams in Internet Explorer 7, due later in 2006. Similar functionality is already in Netscape 8 and Opera 8, both released last year...

full article: http://software.silicon.com/security/0,3...085,00.htm

[mandy]

Firefox 2.0 Alpha version has been released.  Since it is an Alpha it doesn't contain all planned features, and may be unstable.  You can download it here:

http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/f...taller.exe

http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/f....win32.zip

http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/f...US.mac.dmg

http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/f...ler.tar.gz

http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/f...686.tar.gz

You can also try out Firefox 2.0 by downloading the Portable Firefox version which doesn't require installation:

There have been a lot of visitors to my site to download the Tinderbox Build of Firefox 2.0 Alpha 1. The downside to this build is that the uninstaller does not work properly and there are a lot of extension incompatibilities. I have since devised the best solution that i can think of so that people can test this version without messing up any other Firefox installations.

All you have to do is download the Portable Firefox 2.0 Alpha 1 file below. Then you unzip the file and browse for the file PortableFirefox.exe. Just execute that file and you will be running Firefox 2.0 Alpha 1! The profile is kept with the PortableFirefox folder so you don’t have to worry about messing up your other profile and the uninstallation process is simple…just delete the folder!

http://www.cybernetnews.com/?p=411

[mandy]

The new bookmark and history system originally scheduled for inclusion in Firefox 2 will be disabled in official builds. First seen by Firefox users in the Bon Echo alpha build last month, the new bookmark and history system would have been the single most significant change between Firefox 1.5 and Firefox 2.0.

Since Firefox 2 (and all alpha builds from here on out) will use the conventional bookmark system, those of you that have been using Firefox 2 alphas (the Gecko 1.8 branch) will have to export your bookmarks to HTML in order to preserve them.

full article: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060430-6701.html

As we have been preparing for the FF2 Alpha2 on May 9 it has become
increasingly clear that we do not have time to complete an
implementation of places that lives up to our standards of user
experience and quality.   Places is a complex and exciting feature which
changes the way people use bookmarks, history, and navigate through
their private space of the web.   Rather than rush it to market - we'd
prefer to spend the time it takes to get it right.

Thus, we are going to disable Places on the 1.8 branch and continue work
on the feature on the trunk for inclusion on a future release.   This is
a difficult decision - but doing it this early in the release cycle
gives us the time to focus on delivering an extremely high quality FF2
in Q3 and gives Places the room it needs to develop into a truly
innovative feature.

full announcement: http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.d...fecccbc10/

A lot of people read my previous post and came to a very reasonable conclusion: "If you take Places out of Firefox 2, shouldn't it be called Firefox 1.6?"

I don't agree that Places was the one and only thing that sold Firefox 2 though. I took a look through the Firefox 2 Requirements page to look at some of the other stuff that's going on. Reading that document, I think I can see now why people are down in the dumps about no-places Firefox 2. I don't think that document necessarily does the best possible job of capturing the excitement I have about some of the Firefox 2 features we're pursuing...

full article: http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/ben/archives/010115.html

Mozilla has released an updated outline of Firefox 2 to reflect the removal of Places: http://www.bengoodger.com/software/mb/2....ision.html

related topic:
Firefox 2.0 Bon Echo Alpha and Minefield Nightly Trunk Build
http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...429.0.html