The Mozilla Blog

Editor’s note: Mozilla released Firefox 3.6 beta 1 on Friday, October 30, 2009 at 5:20 pm PT. Check out the Mozilla Developer News announcement reposted below for more details.

Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 is now available for download. This beta version of the next version of  Firefox is built on the Gecko 1.9.2 web rendering engine, containing many improvements for web developers, Add-on developers, and users. Ongoing planning for Firefox 3.6 can be followed in mozilla.dev.planning and on irc.mozilla.org in #planning or #developers.

This first revision of the Beta of Firefox 3.6 / Gecko 1.9.2 introduces several new features:

• Users can now change their browser’s appearance with a single click, with built in support for Personas.
• Firefox 3.6 will alert users about out of date plugins to keep them safe.
• Open, native video can now be displayed full screen, and supports poster frames.
• Support for the WOFF font format.
• Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness and startup time.
• Support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies.

Web developers and Add-on developers should read more detail about the many new features in Firefox 3.6 for developers on the Mozilla Developer Center. For the full list of changes since the alpha release, see this list.

Testers can download Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 builds for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux in 53 different languages. Developers should also read the Firefox 3.6 for Developers article on the Mozilla Developer Center.

At this time most Add-ons have not yet been upgraded by their authors to be compatible with Firefox 3.6 Beta. If you wish to help test your Add-ons, please also download and install the Add-on Compatibility Reporter – your favorite Add-on author will appreciate it!

Note: Please do not link directly to the download site. Instead we strongly encourage you to link to this Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 milestone announcement so that everyone will know what this milestone is, what they should expect, and who should be downloading to participate in testing at this stage of development.

Calling all Web developers! We’re looking for developers from all over the Web to help us build the Mozilla Developer Network.   Firefox is an important tool for many developers and as the Web continues to evolve as a platform, we need your input to enable better communication and collaboration to push the Mozilla project forward and make the Web better for everyone.

To learn more about the initial steps we’re taking to connect with Web developers, check out Chris Blizzard’s post on the Hacks blog.

We’re coming up on a pretty incredible milestone — Five Years of Firefox — on November 9, 2009!  In order to celebrate we’re kicking off a special campaign called “Light the World with Firefox.”  We’re putting a call out for the most creative use of the Firefox logo and light.

Here are a few ideas, but don’t feel limited!

• Spotlight: Borrow a projector and shine the Firefox logo on the wall during a Firefox party, or make a logo stencil and place it in front of a flashlight for a cool effect (think shadow puppets). Or, go crazy and get a searchlight to create your very own Firefox “bat signal“.
• Mash-Up: Think of the most interesting way you can combine Firefox and light. For example, create the logo out of candles on a birthday cake, program your very own lite-brite or light show, or create a fun wallpaper! If you’re really have a lot of time on your hands (and skills) you could even create a light show.  The more creative, the better.
• Mobile: Get the Firefox logo on your phone and take a picture holding it in front of a local landmark. Or, organize a bunch of friends for a big group photo with the logo on everyone’s phones.

Please upload all videos and pictures on Flickr with the tag “Firefox5″.  We’ll feature submissions on a special site launching on November 9th and the most creative actions will be rewarded with some cool Firefox swag.  Remember to have fun, but be safe and use common sense.  And, get permission before projecting our logo on public buildings!

If you’re looking for other ways to help celebrate the coming anniversary, here’s how:

• Host a party
• Join our Facebook group
• Sport a twibbon

We’re all looking forward to celebrating five years of hard work on the 9th!

Today, Mozilla is excited to join the organizations listed below to endorse the Web Open Font Format (WOFF) specification.  We are also implementing this specification in  Firefox 3.6 and beyond.

The official endoresement and supporting organizations can be found below.  Hacks.mozilla.org also has a full post about WOFF implementation for Firefox 3.6 and beyond.

We endorse the WOFF specification, with default same-origin loading restrictions, as a Web font format, and expect to license fonts for Web use in this format.

Bold Monday http://www.boldmonday.com
Commercial Type http://commercialtype.com
Emigre http://emigre.com
Emtype Foundry http://www.emtype.net
Fonthead http://www.fonthead.com
FontShop International http://fontfont.com
Hoefler & Frere-Jones http://typography.com
House Industries http://houseindustries.com
Incipit http://incipit.com
Incubator http://vllg.com/Incubator
The Indian Type Foundry http://www.indiantypefoundry.com
International Typeface Corporation http://itcfonts.com
Jeremy Tankard Typography Ltd www.typography.net
John Downer http://www.aaupnet.org/programs/2007production/Bios/DownerBio.pdf (PDF link)
Klim Type Foundry http://klim.co.nz
KLTF http://kltf.de
Kombinat-Typefounders http://www.kombin.at
LettError http://letterror.com
Linotype http://linotype.com
Lux Typographics http://luxtypo.com
Mac Rhino Fonts http://www.macrhino.com
Mark Simonson Studio http://www.ms-studio.com
Monotype Imaging http://fonts.com
Okay Type & Design http://www.okaytype.com
OurType http://www.ourtype.be
Process Type Foundry http://processtypefoundry.com
Thirstype http://vllg.com/Thirstype
Type My Type http://typemytype.com
Type Supply http://typesupply.com
TypoNine http://typonine.com
Typotheque http://typotheque.com
Underware http://www.underware.nl
Village http://vllg.com

Editor’s note: Mozilla released a security and stability update for Firefox 3.5.x and 3.0.x users on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 at 3:011 pm PT. Check out the Mozilla Developer News announcement, reposted below, for more details.

As part of Mozilla’s ongoing stability and security update process, Firefox 3.5.3 and Firefox 3.0.14 are now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux as free downloads:

• Firefox 3.5.3 is available at http://firefox.com/
• Firefox 3.0.14 is available at http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/all-older.html

We strongly recommend that all Firefox users upgrade to this latest release. If you already have Firefox 3.5 or Firefox 3, you will receive an automated update notification within 24 to 48 hours. This update can also be applied manually by selecting “Check for Updates…” from the Help menu.

For a list of changes and more information, please review the Firefox 3.5.3 Release Notes and the Firefox 3.0.14 Release Notes.

Note: All Firefox 3.0.x users are encouraged to upgrade to Firefox 3.5.3 by downloading it from http://firefox.com/ or by selecting “Check for Updates…” from the Help menu.

I’m excited to announce the initial beta release of the Mozilla Creative Collective, the official new home and hub of activity for our visual design community. The goal of the Creative Collective is to use art as a means for spreading Firefox and sharing the Mozilla story in new ways.

Building communities is a big part of what Mozilla is all about, and key to our success as an organization.  We have dedicated communities that contribute to nearly every aspect of Mozilla – from software development, to extensions, to localization, to marketing, and more – but an area that’s traditionally lacked an organized community is visual design. And because art is such a powerful form of communication, we’re harnessing that with the Creative Collective.

Mozilla actually has a long history with community design. Successful past projects such as the Firefox 3 t-shirt, Mozilla Mexico logo design contest and Personas are just a sampling of our community’s creative energy – and demonstrate the growing level of interest among people who are eager to contribute.

On the Creative Collective site, artists can create personal profiles, share their work in a public gallery, connect and collaborate with others from around the world, and much more. There’s also a variety of social features, such as a system of achievement badges, to make the experience more fun for everyone.

An important feature that’s not yet available (but will be added soon) is the Design Challenge, which will prompt members to submit design solutions based around a particular theme.  Although the feature hasn’t been formally introduced to the site, we’re already reaching out to artists to help support Mozilla Service Week with creative designs that inspire action. If you’re looking for an initial way to get involved, be sure to check that out.

As noted earlier, the site is still in beta so we’re eager to hear your feedback. If you have suggestions on how to improve the site, please don’t hesitate to share them with us. We’ll be making tweaks and adding new features over time, and are counting on the community to help guide the project’s future direction. So, make sure to check back often, or follow our tweets, for updates.  Looking forward to seeing you on the Creative Collective!

Editor’s note: Mozilla released a major update for Firefox 3.0.x users on Thursday, August 13th, 2009. Check out the Mozilla Developer News announcement, reposted below, for more details.

Users with the latest version of Firefox 3 will be getting an offer to update to Firefox 3.5. If you’re running Firefox 3.0.13 you will see the offer in the next couple of days, though if you’re eager you can always “Check for Updates” in the “Help” menu. This is what the offer will look like:

Clicking the “Upgrade to Firefox 3.5″ link will open a new tab with more information about Firefox 3.5 to help you make your decision about upgrading. From there, you have a choice:

• select Later if you don’t want to decide now; Firefox will ask again in 24 hours
• select Never if you don’t want to accept this upgrade offer; we might send you another offer again in the future, but it won’t be for several weeks or months
• select Get the new version to continue on with the upgrade process!

Once you’ve accepted that, Firefox will download and install the update, then offer to restart the browser. When you restart, you’ll be rolling with Firefox 3.5!

Now, although over 90% of Firefox add-ons have been updated to be compatible with Firefox 3.5, in some cases the authors have created entirely new versions. If that happens with your favorite add-on, you might see the following screen:

You can see exactly which add-ons are being flagged as potentially incompatible by clicking on Show List. As mentioned above, for most popular add-ons, there probably is an update available, but you’ll need to install Firefox 3.5 first in order to check. If you continue with the update process, when Firefox 3.5 starts up for the first time you’ll see the following screen:

By all means, Check Now to see if there’s a version of that add-on which works with Firefox 3.5. If there is, you’ll see the following:

You’ll want to Install Now which will fetch the update and then continue loading Firefox 3.5.

If an update isn’t available, Firefox will check every day and let you know once the add-on author has created one. If you’ve come this far and decide that you can’t live without your favorite add-on, you can always go to www.firefox.com and click on “Other Languages and Systems”, and click on the link to download an older version of Firefox.

Since we announced Firefox 3.5 on June 30th, community members all over the world have been planning amazing parties (150+ to date) to celebrate and share their passion about their favorite browser.

One of the questions that I am frequently asked is, “Why are parties necessary?” I feel that it’s important to take take time to have fun and reflect on everything the Mozilla community has accomplished. The launch of a new version of Firefox is the perfect excuse to meet up and spread the word.

I’ve always been under the impression that “pictures are worth 1000 words” so I went out to collect as many pictures from our community parties as I could.

I’ve assembled a PDF which shows all of the parties that were submitted and links to many of the photo galleries. You can view the presentation here:

Editor’s note: Mozilla released a security and stability update for Firefox 3.5.x and 3.0.x users on Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 3:03 pm PT. Check out the Mozilla Developer News announcement, reposted below, for more details.

As part of Mozilla’s ongoing stability and security update process, Firefox 3.5.2 and Firefox 3.0.13 are now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux as free downloads:

• Firefox 3.5.2 is available at http://firefox.com/
• Firefox 3.0.13 is available at http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/all-older.html

We strongly recommend that all Firefox users upgrade to this latest release. If you already have Firefox 3.5 or Firefox 3, you will receive an automated update notification within 24 to 48 hours. This update can also be applied manually by selecting “Check for Updates…” from the Help menu.

For a list of changes and more information, please review the Firefox 3.5.2 Release Notes and the Firefox 3.0.13 Release Notes.

Note: All Firefox 3.0.x users are encouraged to upgrade to Firefox 3.5.2 by downloading it from http://firefox.com/ or by selecting “Check for Updates…” from the Help menu.

Last night the official Spread Firefox download counter reached one billion! That’s one billion times over the last five years that users have chosen a better Web experience.

This is a monumental event – Firefox has come a long way since its debut in November 2004, thanks to the amazing Firefox community. Volunteers from all over the world contribute to the coding, testing and spreading of Firefox to communities across the globe. Firefox 3.5 shipped in 75 languages – more than any other browser.

On Monday, www.onebillionplusyou.com will go live and act as a hub of information concerning the billionth download of Firefox. So stay tuned!