Firefox for Windows, Mac and Linux adds powerful built-in developer tools and delivers smoother updates by making add-ons compatible by default.

Firefox adds a number of new built-in developer tools that let developers change the look and feel of websites in real-time. With Page Inspector, developers can peek into a page’s structure and layout without having to leave Firefox. This means they can quickly navigate between page elements and view the HTML document structure for the page. Style Inspector makes editing the style of websites even easier. Now developers have quick access to CSS properties and can view or change values for their website within Firefox. Scratchpad now uses the Eclipse Orion code editor to provide syntax highlighting and other features that make it easier and simpler to write JavaScript.

Firefox introduces the Mozilla Full-Screen API for websites and Web applications, allowing developers to build Web experiences that leverage the entire screen. Full-Screen API enables developers to create full screen games, immersive video experiences and rich presentation sharing. We’re excited to enable gaming experiences on the Web that rival the experience of a console, and are happy to see this feature being adopted by other browsers.

Firefox adds support for features that make it easier to build 3D Web experiences with open technologies. Mozilla pioneered WebGL and introduced it in Firefox. WebGL is a Web standard that allows websites and Web apps to display hardware-accelerated 3D graphics without third-party software. Firefox now supports Anti-Aliasing for WebGL, allowing developers to create objects that blend together and move smoothly. Firefox also supports CSS 3D Transforms, which lets developers animate and transform two dimensional elements into 3D using HTML5 without the need for third-party plugins.

We have also significantly improved Firefox Add-on compatibility and simplified the update process for all users because we are dedicated to delivering the best Firefox experience.

For more information:

• Download Firefox for Windows, Mac and Linux
• Firefox for Windows, Mac and Linux long, technical release notes
  
• Firefox for Android long, technical release notes

We are pleased to announce that the proposal for an Extended Support Release (ESR) of Firefox is now a plan of action. The ESR version of Firefox is for use by enterprises, public institutions, universities and other organizations that centrally manage their Firefox deployments. Releases of the ESR will occur once a year, providing these organizations with a version of Firefox that receives security updates but does not make changes to the Web or Firefox Add-ons platform. We have worked with many organizations to ensure that the ESR balances their need for the latest security updates with the desire to have a lighter application certification burden.

Online life is evolving faster than ever and it’s imperative that Mozilla delivers improvements to the Web and to Firefox more quickly to reflect this. Providing updates to Firefox more frequently allows us to secure users against emerging threats and provide the platform for innovation that today’s rich and compelling Web experiences demand. However, this created challenges for organizations that have to deliver lots of mission-critical applications through Firefox, so we worked closely with the Mozilla Enterprise User Working Group to develop the Mozilla Firefox ESR plan.

Mozilla is committed to providing the best Web experience for people everywhere, and our goal for the Firefox ESR is to make it simpler for companies, public institutions, organizations, and institutions that manage their desktops to deploy Firefox in those environments. Over the last few months we received great feedback on the initial proposal from the Mozilla community and strongly believe that the ESR meets that goal.

Implementation specifics will be posted within a week to the mozilla.dev.planning newsgroup and the EWG mailing list. If you’re interested in the ESR or discussions around deploying Firefox in a managed environment, we’d encourage you to join the Mozilla Enterprise Working Group and participate in its discussions and monthly conference calls. To join this group, please see the Enterprise wiki page for additional information.

Firefox helped make the Web more awesome in 2011. We released Firefox 4 with Sync to hundreds of millions of people worldwide; we launched Firefox for Android; added the new Firefox Aurora development channel; adopted a faster release cycle; and introduced Do Not Track to the industry. Now we’re excited to share some of the highlights of Firefox this year in facts, figures and pictures. It’s all part of our commitment to innovating on behalf of people everywhere and continuing to build a brighter future for the Web — in 2012 and beyond.

Firefox for Windows, Mac and Linux has new JavaScript enhancements that make Web browsing significantly faster. The latest update to Firefox includes Type Inference which boosts JavaScript performance and allow rich websites and Web apps with lots of pictures, videos, games and 3D graphics to load and run much faster. Type Inference is a feature of the SpiderMonkey JavaScript engine that integrates with the JaegerMonkey JIT compiler to provide analysis and help generate more efficient code. Firefox with Type Inference is up to 30% speedier on JavaScript benchmarks like Kraken and V8.

Firefox for Mac OS X Lion supports two-finger swipe gestures so you can easily navigate between websites. Firefox for Mac has an enhanced look and feel that matches the Mac OS X Lion icon and application toolbar styles and makes it easier to browse the Web using multiple monitors.

Web developers will notice Firefox helps websites load much faster, especially sites that download large sets of data or use AJAX. Firefox supports chunking XHR requests, allowing websites to display content as it’s downloaded instead of waiting for the entire download to complete. For more details about the new developer capabilities in Firefox, check out the Firefox for Web developers page.

For more information:

• Download Firefox
• Long, technical release notes
• Future of Firefox
• Firefox for Android

We’re incredibly excited to announce Firefox Flicks, a campaign giving everyone an opportunity to produce short films that highlight what makes Mozilla Firefox different, that we’re a non-profit organization helping keep the power of the Web in people’s hands. We’re encouraging users, fans, filmmakers, animators everywhere to submit high-quality videos that will help more mainstream Internet users learn about the issues that affect their online lives and, more importantly, how Firefox addresses these issues.

Submissions for Firefox Flicks will be accepted February–April 2012 and are divided into four regions: US & Canada, Latin America, Asia and Europe (you can enter no matter where you live and you’ll be associated with the closest region). Anyone can enter —all you need is creativity and a love of Firefox and our philosophy of openness and improving everyone’s online experience.

The short films can be entered into any of four categories:

• Best :30 Spot
• Best Use of New Open Technology (e.g. Popcorn.js, HTML5, etc.)
• Best Animation
• Best Public Service Announcement

We’ll be sharing more details over the coming months, including Hollywood judges, events and prizes for our winning submissions. You can visit www.firefoxflicks.org for more details and be sure to follow our blog and Twitter for upcoming announcements. Check out the videos from the previous Firefox Flicks for some inspiration!

• This is Hot
• Daredevil
• Web For All 
• Billy’s Browser

Today, we are excited to join together as a global community to celebrate the 7th birthday of Firefox. As the only independent browser with a mission to make the Web better, we are proud of how the last seven years of Firefox have pushed the Web forward:

• The latest release of Firefox is more than 32 times faster than Firefox 1.0.
• We recently shifted to a new release cycle to deliver features, performance enhancements, security updates and stability improvements to users faster.
• Leading edge HTML5 support in Firefox ensures that developers can create beautiful and exciting Web experiences for users.
• Favorite features like tabbed browsing, built-in phishing and malware protection, the Awesome Bar, Do Not Track and our gallery of thousands of  Firefox add-ons give millions of users around the world more choice and control over their Web browsing experience.

To celebrate, Mozilla has once again adopted firefox (a.k.a red panda) cubs at the Knoxville Zoo. For the next few months, you can watch these baby firefoxes play, live and grow via a 24 hour live video stream at Firefox Live. Please help spread the word by sharing the cuteness of our newest Mozillians at Firefox Live.

Today, we’re releasing an update to Firefox for Windows, Mac, Linux and Firefox for Android. This update includes new features that make Web browsing easier and give users and developers more control over how they customize their Web experience.

Firefox for Mac, Windows and Linux
Twitter is now included as a search option in Firefox for Windows, Mac and Linux. Twitter search in Firefox makes it easier to discover new topics, #hashtags and @usernames. Twitter search is currently available in English, Portuguese, Slovenian and Japanese versions of Firefox, with more languages to come in future releases.

Firefox lets you load tabs on demand, making it much faster to restore windows with many tabs. Enable this option in the Firefox Menu, under Options/Preferences, in the General tab.

Sometimes you download third-party software and are surprised to discover that an add-on has also installed itself in your browser without asking permission. At Mozilla, we think you should be in control, so we are disabling add-ons installed by third parties without your permission and letting you pick the ones you want to keep.

Mozilla pioneered WebGL and introduced it in Firefox earlier this year. WebGL is a new Web standard that allows websites and Web apps to display hardware-accelerated 3D graphics without third-party software. Firefox adds support for Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS), which lets developers load WebGL textures from other domains in a secure way. To see an example of WebGL in action, visit Google MapsGL and experience 3D maps in Firefox.

Mozilla is a leader in HTML5 and we want to make it easier for developers to create amazing Web experiences. Using simple HTML5 markup, Firefox enables Web developers to customize the options users have in the right click menu and saves them from having to build their own menu. If you’re a Web developer and want to learn more about the awesome features we build into Firefox, just for you, click here.

Firefox for Android
Firefox for Android has new features that put users in control of their mobile Web experience. With Firefox Master Password, you can protect all your saved usernames and passwords. This will help your private info stay private if you ever share or lose your Android device.

We want to make HTML5-based Web apps as easy to use as native apps. Firefox lets Android users add icons for any bookmarked website or Web app to the home screen and launch with just one touch.

For more information:

• Firefox for Windows, Mac and Linux long, technical release notes
• Firefox for Android long, technical release notes
• Download Firefox for Windows, Mac and Linux
• Download Firefox for Android
• Find out more about the Future of Firefox
• FAQ

Mozilla and Bing are pleased to make available Firefox with Bing, a customized version of Firefox that sets Bing as the default search engine in the search box and AwesomeBar and makes Bing.com the default home page.  (Existing Firefox users can also make these changes by installing the Bing Search for Firefox Add-on).

Offering Firefox with Bing extends the partnership Mozilla and Microsoft announced last year.

There are nearly 20 customized versions of Firefox distributed globally by partners including Bing, United Internet, Twitter, Yahoo! and Yandex.

Mozilla, a global, non-profit organization dedicated to making the Web better, today released an update to Firefox for Windows, Mac and Linux. Mozilla Firefox provides a speedy Web browsing experience for users and new tools to help developers create faster websites and Web apps.

Firefox manages memory more efficiently to deliver a nimble Web browsing experience. Users will notice Firefox is faster at opening new tabs, clicking on menu items and buttons on websites. Heavy Internet users will enjoy enhanced performance when lots of tabs are open and during long Web browsing sessions that last hours or even days.

New tools in Firefox make it easier for developers to build snappy Web experiences for users. A new version of hardware-accelerated Canvas speeds up HTML5 animations and games in Firefox. This allows developers to build more compelling and interactive Web experiences like Angry Birds or Runfield.

Firefox now supports the W3C navigation timing spec API so developers can measure page load time and website navigation against bandwidth speed, website traffic and other factors. This API allows developers to test user experiences remotely and easily and quickly optimize websites and Web apps for different types of users.

To help improve future versions of Firefox, users can opt in to Telemetry. Telemetry is a tool built on Mozilla Privacy Principles that allows users to provide anonymous browser performance data in a private and secure way that they control.

For more information:

• FAQ
• Long, technical release notes
• Firefox for Android
• Find out more about the Future of Firefox

Mozilla recently re-established the Mozilla Enterprise User Working Group as a place for enterprise developers, IT staff and Firefox developers to discuss the challenges, ideas and best practices for deploying Firefox in the enterprise. We want to share an update after just a few weeks of the Mozilla Enterprise User Working Group being been back in action.

Following initial discussions with the group about the Firefox release cycle and how enterprises can use Firefox with individual testing and release cycles, members of the group incorporated the input into a proposal to share. The proposal for extended support incorporates ideas and feedback to address the pain points of enterprise Firefox users. We would like to gather additional feedback from enterprises in the coming weeks to turn this proposal into a plan.

We look forward to hearing from enterprise users and IT managers from organizations of all sizes. If you have any feedback, questions, or are interested in participating, please email us.