The Mozilla Blog

It’s been a week since Firefox 3.6 release day and after more than 21 million downloads we are still going strong!  We spent some time last Thursday capturing the magic of the release and have put together a behind the scenes video.  Enjoy!

Mozilla, a public-benefit organization dedicated to promoting choice and innovation on the Web, today released Firefox® 3.6, an update to its popular, free and open source Web browser. The latest version of Firefox introduces cutting-edge features, support for a wide variety of Web standards, and access to more than 6,000 free add-ons that allow users to customize their browser to their liking.

Firefox 3.6 is more than 20 percent faster than Firefox 3.5 and includes extensive under the hood work to improve performance for everyday Web tasks such as email, uploading photos, social networking, and more. It also delivers new features like customizable browser themes called Personas, a ground-breaking Plugin updater, improved JavaScript performance, and enhancements to familiar favorites like the Awesome Bar for a better, more personal Web experience.

Firefox 3.6 was built by Mozilla’s global community of passionate contributors, including thousands of experienced developers, security experts, localization and support communities, and hundreds of thousands of active testers. More than 350 million users worldwide enjoy Firefox’s fast, secure browsing experience and unparalleled customization.

What’s new in Firefox 3.6:

Below are some of the coolest features of Firefox 3.6:

• Personas: Personalize the look of your Firefox by selecting new themes called Personas in a single click and without a restart
• Plugin Updater: To keep you safe from potential security vulnerabilities, Firefox will now detect out of date plugins
• Stability improvements: Firefox 3.6 significantly decreased crashes caused by third party software – all without sacrificing our extensibility in any way
• Form Complete: When filling out an online form, Firefox suggests information for fields based on your common answers in similar field
• Performance: Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness, and startup time
• Open Video and Audio: With the world’s best implementation of HTML 5 audio and video support, now video can be displayed full screen and supports poster frames

What’s New Under the Hood for Developers

• Support for the latest HTML5 specification, including the File API for local file handling
• Font Support: In addition to OpenType and TrueType fonts, 3.6 now supports the new Web Open Font Format (WOFF)
• CSS gradients: Supports linear and radial CSS gradients which allow for a smoother transition between colors
• Device orientation: Firefox 3.6 exposes the orientation of the laptop or device to Web pages

How to get Mozilla Firefox 3.6:

Firefox 3.6 is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux in more than 70 languages – more platforms and languages than any other browser! You can download Firefox 3.6 at www.firefox.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE:

For screenshots and logos, visit http://www.mozilla.com/press/images.html.

For a video tour of Firefox 3.6, visit http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/video/?video=whatnew-3.6.

Further details on Firefox 3.6 features can be found in the Reviewer’s Guide.

For more information about Mozilla Firefox 3.6 and how it provides a better and faster online experience, visit www.firefox.com.

Web developers are encouraged to check out the Firefox 3.6 for developers page and the full release notes.

We’re excited to share that Firefox 3.6 is scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning Pacific time!

You can click below to watch the What’s New in Firefox 3.6 video starring Director of Firefox, Mike Beltzner:

You can also help us build excitement by Tweeting/Facebooking/Sharing this message:

Firefox 3.6, the world’s best web browser, will be available Thursday, Jan 21st. See what’s new at http://bit.ly/8a0Kux #firefox

Stay tuned to the Mozilla Blog for tomorrow’s announcement!

Editor’s note: On Sunday PT, Mozilla released an update to the release candidate for 3.6. Check out the Mozilla Developer News announcement reposted below.

An update to the Firefox 3.6 Release Candidate is now available. This second release candidate is available for free download and has been issued as an automatic update to all Firefox 3.6 Beta and Release Candidate users.

More information about the Firefox 3.6 Release Candidate can be found in the release notes and detailed information for developers can be found at the Mozilla Developer Center. As always, the Mozilla community would appreciate hearing about any feedback you have about this release, or any bugs you may find.

Editor’s note: Today, Mozilla released the Firefox for Maemo Release Candidate. Check out Director of Mobile, Stuart  Parmenter’s blog post reposted below.

Editor’s note: Today, Mozilla released 3.6 beta (revision 5) early this morning. Check out the Mozilla Developer News announcement reposted below.

At Mozilla we foster a healthy ecosystem of communities that promote the ability to freely access, modify and distribute software and creative works. These ecosystems create a digital commons; a shared space, shared resources or network of ideas, applications and products that are free to use.

Much like a park is a vital ecosystem for collaboration, recreation, conservation and commerce, the values of park ring very true within the open source software moment. Take a look back at Firefox release history and you’ll see that previous versions of have been named after parks like Gran Paradiso (Italy), Bon Echo (Canada) and Shiretoko (Japan). Mozilla community members in Japan were so honoured to have Firefox 3.5 code-named after their UNSECO world heritage site park, Shiretoko, that they created Discover Shiretoko to celebrate the park as an important part of their national heritage and to celebrate Firefox and its role in creating a better Internet.

There is a story here to be told about the history of Mozilla and of Firefox and at the same time, we have an opportunity to use the shared values we have with these parks to do some good.

The newest pre-release code name for Firefox is Namoroka, named for a park in the northwest section of Madagascar. Famous for its Karst topography (or Tsingy as it is described in Malagasy), Namoroka is full of caves, canyons and natural swimming pools. Namoroka is also home to eight species of adorable lemur.

Since we’re very fond of things tailed and furry at Mozilla, we’ve decided to celebrate the release of Firefox 3.6 by raising money to protect lemurs in Namoroka park and throughout Madagascar.  As a nation Madagascar is struggling to improve the quality of life for its rapidly growing human population and at the same time is struggling to find a way to preserve the forests and wildlife that remains.

To help, Mozilla is teaming up with the Madagascar Fauna Group (MFG) to help Madagascar through this challenging time. The MFG has been working on conservation in Madagascar for more than 20 years, addressing the environmental and social issues that are leading to deforestation and the trapping of lemurs.

The money we raise for this project will be used to help the MFG improve its website and online fundraising activities, connecting them with like-minded contributors and donors around the world. This donation will also support conservation and education programs on the island. By enhancing their presence within the web ecosystem, we can help them protect the natural ecosystem of Madagascar.

How can you help?

• Donate! We’re hoping to raise $10,000 to give to the Madagascar Fauna Group to help them improve their website and online fundraising, as well as support programs for protecting lemur habitats and stopping illegal lemur trapping.

• Spread the word! Get your own Support Namoroka button and put it on your blog or website, tweet it and sing it from the rooftops and street corners while you’re at it.

We’ll be raising funds until the end of January 2010. More updates to come!  Many thanks to Ned Schwartz, Chelsea Novak, Brain Warren, Jamey Boje and David Boswell for making this happen.

Editor’s note: Mozilla released Firefox 3.6 beta 3 on Tuesday, November 17, 2009. Check out the Mozilla Developer News announcement reposted below for more details.

Last night the Mozilla community released Firefox 3.6 Beta 3, making it available for free download and issuing an update for all Firefox 3.6 beta users. This update contains over 80 fixes from the last Firefox 3.6 beta, containing many improvements for web developers, Add-on developers, and users. More than half of the thousands of Firefox Add-ons have now been upgraded by their authors to be compatible with Firefox 3.6 Beta. If your favorite Add-on isn’t yet compatible, you can also download and install the Add-on Compatibility Reporter – your favorite Add-on author will appreciate it!

The Mozilla community appreciates your feedback and assistance in testing this preview of the next version of Firefox. Your beta software will update itself periodically, and eventually will be updated to the final release itself.

The Beta of Firefox 3.6 / Gecko 1.9.2 introduces several new features for users to evaluate:

• (New in this update) A change to how third-party software integrates with Firefox to increase stability.
• (New in this update) The ability to run scripts asynchronously to speed up page load times.
• A mechanism to prevent incompatible software from crashing Firefox.
• 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 (it’s big).

Please use the following links to download Firefox 3.6 Beta, or visit the beta download page:

• Windows: Firefox 3.6 Beta 3 Setup.exe
• Mac OS X: Firefox 3.6 Beta 3.dmg
• Linux: firefox-3.6b3.tar.bz2

As always, the Mozilla community would appreciate hearing about any feedback you have about this release, or any bugs you may find.

Editor’s note: Mozilla released Firefox 3.6 beta 2 on Tuesday, November 10, 2009. Check out the Mozilla Developer News announcement reposted below for more details.

Last night the Mozilla community published Firefox 3.6 Beta 2, and
issued an update for all Firefox 3.6 beta users. This update contains
over 190 fixes from the last Firefox 3.6 beta, containing many
improvements for web developers, Add-on developers, and users. The
Mozilla community appreciates your feedback and assistance in testing
this preview of the next version of Firefox. Your beta software will
update itself periodically, and eventually will be updated to the final
release itself.

The Beta of Firefox 3.6 / Gecko 1.9.2 introduces several new features
for users to evaluate:

* (New in this update) A mechanism to prevent incompatible software
from crashing Firefox.
* 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 (it’s big).

Please use the following links to download Firefox 3.6 Beta, or visit
the beta download page:

* Windows: Firefox 3.6 Beta 2 Setup.exe
* Mac OS X: Firefox 3.6 Beta 2.dmg
* Linux: firefox-3.6b2.tar.bz2

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!

As always, the Mozilla community would appreciate hearing about any
feedback you have about this release, or any bugs you may find.