4 ms·

Firefox 4 Nightly

35 points by rottencupcakes 16y ago

ashleyw 16y ago
Does 3.7 == 4.0? Or hasn't the new UI been pushed to the nightly builds yet? (at least for OSX)
- mbrubeck 16y ago
  Yes, the 3.7 release was renamed to 4.0. See http://beltzner.ca/mike/2010/05/10/firefox-4-fast-powerful-and-empowering/ http://beltzner.ca/mike/2010/05/10/firefox-4-fast-powerful-a... for details. Not all of the new UI is in nightly builds yet (much of it is just finishing the design phase).
InclinedPlane 16y ago
I don't care what their rationale is, the version numbering ideology of the mozilla foundation is dumb. There's not a good enough reason to stick to version 3.7 for a "version 4" beta, it's super annoying and makes them look amateurish.
- ashleyw 16y ago
  firefox-4.0b2pre.en-US: http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/latest-trunk/?C=M;O=D http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/lates...
- dareiff 16y ago
  They have clear roadmaps for each major version number. I'm not so sure I'd consider it dumb.
  - InclinedPlane 16y ago
    It's fine as long as you keep consistent naming. Calling 3.7 version 4 is dumb, if you're going to call it 4 then bump up the version number, if you're not going to bump up the version number until later then stop calling it 4.
    - tiles 16y ago
      They're calling it 4. This isn't the official beta. The 3.7 are just old executables lingering in the FTP folder.
- mbrubeck 16y ago
  The next version was originally going to be called 3.7, but it was later renamed to Firefox 4. Starting with beta 1, there will be no more references to Firefox 3.7. As we speak, all version strings are being updated to refer to 4.0 instead.
ihodes 16y ago
I'm away from my desktop for another week: my only question is if they've put any thought into speeding up startup times and/or improving the UX and design on Macs. Firefox used to be great, but it's really fallen behind in terms of speed and usability. I hope this changes that. EDIT: Thanks for the replies! I'll be giving it a try again. It's good to have choices.
- dareiff 16y ago
  The Mac UI _looks_ better; for some reason, though, I'm getting two icons in my dock, occasionally.
- Rusky 16y ago
  Even the latest stable release (3.6.6) starts just as fast as Chrome for me (I use an ad blocker, bookmark sync and firebug in both browsers). Firefox has been painfully slow in the past, but it seems okay now, although its UI is still rather clunky.
- saint-loup 16y ago
  The chrome of Firefox is better now: the line between the bookmarks bar and the navigation bar is no longer here and the buttons are squared. It really looks like Safari, wich is good for minimalism and Apple-compliance, but sad for diversity and innovation. I really enjoy this update, BUT do not enable the "tab on top" feature. It's not fully implemented yet and it's really ugly. (I have also the two icons issue.)
  - saint-loup 16y ago
    Another detail who moves Firefox closer to Safari : text in the bookmark toolbar now turns to white when hovered.
- mbrubeck 16y ago
  Here are the design mockups for how Firefox 4 should eventually look by default on Mac OS X: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/4.0_Mac_Theme_Mockups https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/4.0_Mac_Theme_Mockups These designs are not fully implemented in current nightly builds, and are subject to change. Also, here are the Windows and Linux mockups: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/4.0_Windows_Theme_Mockups https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/4.0_Windows_Theme_Mockups https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/4.0_Linux_Theme_Mockups https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/4.0_Linux_Theme_Mockups There are quite a few performance improvements going into Firefox 4, with a strong focus on startup time. See http://autonome.wordpress.com/tag/startup/ http://autonome.wordpress.com/tag/startup/ for detailed tracking of Firefox startup improvements.
jurjenh 16y ago
Interesting that when you launch the windows installer, it says nothing about firefox, it says Installing Minefield Is this some quirky pun on the fact that it is pre-release software? Or is there a more general name change in the works? [edit] Seems it is due to the testing process - http://www.mozilla.org/projects/minefield/ http://www.mozilla.org/projects/minefield/ WARNING: THIS IS NOT A FINAL VERSION OF FIREFOX and then goes on to say: This program is provided without any guarantees of stability and you should back up your profile regularly as there may be bugs that corrupt your data. If that sounds scary, please use the latest version of Firefox.
- jey 16y ago
  "Minefield" is the name given to the Firefox nightly builds.
- travisjeffery 16y ago
  They've always used Minefield for nightly and alpha builds.
w1ntermute 16y ago
This is not the actual beta. These are just nightlies tagged as the beta (the version string was updated to 'beta') for testing purposes. This same story showed up on Slashdot and Mozilla's Asa Dotzler commented on it: http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1702398&cid=32734096 http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1702398&cid=327... You can find the Firefox 4 Beta when it's actually released here: https://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html https://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html
cmelbye 16y ago
Seems to be working very well: http://cl.ly/1W6b http://cl.ly/1W6b
- ashleyw 16y ago
  That's a custom theme. Disable that and it should be fine.
axod 16y ago
This includes WebSocket support - which seems to work great :) Well done Firefox team!
bosch 16y ago
I've been using the nightly's for the last 3 weeks and they've worked great without any crashes. I'd recommend upgrading if you're comfortable with beta software as I believe most of the big bugs have worked out. The only major bug I've noticed is that using right click and selecting 'back' doesn't always work. The latest build moves the tabs to the top which is an interesting change and takes some time to get used to. It's interesting how FF and IE now differ in layout from top down: FF: Title Bar, Menu Bar, Tabs, URL, Bookmark Toolbar (default hidden) IE: Title Bar, URL Bar, Menu (default hidden), Tabs
alanh 16y ago
I see virtually nothing noteworthy on http://modernizr.com http://modernizr.com in these 4.0 pre-release builds — no real new HTML/CSS features, no 3D transforms, etc.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- mbrubeck 16y ago
  Yeah, a lot of our engineering effort is going into performance right now, rather than new features. But here are some of the HTML and CSS features in Firefox 4: - HTML5 parser (SVG/MathML in HTML, new semantic elements) - HTML5 forms (only partly implemented so far) - Web Sockets - CSS3 transitions - CSS3 calc() - IndexedDB (schemaless client-side database) - WebM (VP8) codec for HTML5 video - SVG backgrounds and images in CSS and HTML - ECMAScript 5 features in JavaScript
known 16y ago
You need to set extensions.checkCompatibility.4.0b=false

Does 3.7 == 4.0? Or hasn't the new UI been pushed to the nightly builds yet? (at least for OSX)

mbrubeck 16y ago
Yes, the 3.7 release was renamed to 4.0. See http://beltzner.ca/mike/2010/05/10/firefox-4-fast-powerful-and-empowering/ http://beltzner.ca/mike/2010/05/10/firefox-4-fast-powerful-a... for details. Not all of the new UI is in nightly builds yet (much of it is just finishing the design phase).

I don't care what their rationale is, the version numbering ideology of the mozilla foundation is dumb. There's not a good enough reason to stick to version 3.7 for a "version 4" beta, it's super annoying and makes them look amateurish.

ashleyw 16y ago
firefox-4.0b2pre.en-US: http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/latest-trunk/?C=M;O=D http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/lates...
dareiff 16y ago
They have clear roadmaps for each major version number. I'm not so sure I'd consider it dumb.
- InclinedPlane 16y ago
  It's fine as long as you keep consistent naming. Calling 3.7 version 4 is dumb, if you're going to call it 4 then bump up the version number, if you're not going to bump up the version number until later then stop calling it 4.
  - tiles 16y ago
    They're calling it 4. This isn't the official beta. The 3.7 are just old executables lingering in the FTP folder.
mbrubeck 16y ago
The next version was originally going to be called 3.7, but it was later renamed to Firefox 4. Starting with beta 1, there will be no more references to Firefox 3.7. As we speak, all version strings are being updated to refer to 4.0 instead.

ihodes 16y ago

I'm away from my desktop for another week: my only question is if they've put any thought into speeding up startup times and/or improving the UX and design on Macs. Firefox used to be great, but it's really fallen behind in terms of speed and usability. I hope this changes that. EDIT: Thanks for the replies! I'll be giving it a try again. It's good to have choices.

dareiff 16y ago
The Mac UI _looks_ better; for some reason, though, I'm getting two icons in my dock, occasionally.
Rusky 16y ago
Even the latest stable release (3.6.6) starts just as fast as Chrome for me (I use an ad blocker, bookmark sync and firebug in both browsers). Firefox has been painfully slow in the past, but it seems okay now, although its UI is still rather clunky.
saint-loup 16y ago
The chrome of Firefox is better now: the line between the bookmarks bar and the navigation bar is no longer here and the buttons are squared. It really looks like Safari, wich is good for minimalism and Apple-compliance, but sad for diversity and innovation. I really enjoy this update, BUT do not enable the "tab on top" feature. It's not fully implemented yet and it's really ugly. (I have also the two icons issue.)
- saint-loup 16y ago
  Another detail who moves Firefox closer to Safari : text in the bookmark toolbar now turns to white when hovered.
mbrubeck 16y ago
Here are the design mockups for how Firefox 4 should eventually look by default on Mac OS X: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/4.0_Mac_Theme_Mockups https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/4.0_Mac_Theme_Mockups These designs are not fully implemented in current nightly builds, and are subject to change. Also, here are the Windows and Linux mockups: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/4.0_Windows_Theme_Mockups https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/4.0_Windows_Theme_Mockups https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/4.0_Linux_Theme_Mockups https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/4.0_Linux_Theme_Mockups There are quite a few performance improvements going into Firefox 4, with a strong focus on startup time. See http://autonome.wordpress.com/tag/startup/ http://autonome.wordpress.com/tag/startup/ for detailed tracking of Firefox startup improvements.

jurjenh 16y ago

Interesting that when you launch the windows installer, it says nothing about firefox, it says Installing Minefield Is this some quirky pun on the fact that it is pre-release software? Or is there a more general name change in the works? [edit] Seems it is due to the testing process - http://www.mozilla.org/projects/minefield/ http://www.mozilla.org/projects/minefield/ WARNING: THIS IS NOT A FINAL VERSION OF FIREFOX and then goes on to say: This program is provided without any guarantees of stability and you should back up your profile regularly as there may be bugs that corrupt your data. If that sounds scary, please use the latest version of Firefox.

jey 16y ago
"Minefield" is the name given to the Firefox nightly builds.
travisjeffery 16y ago
They've always used Minefield for nightly and alpha builds.

w1ntermute 16y ago

This is not the actual beta. These are just nightlies tagged as the beta (the version string was updated to 'beta') for testing purposes. This same story showed up on Slashdot and Mozilla's Asa Dotzler commented on it: http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1702398&cid=32734096 http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1702398&cid=327... You can find the Firefox 4 Beta when it's actually released here: https://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html https://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html

cmelbye 16y ago

Seems to be working very well: http://cl.ly/1W6b http://cl.ly/1W6b

ashleyw 16y ago
That's a custom theme. Disable that and it should be fine.

axod 16y ago

This includes WebSocket support - which seems to work great :) Well done Firefox team!

bosch 16y ago

I've been using the nightly's for the last 3 weeks and they've worked great without any crashes. I'd recommend upgrading if you're comfortable with beta software as I believe most of the big bugs have worked out. The only major bug I've noticed is that using right click and selecting 'back' doesn't always work. The latest build moves the tabs to the top which is an interesting change and takes some time to get used to. It's interesting how FF and IE now differ in layout from top down: FF: Title Bar, Menu Bar, Tabs, URL, Bookmark Toolbar (default hidden) IE: Title Bar, URL Bar, Menu (default hidden), Tabs

alanh 16y ago

I see virtually nothing noteworthy on http://modernizr.com http://modernizr.com in these 4.0 pre-release builds — no real new HTML/CSS features, no 3D transforms, etc.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
mbrubeck 16y ago
Yeah, a lot of our engineering effort is going into performance right now, rather than new features. But here are some of the HTML and CSS features in Firefox 4: - HTML5 parser (SVG/MathML in HTML, new semantic elements) - HTML5 forms (only partly implemented so far) - Web Sockets - CSS3 transitions - CSS3 calc() - IndexedDB (schemaless client-side database) - WebM (VP8) codec for HTML5 video - SVG backgrounds and images in CSS and HTML - ECMAScript 5 features in JavaScript

known 16y ago

You need to set extensions.checkCompatibility.4.0b=false