Firefox 5.0 Beta

Confirming the new development process of new versions of its flagship browser, Mozilla has released The first beta of Firefox 5. At the same time, the channel has officially dawn to start testing the next version of the browser (in this case the beta 2).

At first glance, not much changes on an aesthetic level. The tabs are on top, the status bar is absent, and the menus are just as you can see in version 4.0.x. The changes have actually been made internally. So if you usually go to sites like gmail, or others that make extensive use of JavaScript engine, you will notice the difference.

As a listing to highlight the improvements:

• Added enhanced support for CSS animations.
• The property of "no trace" has been moved to facilitate its visibility (now you can see in Options/Privacy).
• Improved canvas, JavaScript, memory and network performance.
• Better support for HTML5, XHR, MathML and SMIL
• Changes in the spelling of some languages.
• Better integration with Linux.
• Added support for easy switching between channels of development (accessible from the "About ...")

In theory, the final version will be the end of June (it is said that for 24 tentative date), showing an unprecedented agility to what we were used, but confirmed the new way of working.

Keep in mind that despite its stability and good performance, is a development version and everything can fail. Is remembered as always, that this version is for testing and for users interested in collaborate with development.

Anyway, if you're risky, express your opinion using the "Opinion" in the toolbar, or report bugs in bugzilla. And if you like challenges, try changing channels development from within the browser. Got a SUMO article you explain it very easily.

Download trial versions.

Release Notes.

Complete list of changes.