Just a few days ago, Mozilla released the second release candidate for their new Firefox browser. This is probably the last version they will release until the final unveil of the anticipated Firefox 3.5, and it’s about as stable a release we’re gonna get, so I’ve finally decided to give it a go. There are no bench tests or strenuous script tests I’ve put it through, just my everyday browsing. But here is the rundown of the big changes.
-I’ve installed FF3.5 RC2 on both my PC and my Mac and I notice a quicker load time on both computers (similar plugins installed) on most sites thanks to TraceMonkey.
-The new private browsing mode (similar to a feature on Google’s Chrome since day 1) will come in handy for online shopping, banking and other sensitive transactions.
-I don’t visit that many sites so the improved awesomebar does me no good since I don’t tag my bookmarks.
-Since most of my add-ons aren’t yet officially compatible with 3.5, I had to force compatibility with a boolean value in the config page, and I’m not seeing any problems yet.
-I remember there being some flashy tab switching feature that must have been removed in a previous beta, because ctrl-tab does the same as it did with 3.0.11. But the undo closed tab feature has been beefed up and I’m sure it will come in handy if I can remember that it’s there.
In bench tests, Safari 4 and Chrome outperform FF3.5 in most areas. But Firefox has never boasted to be the fastest. I switched from IE to FF 5 years back because I wanted a customizable web experience, which Firefox offered in spades. Firefox still boasts the biggest community of coders that provide almost limitless expandability in terms of plugins, and the recent release of Jetpack will insure that that community will continue to expand.
For most people, the jump from 3.0 to 3.5 won’t be much of a transition, just a bit faster. But the foundation has been set for a move to HTML 5, and it seems Mozilla is looking past their immediate competitors and preparing for the evolution of the web itself.
