Since version 3.0.6:MPL, GNU GPL or GNU LGPL, version 3.0.5 and Earlier executable code version Mozilla Firefox EULA 1.0/1.1, version 3.0.5 and Earlier source code version of certain Firefox functionality: MPL[6][7]
To display web pages, Firefox uses the Geckolayout engine, which implements most current web standards in addition to several features that are intended to anticipate likely additions to the standards.[14]
The Firefox project began as an experimental branch of the Mozilla project by Dave Hyatt, Joe Hewitt and Blake Ross. They believed the commercial requirements of Netscape's sponsorship and developer-driven feature creep compromised the utility of the Mozilla browser.[19] To combat what they saw as the Mozilla Suite'ssoftware bloat, they created a stand-alone browser, with which they intended to replace the Mozilla Suite. On April 3, 2003, the Mozilla Organization announced that they planned to change their focus from the Mozilla Suite to Firefox and Thunderbird.[20]
Early versions
German build of Firefox 1.0.8
The Firefox project has undergone several name changes. Originally titled Phoenix, it was renamed because of trademark issues with Phoenix Technologies. The replacement name, Firebird, provoked an intense response from the Firebird free database software project.[21][22][23] In response, the Mozilla Foundation stated that the browser should always bear the name Mozilla Firebird to avoid confusion with the database software. After further pressure from the database server's development community, on February 9, 2004, Mozilla Firebird became Mozilla Firefox,[24] often referred to as simply Firefox. Mozilla prefers that Firefox be abbreviated as Fx or fx, though it is often abbreviated as FF.[25] The Firefox project went through many versions before 1.0 was released on November 9, 2004. After a series of stability and security fixes, the Mozilla Foundation released its first major update, Firefox version 1.5, on November 29, 2005. Firefox 1.5.0.12 is the final version officially supported under Windows 95.
On October 24, 2006, Mozilla released Firefox 2. This version includes updates to the tabbed browsing environment; the extensions manager; the GUI (Graphical User Interface); and the find, search and software update engines; a new session restore feature; inline spell checking; and an anti-phishing feature which was implemented by Google as an extension,[26][27] and later merged into the program itself.[28] In December 2007, Firefox Live Chat was launched. It allows users to ask volunteers questions through a system powered by Jive Software, with guaranteed hours of operation and the possibility of help after hours.[29] Firefox 2.0.0.20 is the final version which can run under an unmodified installation of Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98, and Windows ME.[citation needed]
Firefox 3 was released on June 17, 2008,[30] by the Mozilla Corporation. Firefox 3 uses version 1.9 of the Mozilla Gecko layout engine for displaying web pages. This version fixes many bugs, improves standard compliance, and implements new web APIs.[31] Other new features include a redesigned download manager, a new "Places" system for storing bookmarks and history, and separate themes for different operating systems. The latest version under 3.0 is Firefox 3.0.19.
Development stretches back to the first Firefox 3 beta (under the codename 'Gran Paradiso'[32]) which had been released several months earlier on 19 November 2007,[33] and was followed by several more beta releases in spring 2008 culminating in the June release.[34] Firefox 3 had more than 8 million unique downloads the day it was released, setting a Guinness World Record.[35]
Version 3.5, codenamed Shiretoko,[36] adds a variety of new features to Firefox. Initially numbered Firefox 3.1, Mozilla developers decided to change the numbering of the release to 3.5, in order to reflect a significantly greater scope of changes than originally planned.[37] The final release was on June 30, 2009. The changes included much faster performance thanks to an upgrade to SpiderMonkeyJavaScript engine called TraceMonkey and rendering improvements,[38] and support for the
and
tags as defined in the HTML 5 specification, with a goal to offer video playback without being encumbered by patent issues associated with many video technologies.[39] Cross-site XMLHttpRequests (XHR), which can allow for more powerful web applications and an easier way to implement mashups, are also implemented in 3.5.[40] A new global JSON object contains native functions to efficiently and safely serialize and deserialize JSON objects, as specified by the ECMAScript 3.1 draft.[41] Full CSS 3 selector support has been added. Firefox 3.5 uses the Gecko 1.9.1 engine, which includes a few features that were not included in the 3.0 release. Multi-touch trackpad support was also added to the release, including gesture support like pinching for zooming and swiping for back and forward.[42] Firefox 3.5 also features an updated logo.[43]
Version 3.6 (latest version 3.6.22) is the release codenamed Namoroka.[44] Development for this version started on December 1, 2008,[45] and it was released on January 21, 2010.[17] This release uses the Gecko 1.9.2 rendering engine.
New features for Firefox 3.6 include built-in support for Personas (toolbar skins), notification of out-of-date plugins,[46] full screen playback of Theora video, support for the WOFF open webfont format,[47] a more secure plugin system, and many performance improvements.[17]
Out-of-process plug-ins
A crashed Adobe Flash plugin
One minor update to Firefox 3.6, version 3.6.4 (code-named Lorentz) features "Crash Protection"[48] (also called out-of-process plug-ins, or OOPP), which isolates execution of plug-ins into a separate process, preventing a plug-in crash from bringing down the whole browser.
In the initial release only 3 plug-ins were isolated by default: Adobe Flash Player, Apple Quicktime, and Microsoft Silverlight, and the feature was available only in the Windows and Linux builds. Mac OS X 10.6 support was added in Firefox 4. Firefox 3.6.6 increased the amount of time a plug-in is allowed to be unresponsive to the point before the plug-in would quit.[49]
Starting with Lorentz, Mozilla plans to release non-intrusive changes as minor updates that previously included only stability and security fixes.[50]
Version 4 brought a new user interface and is said to be faster.[53] Early mockups of the new interface on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux were first made available in July 2009.[54][55][56] Other new features included improved notifications, tab groups, application tabs, a redesigned add-on manager, integration with Firefox Sync, and support for multitouch displays.[57][58][59][60][61]
On October 13, 2006, Brendan Eich, Mozilla's Chief Technology Officer, wrote about the plans for "Mozilla 2", referring to the most comprehensive iteration (since its creation) of the overall platform on which Firefox and other Mozilla products run.[62] Most of the objectives were gradually incorporated into Firefox through versions 3.0, 3.5, and 3.6. The largest changes, however, were planned for Firefox 4.
A draft roadmap indicated that Mozilla hoped to release several versions in 2011, but despite incrementing major version numbers of subsequent versions, these versions would be be smaller incremental updates, primarily focusing on improving speed, stability and security.[66]
Firefox 5 was released on June 21, 2011,[67] only three months after the major release of Firefox 4. Firefox 5 is the first release as part of Mozilla's new rapid release plan, matching Google Chrome's rapid release schedule and rapid version number increments.[68]
Mozilla released its Mozilla Firefox 6.0 on August 16, 2011. Mozilla Firefox 6.0.2 is currently the latest stable release, released on September 6, 2011.[67]
Version 7.0
Mozilla's version 7 of Firefox is currently in its 6thBeta stage and can be downloaded, for testing, from their Beta site in various languages.[69] Firefox 7, scheduled to be released in September 2011, will use as much as 50% less memory than Firefox 4 as a result of the MemShrink project to reduce Firefox memory usage.[70][71]
Version 8.0
Mozilla's version 8 of Firefox is currently in the "Aurora" release channel (see Development section, below), and the 2ndalpha test version can be obtained from their Aurora download page in various languages. Firefox 8 is 20% faster than Firefox 5, measured on several metrics, placing it on par with the performance of the in-development Google Chrome 14.[72]
Version 9.0
Mozilla's version 9 of Firefox is currently in the "Nightly builds" channel, and the 1st alpha test version can be obtained from their Nightly download page. Firefox 9 will introduce a very different looking user-interface called "Australis".[73]
Firefox for mobile, codenamed Fennec, is a web browser for smaller non-PC devices, mobile phones and PDAs. It was first released for the NokiaMaemo operating system (specifically the Nokia N900) on January 28, 2010.[74] Version 4 for Android and Maemo was released on March 29, 2011.[75] The browser's version number was bumped from version 2 to version 4 to synchronize with all future desktop releases of Firefox since the rendering engines used in both browsers are the same.[76] Version 7 will be the last release for Maemo on the N900.[77] The user interface is completely redesigned and optimized for small screens, the controls are hidden away so that only the web content is shown on screen, and it uses touchscreen interaction methods. It includes the Awesomebar, tabbed browsing, Add-on support, password manager, location-aware browsing, and the ability to synchronize with the user's computer Firefox browser using Firefox Sync.[78]
UI changes
Starting with versions 4.0 and above, Firefox has begun taking on a UI style that mimics the popular webkit-based browsers such as Google Chrome and Safari.[79][80] Notable UI changes include vertical real estate slimming (menus can be combined into a single button, default on Windows),[citation needed] tabs have been relocated on top of the address bar area, the bookmarks toolbar is now hidden by default, the statusbar now pops up on top of web pages and auto hides when inactive, and the search bar is planned to be removed.[citation needed][81][82]
Development
The "About Nightly" window from Mozilla Firefox 6 Nightly.
Prior to April 2011, the precursory builds of upcoming Firefox releases were usually codenamed "Minefield", as this was the name of the trunk builds.
In April 2011, the development process was split into several channels, each working on a build in a different stage of development. The most recent available build is called "Nightly" and offers the latest, untested features and updates. The "Aurora" build is up to six weeks behind Nightly and offers functionality that has undergone basic testing. The "Beta" channel is another six weeks away. It provides improved stability over the nightly builds and is the first development milestone that has the "Firefox" logo. "Release" is the current official version of Firefox. New releases are planned to occur in six to sixteen week intervals.[83] The aim of this faster-paced process is to get new functions to users faster.[84]
New default theme (Winstripe), comprehensive data migration, new extension/theme manager, reduced download size, new help system, Linux installer, mail icon (Windows only).
Added new features such as RSS/Atom feed support, find toolbar, plugin finder. Reached its end of life on April 13, 2006 with the release of version 1.0.8.[86] (support for older versions of Firefox typically ends six months after a new major version is available).[87]
Added support for SVG and canvas, UI adjustments and improvements in JavaScript 1.5 and CSS 2/3. Reached its end of life on May 30, 2007 with the release of Firefox 1.5.0.12. Firefox 1.5.0.12 was the final version officially supported under Windows 95.[88]
Added new features such as session restoration after a browser crash, search suggestion for Google and Yahoo!, new search plugin manager and add-on manager, web feed previewing, bookmark microsummaries and Google's anti-phishing protection.[89] Winstripe theme refresh. Included support for JavaScript 1.7. Reached its end of life on December 18, 2008 with the release of Firefox 2.0.0.20. Firefox 2.0.0.20 is the final version officially supported under Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98, and Windows ME.[90]
Cairo used as a graphics backend. Cocoa Widgets included in OS X builds. APIs implemented from WHATWG specs. Changes to how DOM events are dispatched, how HTML object elements are loaded, and how web pages are rendered. New SVG elements and filters, and improved SVG specification compliance. Acid2 test compliant. New UI improvements, including default themes for different operating systems and new download manager. Introduction of Smart Location Bar (a.k.a. Awesome Bar).[92]Windows 95, 98, ME, Mac OS X v10.3.9[93] and lower, and GTK+ 1.2 and lower[94] no longer supported. addons.mozilla.org integration in the Add-ons window. Support for APNG files. Google's "malware protection".[95] Reached its end of life on March 30, 2010 with the release of Firefox 3.0.19.[96]
Improved performance to the TraceMonkey JavaScript engine. Support for -moz-background-size CSS property, CSS Gradients, and multiple background images. Support for the WOFF, built-in support for Personas. Notification of out-of-date plugins. Version 3.6.4 and later features out-of-process plug-ins (OOPP).
3.6.22
September 6, 2011
Revoked the SSL certificates for "Staten der Nederlanden" due to fraudulent SSL certificate issuance. Fixed an error with .gov.uk domain names. Predated by 3.6.2 to 3.6.21.
New default theme on all platforms, redesigned extension manager and notifications, tabs on top, new Firefox menu on Windows, app tabs, integration with Firefox Sync and Panorama, WebM support, WebGL support, GPU-based hardware acceleration of web content, additional optimization to the TraceMonkey engine called JägerMonkey, improved support for HTML5 and CSS3 features.
Added support for CSS Animations; the Do-Not-Track header preference has been moved to increase discoverability; tuned HTTP idle connection logic for increased performance; improved Canvas, JavaScript, memory, and networking performance; improved standards support for HTML5, XHR, MathML, SMIL, and Canvas; improved spell checking for some locales; improved desktop environment integration for Linux users; WebGL content can no longer load cross-domain textures; Background tabs have setTimeout and setInterval clamped to 1000 ms to improve performance.
The address bar now highlights the domain of the website the user is visiting; streamlined the look of the site identity block; added support for the latest draft version of WebSockets with a prefixed API; added support for EventSource / server-sent events; added support for window.matchMedia; added Scratchpad, an interactive JavaScript; prototyping environment; added a new Web Developer menu item and moved development-related items into it; improved usability of the Web Console; improved the discoverability of Firefox Sync; reduced browser startup time when using Panorama; fixed several stability issues; fixed several security issues.
Revoked the SSL certificates for "Staten der Nederlanden" due to fraudulent SSL certificate issuance. Fixed an error with .gov.uk domain names. Predated by 6.0.1.
Drastically improved memory use; Added a new rendering backend to speed up Canvas operations on Windows systems; Bookmark and password changes now sync almost instantly when using Firefox Sync; Added support for text-overflow: ellipsis; Added support for the Web Timing specification; Added an opt-in system for users to send performance data back to Mozilla to improve future versions of Firefox. This can be enabled by installing an add-on; Fixed several stability issues.
