Web & AppsPosted by in Firefox on April 6th, 2011
The new major release Firefox 4 is now available since a few days in the final version. But what's new in the Firefox Browser of the 4th Generation? First, it could be said that there are both visual and technical improvements. Let's start with the visual changes. New here is the arrangement of the tabs, menu bar, address bar and buttons.
The tabs are moved up and are now fitted over the address bar. This will have the advantage that the mouse movements to be shorter. Also, the App tab has been migrated from an add-on to default browser functionality. Using the context menu of a tab, there is a "Pin as App-Tab" function.
Then, the width of the tab is reduced and bears the icon of the website. This makes sense for web applications like Gmail. This saves space and creates more visibility. Also for reasons of space, the menu bar has disappeared. This is now behind the distinctive, orange drop-down button in the upper left.
With this bar you can access the settings for add-on manager and for the bookmarks. Other buttons, such as for example the home button, are moved to the right and are not at the usual place. But you can customize these buttons easily and move it or add new buttons.
The look of the add-on manager has changed in Firefox 4. The manager has its own tab and display the installed add-ons clearly. A disadvantage is that some add-ons in Firefox 4 run any more, because they are no longer compatible. Cause here is the restriction that add-ons need to specify a minimum and maximum version of Firefox, for which they are intended. In theory, many of the seemingly incompatible add-ons do probably run in Firefox 4, but the browser is quite strict. Mozilla should build here additional options for backward compatibility. If an add-on developer does not provide a new add-on version, you can not use it so easy, even if it may run in Firefox 4.
Technically Firefox 4 has a lot to offer. The new HTML5 standard is implemented and the JavaScript engine has been improved. With Web O' Wonder you can get an idea of the innovations. There is for example the game "Runfield", in which a fox can jump on a dirt road. The game works without any plug-ins and add-ons. Also new in HTML5 is the integrated video function, which makes flash almost superfluous. In addition, with WebGL, a hardware-accelerated 3D graphics is available without having to rely on external plugins. For manufacturers and users of browser games, this is a very important innovation. Here you can get the new Firefox 4, with its improvements.
