Foxload Web & Apps

In August the new version 6 of Mozilla Firefox will be released. In the current beta version you can already make a picture of what's new. First of all: For the average user, this update is not really worth to be done, because in comparison with earlier beta versions of Firefox, the changes are minimal. In the short time between new releases, this is not surprising. For the upcoming months even more sequels are planned. First, however, the focus remains on the upcoming release of Firefox 6.

According to the release notes of Firefox 6, there are following changes:

• The domain name in the address bar is highlighted, the remaining part of the URL is displayed in a darker blue.
• The identity block is represented visually more beautiful. Also the boxes on SSL certificates and passwords.
• Permission management via "about:permissions".
• Integration of a prefixed API for WebSockets.
• Integration of EventSource for server-side events on persistent connections.
• A scratchpad to run and test the JavaScript code at runtime.
• Summary of tools in a web developer menu item.
• Reduced startup time when using the panorama function.

Most changes are primarily related to Web developers which are not important for regular Internet users. The only directly visible changes are related to the address line and the identity block.

Another change, the average user is concerned with, is the new tab "about: permissions". There you can control the permissions of individual pages. You can specify whether a site can access your local position, you may choose whether cookies should be set and whether pop-ups are allowed.

The new tab is however not involved in the menu of the current beta. This function could be accessed via the address bar of the browser. In the final version, this should be integrated into the main menu. Until then, however, you can safely surf with the stable version of Firefox 5. The automatic update function will install Firefox 6 if its available as final version.