Crash protection ensures only the plugin causing the issue stops working, not the rest of the content being browsed. Mozilla Firefox manages complex video and web content using layer-based Direct2D and Driect3D graphics systems. Start up speed and graphics rendering are also among the quickest in the market. Mozilla Firefox boasts impressive page load speeds thanks to the excellent JagerMonkey JavaScript engine. Next to that you have the download history and home buttons. Outside of that a view button controls what you see below the URL. To the right of the URL box is a search box which allows you to customize your search engine options. On the right side of the URL box there are bookmarking, history and refresh buttons. The URL box features direct Google searching as well as an auto predict/history feature called Awesome Bar. In recent years Mozilla has also focused on maximizing browsing area by simplifying toolbar controls to just a Mozilla Firefox button (which contains settings and options) and back/forward buttons. They created the tab structure that has been adopted by most other browsers. Mozilla put of a lot of resources into creating a simple but effective UI aimed at making browsing quicker and easier. The browser is particularly popular with developers thanks to its open source development and active community of advanced users. The key features that have made Mozilla Firefox so popular are the simple and effective UI, browser speed and strong security capabilities. Although the browser's market share is lower for OS X, it is still one of the most popular browsers available on the Mac platform. Since then, Mozilla Firefox has consistently featured in the top 3 most popular browsers globally. At its public launch in 2004 Mozilla Firefox was the first browser to challenge Microsoft Internet Explorer’s dominance.
Using the link below, Mac owners can grab the latest versions of Firefox for Mac OS X, including those in the 3.6 and 3.5 branches.Mozilla Firefox is a fast, light and tidy open source web browser.
Those who rely on certain add-ons that might not perform as expected can install the Add-on Compatibility reporter and use it to work with its developer in addressing potential bugs.įirefox 4.0 Beta 12 calls for Mac OS X 10.4 and later, a Macintosh computer with an Intel x86 or PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor, 128 MB of RAM (256 MB or greater is recommended) and roughly 200 MB of hard drive space.
The software company confirmed that this Firefox 4 Beta is considered to be stable and safe to use for daily web browsing.Īs usual, the developer may change the features and certain content before the final product release, though not much.Ĭertain add-ons might also not work properly, as their respective developers haven’t had the time to test them against this Firefox Beta. “Plugins which also support this rendering model can now draw faster and more efficiently,” according to Mozilla. Rounding up the list of changes in Beta 12 are general stability, performance, and compatibility improvements, Mozilla said.Īs usual, the enhancements and fixes from previous Firefox betas have been incorporated in the most recent release.Īs such, Firefox Beta 12 also adds hardware-accelerated rendering operations when using OpenGL on Mac OS X.Īlso for Mac OS X, a Core Animation rendering model for plugins is included. Hovering over links now displays the URL at the bottom of the window rather than in the location bar, Mozilla informed last week. Particularly, the new beta increases performance while viewing Flash content, and improves plugin compatibility when hardware acceleration is enabled. Released to the public late last week, Firefox 4.0 Beta 12 further addresses the browser’s performance, as well as its stability and compatibility with various elements. This weekend Mozilla rolled out the final beta in the Firefox 4.0 development cycle, confirming via its Director of Platform Engineering, Damon Sicore, that a Firefox 4.0 RC (release candidate) is up next.