The Linux distillery
Bringing the world of Linux to you, David cuts through the tech and shows you how it works and how to use it, in terms that apply to any distro. RSS
IT NEWS     Sustainability    Get JOB ALERTS that match your skills
Technology news and Jobs arrow The Linux distillery arrow It's time to download Firefox 3
It's time to download Firefox 3 PDF E-mail
User Rating: / 10
PoorBest 
by David M Williams   
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
It's out! It's here! Firefox 3 has been released for download today, thus concluding a two-year journey to build the best web browser ever. Do yourself a favour - and help set a record - by downloading it now.



First, the link - download Firefox 3 here. That page will also show you how the download count is tracking across the world as well as give updates on the Mozilla attempt to enter the Guinness Book of Records for the most downloaded piece of software within a 24 hour period.

But why should you care, you might ask? Well, for Linux users Firefox is predominantly the web browser used by default in most distributions. This new release contains many, many fixes and improvements. The core rendering engine - which turns HTML code into the visual page you see - has had some 15,000 changes. The rest of the browser has had hundreds of memory leaks fixed, thus providing a far more stable computing experience.

If you're a Windows user, Firefox is faster than Internet Explorer and will enrich your Internet experience. In addition you can now, for the first time ever, set up the mailto: link so that it actually causes Firefox to start up and load Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, gMail, whatever - instead of Outlook. Web-mail users rejoice.

There are many more reasons: the address bar (location bar) now features auto-complete. Start typing an address and Firefox will begin matching with the addresses of sites you've bookmarked or visited recently. The list isn't sorted alphabetically but by a combination of the frequency of visits to that site as well as the recency of your last visit; this means as soon as you start typing "www." your most favourite sites will leap to the fore.

Bookmarks can have multiple tags associated against them. You're not constrained to merely storing bookmarks in a single folder; now you can assign loads of different keywords. This means any individual bookmark can appear under different categories without having to re-bookmark it for each. In addition, there are now smart bookmark folders - which work in a similar way to the iTunes smart playlists.

Security has been beefed up; users are completely protected from phishing site. Various colours and icons are used to represent the differing levels of security that sites may offer.

You need Firefox 3. And if you download it today you'll contribute to a record-making attempt. Go on, do it now.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to post your comment!


Get stories like this delivered daily - FREE - subscribe now
 
< Next story in category   Previous story in the category >
iTWire user statistics Visitors last 30 days
Suscribers
802,938
13,641
#1 independent technology news advertise here
  •   *  
  • Search
  • AdvSeach
  • Login
  • Events
  • FreeStuff
Subscribe to our free e-newsletter
First name:
Last name:
Your email address:
Your role:
Your industry:
Australian state:
Country:
Enter the security code shown:
mandatory