firefox 3.5 b4 is out

[clevin]

its out, it will be on all beta page shortly http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html

release note is here http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/3.5b4/releasenotes/

in the mean time, its already available in the ftp folder. ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/3.5b4/

 

[clevin]

is out

 

[firstapple]

clevin... as always, you are on top of things! Thanks for posting! dling now

 

[Dany M]

I actually googled to see if a new one was out 15 minutes ago!

thanks!

 

[clevin]

Its my pleasure. Really.

Hopefully 3.5 Release candidate will come along soon.

 

[-Ryan-]

I've only been using for a few minutes, but again I've seen noticable improvements in how Firefox handles scrolling under OS X. In 3.0.x it is extremely laggy in response, but under 3.5 they have moved to pixel scrolling the same as native applications. It's making Firefox a much more pleasant experience. There's been steady improvement in this respect since the early 3.1 nightlys.
Also, not sure I'm fussed on the new-new tab icon. It looks a bit out of place in its implementation...a random + icon in the tab bar.
Lastly, I'm not sure what to make of the recently closed windows and tabs functionality. I could have sworn it was available in 3.0 even, but I'll use it and see if I like it.

All in all though, another very solid and usable beta. Hoping to see 3.5 final drop in the next couple of months.

 

[clevin]

Also, not sure I'm fussed on the new-new tab icon. It looks a bit out of place in its implementation...a random + icon in the tab bar.
Lastly, I'm not sure what to make of the recently closed windows and tabs functionality. I could have sworn it was available in 3.0 even, but I'll use it and see if I like it.

you can still double click on empty space of tabbar to open a new tab, and I suspect TMP probably has something you can customize for this.

it was debated at bugzilla for a while about where to put the button, it eventually comes down to current form.

3.0 has "open recent closed tab" function, 3.5 now added "open recent closed window".

cheers

 

[-Ryan-]

you can still double click on empty space of tabbar to open a new tab, and I suspect TMP probably has something you can customize for this.

it was debated at bugzilla for a while about where to put the button, it eventually comes down to current form.

3.0 has "open recent closed tab" function, 3.5 now added "open recent closed window".

cheers

Ah right cool. If I could find the user style change to remove that button it would be pretty handy, as I just use cmd+T, cmd+W, ctrl+Tab etc to move between tabs, rather than using the mouse. I really hope the recently closed windows menu doesn't have any sort of performance impact, because I can guarantee that I'll never use that, as I only ever have one window open, and it stays open permanently.
All in all though, this is a very sturdy and good release! I've been using it for a few hours now, and I'm really liking the continued improvements in scrolling

 

[Steeph28]

So what exactly is the difference between this, Shiretoko and Minefield?

 

[clevin]

So what exactly is the difference between this, Shiretoko and Minefield?

Shiretoko is codename for firefox 3.5, also called 1.9.1 branch, its made every hour and everyday.
Minefield is codename for firefox developing build, called trunk, its made every hour and everyday.

Its like one big tree with multiple branches. Each branch eventually becomes strong and stable, then bloom, right now two branches are in the work, 1.9.0 branch which support firefox 3.0.x, 1.9.1 branch is developing into firefox 3.5.

when Sheritoko branch is stable enough, Mozilla halt all the changes to it for a day or two, move the code to a separate folder, test it, and compile it to release milestones of 3.5. Up to now there have been 6 milestones for 3.5, two alphas, and 4 betas. This should be the last beta.

 

[Aronnax]

So what exactly is the difference between this, Shiretoko and Minefield?

Mozilla use internal project names for every version.
For example:
Deer Park = Firefox 1.5
Bon Echo = Firefox 2.0
Gran Paradiso = Firefox 3.0
Shiretoko = Firefox 3.5
Namoroka = Firefox 3.6

and since Firefox 3.0 use Mozilla as well the Minefield name for nightly builds. A Minefield version can be an unfinished developer version of 3.0, 3.5 or 3.6 ... they have only one in common: They are unfinished and always the latest.

You can find as well Shiretoko nightly builds. These are test versions for Firefox 3.5 with the latest changes.
A Minefield nightly build has for example new experimental stuff for the versions after Firefox 3.5.

 

[Steeph28]

Ahh k much clearer now. Thanks folks.

 

[angelwatt]

I'm trying it out on Windows XP at the moment (as I'm at work) and I really haven't noticed any differences on the experience part. Not sure it really had enough updates to warrant the version number to go to 3.5 rather than the original 3.1. From a web developer standpoint I do like that they're continuing to make progress on support for HTML 5, CSS, and JavaScript. Hopefully other browsers will make the same type of progress so I can make more use of them.