Roadmap Summary for Firefox, MozDev Previews, Minefield & Gecko Layout Engine



Minefield 3.7a5pre 20100411 is the latest bleeding edge nightly build. Since a4pre was updated a few days ago to a5pre, that implies developer preview will go alpha 4 today or tomorrow.
Minefield builds are ALWAYS the latest releases, ergo, once the alphas for 3.7 are done, Minefield will go to 4.0a1pre. Download it here. --!-- This is the TRUNK release --!--

Mozilla Developer Preview 3.7 alpha 3 is the latest Firefox 3.7 build. Since Minefield a5pre is out, MozDev Preview 3.7 Alpha 4 will be released today or tommorow (goal 12/4/2010). This is the product that will eventually mature into Firefox 3.7. Download it here. --!-- This is a BRANCH release --!--

Mozilla Firefox 3.6.3 is the latest main release of Firefox. Download it here. --!-- This is a BRANCH release --!--

Keep up to date with the latest Mozilla Build information here:
Mozillazine Forums

--- YES. You can have all 3 builds on your system at once - but you cannot have them running simultaneously. ---

New 3.7a5pre Graphical Tab Interface


New 3.7 Alpha 3 Graphical Tab Interface


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Older information below. Translucency now removed.
Wow!

I've been testing Firefox 3.7 pre-alpha nightly trunk builds for the Firefox community for a few months now...
They're currently up to Firefox 3.7a4pre, and the first major UI change has appeared - translucency! Personally, I don't mind transparency, although window upon window of it makes it look horrible.

Minimized:
http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/7407/firefox37a4preminimized.png

Maximized:
http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/9226/firefox37a4prefull.png

Close up of the menu bar:
http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/1224/firefox37a4prebar.png

You can download Firefox 3.7a4pre here.
Just be sure to back up any necessary bookmarks or files, as this can crash regularly and at unexpected times. One release a few months back was completely unusable. Updates are released daily.
RAM usage seems reasonable, and it is just as fast as 3.6

Also note, the S@H website is rendered incorrectly when the browser is not fully maximized (the translucency extends through the whole page):
http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/8694/firefox37a4prerender.png

It's getting interesting!

Regards,
Luke.

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- Luke.

I am running 3.7a4 on my iMac and my Quad Windows machine and do not see the UI change yet on them.

Of course I do run different themes than the standard.

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With every version of FF I have tried, it gets slower and slower and slower the longer it is left open. Occasionally I just have to kill it to get responsiveness back.

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BOINC WIKI

I am running 3.7a4 on my iMac and my Quad Windows machine and do not see the UI change yet on them.

Of course I do run different themes than the standard.

Well, I don't think the UI has been updated for the Mac yet, and as for your Windows machine... it appears that the aero glass affect is only on Vista and 7.

Or you could have turned Aero off?

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- Luke.

I'm afraid I think that looks horrible (but then I have never liked background pictures anyway.) I hope we will be able to disable it if we wish.

I'm afraid I think that looks horrible (but then I have never liked background pictures anyway.) I hope we will be able to disable it if we wish.

The translucency is only in Vista & 7 so far - XP won't be supported for transluceny.

If you want to disable it, the only options are to turn of Aero or use a Persona (introduced in 3.6).

I'm sure the devs will include an on/off switch at some point.

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- Luke.

With every version of FF I have tried, it gets slower and slower and slower the longer it is left open. Occasionally I just have to kill it to get responsiveness back.

If you mean page loading, John - one way to speed up page loading is to type...

about:config

in the address bar and alter these entries:
Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true”
Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true”
Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to 10.

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- Luke.

With every version of FF I have tried, it gets slower and slower and slower the longer it is left open. Occasionally I just have to kill it to get responsiveness back.

If you mean page loading, John - one way to speed up page loading is to type...

about:config

in the address bar and alter these entries:
Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true”
Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true”
Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to 10.

I will try that, but what I meant is that at the beginning it is quite zippy. After a few hours it is extremely slow.

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BOINC WIKI

I am running 3.7a4 on my iMac and my Quad Windows machine and do not see the UI change yet on them.

Of course I do run different themes than the standard.

Well, I don't think the UI has been updated for the Mac yet, and as for your Windows machine... it appears that the aero glass affect is only on Vista and 7.

Or you could have turned Aero off?

First thing I disabled after starting up was aero, I don't need the affects and I use my ATI 5830 to crunch.

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I am running 3.7a4 on my iMac and my Quad Windows machine and do not see the UI change yet on them.

Of course I do run different themes than the standard.

Well, I don't think the UI has been updated for the Mac yet, and as for your Windows machine... it appears that the aero glass affect is only on Vista and 7.

Or you could have turned Aero off?

First thing I disabled after starting up was aero, I don't need the affects and I use my ATI 5830 to crunch.

Yep. LOL. That's the reason the Aero UI isn't displaying...

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- Luke.

As of last nights nightly trunk build - the Aero UI for Windows Vista & 7 has been removed. It now look like a standard 3.7a3pre build - perhaps they'll re-enable it in 3.7a5pre.

A few seconds after I opened the browser, I immediately noticed a bug - hovering over a bookmark will change the favicon background to black - the only way to gt rid of it is to close the bookmarks menu.

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- Luke.

Did a whole bunch of Acid3 tests today.

The latest Minefield nightly build scored 94/100.
Firefox 3.6.2 scores 92/100 in comparison. For a pre-alpha browser, that's fantastic.

Google Chrome 4.1.249.1045 score a total of 100/100! That should mean an Acid4 is in the works.

Internet Explorer 8 scores a total of 12/100. It looks horrible. Compatibility view worsens things and takes the rating down to a meager 6/100.

I don't test Safari since I refuse to use another Apple product. I'd like to know the Acid3 results for it...

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- Luke.

Did a whole bunch of Acid3 tests today.

The latest Minefield nightly build scored 94/100.
Firefox 3.6.2 scores 92/100 in comparison. For a pre-alpha browser, that's fantastic.

Google Chrome 4.1.249.1045 score a total of 100/100! That should mean an Acid4 is in the works.

Internet Explorer 8 scores a total of 12/100. It looks horrible. Compatibility view worsens things and takes the rating down to a meager 6/100.

I don't test Safari since I refuse to use another Apple product. I'd like to know the Acid3 results for it...

Safari on Mac scored a 100/100, FF 3.7a4 on Mac scored 94/100, Camino on Mac 72/100, Chrome on Mac scores 100/100.

Safari on Windows 7 scores a 100/100.

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I don't test Safari since I refuse to use another Apple product.

Use the Force, Luke! (You're simply pathetic! I used to know people like you, who swore by DOS…)

I don't test Safari since I refuse to use another Apple product.

Use the Force, Luke! (You're simply pathetic! I used to know people like you, who swore by DOS…)

I simply don't want to spend more money (alot more actually, considering how Apple prices their 'products') on gadgets and devices that you simply get locked into for two years - Apple decides what products you get to use and don't - Apple decides it's going to release annual revisions of it's products so consumers get locked into an upgrade cycle. Windows is open, Apple is closed. I don't need to go into the details of how smug most diehard Apple fanbois are either.

And by attacking the arguer (like you have done gracefully here) it only highlights what a lack of an argument you have.
Debating rule #1 : Attack the argument, not the arguer.

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- Luke.

Looks like 3.7a5 is out now, and transparency is back.

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You're lucky Arkayn. Still no transparency here - 3.7a5pre.

But, the latest nightly build included a new tabs on top feature. Right click and select "Tabs On Top".

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- Luke.

Downloaded and installed it after I read this string (all of it); seems to be working OK (for me, so far) on the iMac. Haven't tried downloading/installing on the laptop PC yet. I don't dare try putting it on the desktop PC (waaaaay too slow for it).

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Downloaded and installed it after I read this string (all of it); seems to be working OK (for me, so far).

LOL. Don't count on it. They don't call it "minefield" for nothin'. :)

Last 2 days worth of builds gave me the crash reporter when I clicked a video in YT.

Are you getting translucency?

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- Luke.

yes, I am

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