Firefox 3.1 Beta2 out

Didzi · 8 Dec 2008 at 17:04

firefox 3.1 beta 2

Is now available via mozilla's ftp (not a nightly build)

Download page (below) should update soon

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html

dante6491 · 8 Dec 2008 at 17:53

That link still says beta1

gillywibble · 8 Dec 2008 at 18:06

Get it here.

Didzi · 8 Dec 2008 at 18:10

dante6491 said:
That link still says beta1

Thats why I typed "Download page (below) should update soon"

dante6491 · 8 Dec 2008 at 19:30

Hnmmm so you did. Tried it out and well, meh. Seems like the previous version. Hotmail still doesn't work. Pages load quick. I will try it out again when it's actually released.

mrk · 8 Dec 2008 at 23:29

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/3.1b2/releasenotes/

Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 is based on the Gecko 1.9.1 rendering platform, which has been under development for the past 7 months. Gecko 1.9.1 is an incremental release on the previous version with significant changes to improve web compatibility, performance, and ease of use:

* This beta is now available in 54 languages - get your local version.
* Added a new Private Browsing Mode.
* Added functions to make it easy to clear recent history by time as well as remove all traces of a website.
* New support for web worker threads.
* The new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine is on by default for web content.
* Improvements to the Gecko layout engine, including speculative parsing for faster content rendering.
* Removed the new tab-switching behavior based on feedback from users
* Support for new web technologies such as the <video> and <audio> elements, the W3C Geolocation API, JavaScript query selectors, CSS 2.1 and 3 properties, SVG transforms and offline applications. More information.

Running all good here, all extensions working, feels a bit snappier over B1 too?

Also 93/100 on Acid 3.

SimonC · 9 Dec 2008 at 09:32

I take it this would install over 3.04?

tolien · 9 Dec 2008 at 10:34

If you chose to - more importantly, by default it'll use the same profile. You really want to use a new profile (instructions here) and choose between them by appending -P [profile name] when you start Firefox. There's a guide here.

Nothing too untoward should happen if you use the same one though. There hasn't been as many significant changes as, say, 2.0 -> 3.0.

SimonC · 9 Dec 2008 at 13:44

tolien said:
If you chose to - more importantly, by default it'll use the same profile. You really want to use a new profile (instructions here) and choose between them by appending -P [profile name] when you start Firefox. There's a guide here.

Nothing too untoward should happen if you use the same one though. There hasn't been as many significant changes as, say, 2.0 -> 3.0.

Nice one cheers for the info.

During setup will it say about installing over a previous version or would I have to manually change it to a different install folder?

tumtums · 9 Dec 2008 at 14:12

I haven't used it I'll wait until it comes out of beta but I'm looking forward to the new javascript engine.
Gmail feels like a desktop application right now, should be even quicker when this is released.
<3 mozilla

tolien · 9 Dec 2008 at 17:50

SimonC said:
During setup will it say about installing over a previous version or would I have to manually change it to a different install folder?

You'll have to select custom install (IIRC) and point it at the different install folder.

Nymins · 9 Dec 2008 at 19:40

Pretty cool. Private browsing is basically the incognito (sp?) feature in Chrome. Feels quicker here too.

bonzo · 12 Dec 2008 at 23:04

I got the Beta 2 update and Download Helper is now missing and Moz say that it isnt available for Beta 2

I was peed off, so went on the hunt to download the previous beta - cant find it !

Gutted :mad:

Still have to keep a version of IE just to open Hotmail emails , too

tolien · 12 Dec 2008 at 23:57

bonzo said:
I got the Beta 2 update and Download Helper is now missing and Moz say that it isnt available for Beta 2

You mean the extension author hasn't checked it's compatible and increased the MaxVersion. It's got nothing to do with Mozilla, and you can override the compatibility check, though if you mean Video DownloadHelper, it's compatible with up to 3.1b2...

You can download 3.1b1 from here. There's no en-GB localisation.

SimonC · 13 Dec 2008 at 10:19

tolien said:
If you chose to - more importantly, by default it'll use the same profile. You really want to use a new profile (instructions here) and choose between them by appending -P [profile name] when you start Firefox. There's a guide here.

Nothing too untoward should happen if you use the same one though. There hasn't been as many significant changes as, say, 2.0 -> 3.0.

Cool, cheers for the links/info got it installed no problems.

gillywibble · 13 Dec 2008 at 12:44

mrk said:
Running all good here, all extensions working, feels a bit snappier over B1 too?

Also 93/100 on Acid 3.

Why am I only getting 71? No colours are appearing at all.

tolien · 13 Dec 2008 at 12:54

Extensions? Though you'd have to be doing something spectacularly wrong to lose 22 points.

You are actually running 3.1b2?

gillywibble · 13 Dec 2008 at 13:10

tolien said:
You are actually running 3.1b2?

I did install it, honest.

bonzo · 13 Dec 2008 at 13:40

tolien said:
You mean the extension author hasn't check it's compatible and increased the MaxVersion. It's got nothing to do with Mozilla, and you can override the compatibility check, though if you mean Video DownloadHelper, it's up to 3.1b2...

You can download 3.1b1 from here. There's no en-GB localisation.

Thanks Mr T

Sorted !