Firefox 4 Beta 1 Now Available for Download
Mozilla has announced that Firefox 4 Beta 1 is now ready for download and at the same time revealed some details about the newest iteration of the popular browser.
Windows users will notice a big change in interface design, which, among other things, has tabs located along the top by default. There's also a new Add-Ons Manager, which affords more space to managing add-ons, themes and plugins. Firefox 4 Beta 1 brings support for HTML5 and WebM, improvements to privacy, crash protection, and a boost in performance when it comes to start-up and page-load times.
Features expected in the future include the ability to sync your settings, passwords, bookmarks, history, open tabs and other customizations across multiple devices; better privacy controls; yet more improvements to performance; and the same themes for OS X and Linux.
Mozilla's Mike Beltzner warns that not everything in this release will make the final cut but, as always, the best way to ensure your favorite features are included is to get in on the Beta and provide feedback to that effect. FF4B1 even includes a Feedback add-on to make it easier to send in your likes and dislikes.
Download Firefox 4 Beta 1 for Linux, Windows or OSX here and let us know what you think are the biggest and most important improvements.
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not bad .. i still like chrome more
Chrome all the way. Firefox doesn't work well on my 64 bit Win7
I hope they will change the interface. I totally dislike it
I like that they're adding new features, while still allowing you to use the previous features, ex.) the location of the tabs. They've got the right idea.
Chrome all the way. Firefox doesn't work well on my 64 bit Win7
Yeah i agree. 3.6 crashes often and memory leak. But they siad 4.0 will officially support 64bit, so im so looking forward to this one. But...disappointed
Could I lose my bookmarks if I instruct my Mac to replace Firefox 3.6 with Firefox 4 ?
wow, it looks like they just jacked the UI from google
it's still just a beta you whiners. submit a recomendation if you want changes.
Lame lame lame! I downloaded the beta on 7/2/10. Way to go guys, nothing like timely news. Maybe it wasn't posted on their website, but it sure as shit was on their FTP.
I hope they will change the interface. I totally dislike it
A dev said it will be possible to use the old fashioned interface.
The interface is slow.
Chrome beta is light years ahead in all aspects.
OMG, a firefox article without the firefox chick? WTF!?!?
Joking aside, there's just one thing i don't like about firefox, it just feels 'heavy', besides that, together with Chrome, there's nothing better out there.
mozilla ... way to chromify firefox
AArrrrggghhh looks as ugly as windows media player 10.
Hope they fixed the GCC4.5.0 slowness in 3.6.0.
How is the Java & flash hard drive r*pe bug doing fixed or not ?
Chrome all the way. Firefox doesn't work well on my 64 bit Win7
LOL what does work on Win7 ?
LOL what does work on Win7 ?
pretty much every software I use runs seamlessly on win7, whats your point?
yay! Looks like chrome and I love chrome but I like firefox too. I'll be trying this out.
Nah, i'll wait until i HAVE to update, or at least until more than a small fraction of my add-ons are supported. Don't much care for the new default interface. The title bar is a major waste of space
if they havent fixed the flash crash
then im sorry they need to be doing that more so, im staying with 3.6.3 still cause the latest and others crash 90% on most flash... I dont mind the new one i was testing 3.7 and it was really nice i think pretty quick and a lot less ram, but alas still had the flash problem which takes down the whole broswer so i dont know were there protection crash stuff... doesnt work here 
I like chrome and it's a smart move from Mozilla to get Firefox back on the competitive edge with this new interface change. I'd definitely try this out. I hope they improve the load times and startup times further as the current firefox seems a bit bulky when compared to chrome.
If that picture is from the beta then FF's skin looks a lot like Opera. See picture: http://img819.imageshack.us/img819 [...] eopera.png
And wheres the firefox girl?
I can't wait to go back to my beloved browser!
I will wait for it to become official. I am going to say for the record, I have used Firefox under windows Vista 64 and 7 64 on several systems without the above mentioned issues.
For everyone complaining about it looking like Chrome, its pretty simple to change back to the 3.6 layout.
Simply click the orange Firefox box on top, customize, then menu bar.
If you want tabs on the bottom, customize then tabs on bottom. (If you have the menu bar, go view toolbars, tabs on bottom.)
Those simple changes make it look almost identical to 3.6.
Get rid of the ugly orange button! Follow this link to make it MUCH prettier.
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/ [...] utton-css/
You can also add the following to the same file to make the bookmark bar much more friendly (more space between links).
#personal-bookmarks toolbarbutton {
padding: 0px 6px 0px 6px !important;
}
Opera 10.60 is a very good. I like this browser war. Can't wait to see Firefox 4.0 as a final. My two favorite browsers
I initially liked the look of the new interface... one button to rule them all... then I tried to minimize the window. Fail! Cant close minimize or maximize quickly means the new interface is a waste of time. Plus go to add ons manager and check the themes... mine says "default 4.01b Incompatible with firefox 4.01b" PHAIL!!
You can set the tab bar to below the address bar (that feature was on the nightlies a week or two ago).
Been using this for two days now; it's quite stable and functional for a beta. Shame only Adblock and Noscript works though.
You forgot the Firefox girl.
I guess you wanted me to read the article for a change.
Tested it using SunSpider and compared it with Chrome 6 DEV.Chrome is 1.87 times faster than FF 4 beta 1 which is in turn 1.37 times faster than FF 3.6.6.It does start up way faster than 3.6.6 which is the browser that I currently use.