Firefox 4.0
Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. As of March 2011, Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 30% of worldwide usage share of web browsers. The browser has had particular success in Germany and Poland, where it is the most popular browser with 60% usage and 47% [update] respectively.
To display web pages, Firefox uses the Gecko layout engine, which implements most current web standards in addition to several features that are intended to anticipate likely additions to the standards.
The latest Firefox features include tabbed browsing, spell checking, incremental find, live bookmarking, a download manager, private browsing, location-aware browsing (also known as "geolocation") based exclusively on a Google service and an integrated search system that uses Google by default in most localizations. Functions can be added through extensions, created by third-party developers, of which there is a wide selection, a feature that has attracted many of Firefox's users.
Firefox runs on various operating systems including Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, and many other platforms. Its current stable release is version 5.0, released on June 21, 2011.Firefox's source code is tri-licensed under the GNU GPL, GNU LGPL, or Mozilla Public License
The Firefox project began as an experimental branch of the Mozilla project by Dave Hyatt, Joe Hewitt and Blake Ross. They believed the commercial requirements of Netscape's sponsorship and developer-driven feature creep compromised the utility of the Mozilla browser. To combat what they saw as the Mozilla Suite's software bloat, they created a stand-alone browser, with which they intended to replace the Mozilla Suite. On April 3, 2003, the Mozilla Organization announced that they planned to change their focus from the Mozilla Suite to Firefox and Thunderbird.
Early versions
The Firefox project has undergone several name changes. Originally titled Phoenix, it was renamed because of trademark issues with Phoenix Technologies. The replacement name, Firebird, provoked an intense response from the Firebird free database software project. In response, the Mozilla Foundation stated that the browser should always bear the name Mozilla Firebird
to avoid confusion with the database software. After further pressure
from the database server's development community, on February 9, 2004,
Mozilla Firebird became Mozilla Firefox, often referred to as simply Firefox. Mozilla prefers that Firefox be abbreviated as Fx or fx, though it is often abbreviated as FF.
The Firefox project went through many versions before 1.0 was released
on November 9, 2004. After a series of stability and security fixes,
the Mozilla Foundation released its first major update, Firefox version
1.5, on November 29, 2005. Firefox 1.5.0.12 is the final version
officially supported under Windows 95.
Version 2.0
Main article: Firefox 2
On October 24, 2006, Mozilla released Firefox 2. This version includes updates to the tabbed browsing environment; the extensions manager; the GUI (Graphical User Interface); and the find, search and software update engines; a new session restore feature; inline spell checking; and an anti-phishing feature which was implemented by Google as an extension, and later merged into the program itself. In December 2007, Firefox Live Chat was launched. It allows users to ask volunteers questions through a system powered by Jive Software, with guaranteed hours of operation and the possibility of help after hours. Firefox 2.0.0.20 is the final version which can run under an unmodified installation of Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98, and Windows ME.[citation needed]
Version 3.0
Main article: Firefox 3
Firefox 3 was released on June 17, 2008, by the Mozilla Corporation. Firefox 3 uses version 1.9 of the Mozilla Gecko layout engine for displaying web pages. This version fixes many bugs, improves standard compliance, and implements new web APIs.
Other new features include a redesigned download manager, a new
"Places" system for storing bookmarks and history, and separate themes for different operating systems. The latest version under 3.0 is Firefox 3.0.19.
Development stretches back to the first Firefox 3 beta (under the codename 'Gran Paradiso') which had been released several months earlier on 19 November 2007, and was followed by several more beta releases in spring 2008 culminating in the June release. Firefox 3 had more than 8 million unique downloads the day it was released, setting a Guinness World Record.
Version 3.5
Main article: Firefox 3.5
Version 3.5, codenamed Shiretoko,
adds a variety of new features to Firefox. Initially numbered Firefox
3.1, Mozilla developers decided to change the numbering of the release
to 3.5, in order to reflect a significantly greater scope of changes
than originally planned. The final release was on June 30, 2009. The changes included much faster performance thanks to an upgrade to SpiderMonkey JavaScript engine called TraceMonkey and rendering improvements, and support for the
Version 3.6
Main article: Firefox 3.6
Version 3.6 (latest version 3.6.18) is the release codenamed Namoroka. Development for this version started on December 1, 2008, and it was released on January 21, 2010. This release uses the Gecko 1.9.2 rendering engine.
New features for Firefox 3.6 include built-in support for Personas (toolbar skins), notification of out-of-date plugins, full screen playback of Theora video, support for the WOFF open webfont format, a more secure plugin system, and many performance improvements.
Out-of-process plug-ins
One minor update to Firefox 3.6, version 3.6.4 (code-named Lorentz) features "Crash Protection"(also called out-of-process plug-ins, or OOPP), which isolates
execution of plug-ins such as Adobe's Flash or Apple's QuickTime into a
separate process, preventing a plug-in crash from bringing down the
whole browser.
In the initial release only 3 plug-ins were isolated by default:
Adobe Flash Player, Apple Quicktime, and Microsoft Silverlight, and the
feature was available only in the Windows and Linux builds. Mac OS X
10.6 support was added in Firefox 4. Firefox 3.6.6 increased the amount
of time a plug-in is allowed to be unresponsive to the point before the
plug-in would quit.
Starting with Lorentz, Mozilla plans to release non-intrusive
changes as minor updates that previously included only stability and
security fixes.
Version 4.0
Main article: Firefox 4
Released on March 22, 2011, Firefox 4 was codenamed "Tumucumaque".
It has brought a new user interface and is said to be faster. Early mockups of the new interface on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux were first made available in July 2009. Other features include improved notifications, tab groups, application tabs, a redesigned add-on manager, integration with Firefox Sync, and support for multitouch displays.
On October 13, 2006, Brendan Eich, Mozilla's Chief Technology Officer,
wrote about the plans for "Mozilla 2", referring to the most
comprehensive iteration (since its creation) of the overall platform on
which Firefox and other Mozilla products run. Most of the objectives were gradually incorporated into Firefox through
versions 3.0, 3.5, and 3.6. The largest changes, however, were planned
for Firefox 4.
Firefox 4 is based on the Gecko 2.0 engine, which adds or improves support for HTML5, CSS3, WebM, and WebGL. Also, it includes a new JavaScript engine (JägerMonkey) and better XPCOM APIs.
Version 5.0
Main article: History_of_Firefox#Version_5.0
Firefox 5 is currently the latest stable release. It was released on June 21, 2011,
only three months after the major release of Firefox 4. Firefox 5 is
the first release as part of Mozilla's new rapid release plan, matching
Google Chrome's rapid release schedule and rapid version number
increments.
Firefox for mobile
Main article: Firefox for mobile
Firefox for mobile, codenamed Fennec, is a web browser for smaller non-PC devices, mobile phones and PDAs. It was first released for the Nokia Maemo operating system (specifically the Nokia N900) on January 28, 2010. Version 4 for Android and Maemo was released on March 29, 2011. The browser's version number was bumped from version 2 to version 4 to
more closely match desktop releases of Firefox since the rendering
engines used in both browsers are the same.[69]
The user interface is completely redesigned and optimized for small
screens, the controls are hidden away so that only the web content is
shown on screen, and it uses touchscreen
interaction methods. It includes the Awesomebar, tabbed browsing,
Add-on support, password manager, location-aware browsing, and the
ability to synchronize with the user's computer Firefox browser using Firefox Sync.
Future versions
A draft roadmap indicates that Mozilla hopes to release versions 6
and 7 in 2011 following the release of Firefox 5 in June 2011. These
versions will be smaller incremental updates, primarily focusing on
improving speed, stability and security.
Komentar
Posting Komentar
please comment: