PortableApps.com is proud to announce the release of Mozilla Firefox®, Portable Edition 4.0 Beta 3 in English, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese Brazilian, Russian, Spanish, Spanish International, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. It's the latest beta of the upcoming 4.0 version of the Mozilla Firefox browser bundled with a PortableApps.com launcher as a portable app, so you can take your browser, bookmarks, settings and extensions on the go. This release updates Firefox to the current beta version and has an improved launcher. The 4.0 Beta 4 Pre Minefield Portable package has also been posted which automatically downloads and configures the latest nightly build of the upcoming Beta 4 release. It's packaged in PortableApps.com Format so it can easily integrate with the PortableApps.com Suite. And, as always, it's open source and completely free.
PortableApps.com Platform 2.0 Beta 5 users who already have either app installed, simply click 'Check for Updates' in your PA.c Menu to update to the new version.
Mozilla®, Firefox® and the Firefox logo are registered trademarks of the Mozilla Foundation and are used under license.
Features
Mozilla Firefox is a fast, full-featured web browser that's easy to use. It has lots of great features including popup-blocking, tabbed-browsing, integrated search, improved privacy features, automatic updating and more. Plus, thanks to the PortableApps.com launcher bundled in the Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition, it leaves no personal information behind on the machine you run it on, so you can take your favorite browser along with all your favorite bookmarks and extensions with you wherever you go. Learn more about Mozilla Firefox...
New In Firefox 4.0
- Tabs are now on top by default on Windows only - OSX and Linux will be changing when the theme has been modified to support the change.
- On Windows Vista and Windows 7 the menu bar has been replaced with the Firefox button.
- You can search for and switch to already open tabs in the Smart Location Bar
- New Addons Manager and extension management API (UI will be changed before final release)
- Significant API improvements are available for JS-ctypes, a foreign function interface for extensions.
- The stop and reload buttons have been merged into a single button on Windows, Mac and Linux.
- The Bookmarks Toolbar has been replaced with a Bookmarks Button by default (you can switch it back if you'd like).
- Crash protection for Windows, Linux, and Mac when there is a crash in the Adobe Flash, Apple Quicktime or Microsoft Silverlight plugins.
- CSS Transitions are partially supported.
- Full WebGL support is included but disabled by default at this time.
- Core Animation rendering model for plugins on Mac OS X. Plugins which also support this rendering model can now draw faster and more efficiently.
- Native support for the HD HTML5 WebM video format.
- An experimental Direct2D rendering backend is available on Windows, turned off by default.
- Web developers can use Websockets for a low complexity, low latency, bidirectional communications API.
- Web developers can update the URL field without reloading the page using HTML History APIs.
- More responsive page rendering using lazy frame construction.
- Link history lookup is done asynchronously to provide better responsiveness during pageload.
- CSS :visited selectors have been changed to block websites from being able to check a user's browsing history.
- New HTML5 parser.
- Support for more HTML5 form controls.
PortableApps.com Installer / PortableApps.com Format
Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition is packaged in a PortableApps.com Installer so it will automatically detect an existing PortableApps.com installation when your drive is plugged in. And it's in PortableApps.com Format, so it automatically works with the PortableApps.com Suite including the Menu and Backup Utility.
Download
Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition is available for immediate download from the Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 4.0 Beta 3 homepage. Minefield Portable 4.0 Beta 4 Pre is on the same page. Get it today!
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Comments
I think its funny how
ever since Chrome came out, all the other browsers are now switching to a tab - only interface (no titlebar).
Why?
I also think its funny how now Chrome is at 6.x version and has been out like half the time.
Weird.
It's to reduce the amount of
It's to reduce the amount of space the browser takes up, and to have more room for the actual web page. This was a quote from Mozilla.
None of the browsers are trying to copy chrome's design (okay, maybe Safari). It was just a step ahead into the future.
Saying Firefox copied chrome is like saying Microsoft, Gnome, and KDE copied Apple's idea to create a GUI for computers.
Chrome is actually still at 5x.
Chrome is actually still at
Chrome is actually still at 5x.
Well, I was including the beta
Inflation
Higher (inflated) version numbers doesn't mean an application is more advanced, or even "better".
I know...
and I didn't say so
"I just think its funny"
I personally can see almost no difference between new versions, unlike Firefox, or even IE.
fox4
what i think is funny is that all these idiot developers that haven't left their bedrooms in 20 years and have no idea what the average person is like , think that what we all really want is for all of our browser functions to be taken away from us and hidden so we have to click and scroll through menu after menu to get anything done
your average everyday user that knows nothing about computers is going to be absolutely lost with the new generation of browsers and their overwhelming menu system ..... things like browser themeing and customization are a thing of the past. no one will be able to figure out how to use their browser to the point that people will hold onto fox3 for the next ten years even though it will be a huge security risk for them. we are going to see a huge rise in viruses due to the fact that everyone will be resisting the change to the new browser style
have you talked to mozilla?
ask them what they were thinking, tell them your problems, ask for what you want to be implemented...
Different doesn't always mean worse. It just takes time to get used to...
Do you not realize this is
Do you not realize this is the result of a bunch of complaints and feature requests from users? If you actually use the Firefox 4 Betas for more than a minute, you would realize Mozilla is actively trying to collect user info.
The AppMenu/AppButton is simplifying the Firefox browser. Compare it to the old Menu bar? Which one do you think will be easier to use for the average new computer user?
Which users do you think
typically go to the trouble of a) being interested in improving something as technological as a web browser, b)knowing there's actually someone to give input to c) believing someone will listen d) finding out how and where to submit that input, d) actually going through the hassle of really *doing* it and e) doing it in a way that developers will and can actually take in and listen to?
My answer: Not average joe users. Not tech savvy users with a lot to do. But *interested* tech savvy users with time and/or resources on their hands, plus a dedicated interest, i. e. rather a lot of tech savvy youth.
If someone has figures, they would be interesting to see.
Indicative stat's on the beta welcome page already,
...saying:
"Who knew? Our beta users are 96% male. Less than a quarter of you were alive when the US put a man on the moon. And most use the internet to communicate. So…why not communicate a bit and help us get newbies testing Firefox?! We need feedback from women, non-techies and people who spend less time online, like baristas, elephant trainers, teachers, surfers or acupuncturists… Tell your friends!"
fox4
well i just tested beta3 ... it's not as horrible as beta 1 , it took me 5 minutes to figure out how to get it back to an almost traditional look ... except for the horribly ugly transparency in windows 7 ....... i mean this sincerely has anyone in their life sat there thinking , hey you know what would be cool , if my desktop clutter could show through my browser so i could see a pile of trash the whole time im online , yeah thats it ... instead of being able to clearly read my browser buttons , i want to have to squint at them to be able to see them through my desktop clutter ..
how is this a good feature ? and how do you turn it off ? there needs to be a button that says "TURN OFF TRANSPARENCY" ... it's ugly , and it's distracting
i still dont see me switching to fox 4 until the default layout is to look the same as it used to
Let It Go
It's not us changing it, it's the Mozilla devs. And they're doing it in response to user demand. Every single browser will use aero glass transparency on Windows Vista and up. And nearly every browser is minimizing layout to maximize viewing area. You can always install a custom theme (something you can't do in other browsers). Complaining in here won't change anything (we don't make Firefox or have any control over design decisions).
Looks good
The new Firefox looks good. I'm impressed. It finally looks better then IE.
The "built-in" Update Firefox Feature Keeps...
... braking my portable installation. Why God?! Why?!
Guess I'll just have to stick with Beta 3... Doh! Beta 5 is available now!
Beta 5: it doesn't seem to be much fun :-(
Just FYI, there's a feedback thingy in it. It doesn't work:
"
Forbidden (403)
CSRF verification failed. Request aborted.
More information is available with DEBUG=True.
"
Accessing Mozilla's Bugzilla also doesn't work (keeps loading indefinitely, giving "Please wait while your bugs are retrieved.").
And Nightly Tester Tools (of all things!) doesn't work, and can't be updated. (Just try clicking "Update" in the new and frizzy addon dialogue, and experience nothing happening, not even an indication of whether something didn't work or did work but led to no result).
Oh, and the "Reload" button disappears when viewing some web pages. And quite a few other silly things.
Now I'm wondering if this only happens to the portable version, or to the portable version after getting updated.