The Firefox folks recently announced that Aurora is here and has been updated to Firefox 6 Alpha 2. They also recently released Firefox 5 into the wild as a beta. Firefox have recently claimed to have three builds in the production stream at any given team which could be in response to the crazyness that is the release schedule of Chrome.
So what does this all mean for Firefox users?
It means that Firefox 4 is now considered stable and Firefox 5 is the next line from the team behind Mozilla. If you want to get a bit crazy while you browse, the team is now offering nightlies for your hacking/testing desires.
While Firefox 6 Alpha is an extremely early build, it does already have some new features to look out for. Firefox 6 Alpha includes enhanced HTML5 support, new features for Panorama, a better add-ons manager, and a revamped permissions manager that aims to help you manage your privacy better than ever before.
If you are a web developer there are some goodies around Javascript testing etc. Something to look out for.
Will you move from Chrome back to FF? Are you a beta tester? Alpha?
Interested in trying out the Alpha release or even the latest beta of 5? Well get your butts over to the development page and download them here.
I have the FF5 Beta and Chrome 11 on a Mac. In my opinion, they are really almost tied. I can’t tell a speed difference, and I can customize both with all the add-ons I need. Back before Chrome, I used FF. Once Chrome came out, I switched after trying it, and recently started back with FF for a while.
At the moment, I’m using Chrome. The OmniBar and the sandboxed tabs (or whatever it’s called) are the two features I would need in Firefox to really switch back. FF has a plug in for the omnibar, but every update I have to wait for another update for the plug in (and I don’t feel like code hacking to make it work). Chrome also “feels” lighter. Probably the interface.
Browsers are so personal! Two features for me, and it makes a difference.
Agreed totally. Chrome still misses one thing for me to fully fully use it. Tabs Mix Plus. I want to open my bookmarks in a new tab without having to middle click. Not the best on my MacBook pro.
Agreed. I like Chrome a lot; it’s the first really new browser experience to come out in a while. I really like FF for the extensions – which often break with every big update. I mean, I just found a cool extension the other day that required FF 3!
Interested, but I’ll wait for a bit. Chrome & Safari 5 are great for testing new HTML 5 & CSS3 stuff.
I was a very loyal FF user until about six months ago when I toyed with Chrome and stuck with it. I’d love to go back to FF but right now Chrome has me satisfied.