DailyTech - Mozilla Surges Ahead With Firefox 3.6 Beta 2

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Internet Mozilla Surges Ahead With Firefox 3.6 Beta 2
Jason Mick (Blog) - November 11, 2009 10:29 AM

11 comment(s) - last by Bravo16.. on Nov 12 at 5:34 AM

Firefox 3.6 Beta 2, running in Windows Vista

Second beta is more stable, fixes many minor problems

Firefox 3.6 brings a new version of the Gecko Rendering engine -- 1.9.2 -- which should make for faster page loads and snappier performance (Firefox 3.5 uses Gecko 1.9.1). Originally codenamed Namoroka, Firefox 3.6 finally aired in beta form after a couple delays at the end of last month. In our testing, the first beta crashed a lot, however, that may soon be remedied as Mozilla has just released Firefox 3.6 beta 2.

The second beta fixes a reported 190 major issues. Most of the issues revolve around responsiveness, crashes, or broken features. Among other things, the fixes help to improve the thumbnail preview, which is offered when you press Ctrl+Tab.

Speed in the new browser is improved in some areas, but still lags in others, reportedly. According to BetaNews, CSS and Javascript is faster in 3.6. However, the browser still lags behind Chrome 3/4 and Safari in the critical onLoad() event, which allows the browser to begin executing code while the remainder of the page downloads and renders.

Reportedly, the 3.6 beta 2 is also slower than Firefox 3.5.4 at standard page loads and loads of pages with HTML tables. Overall, the browser is more responsive and slightly faster, by feel.

If Firefox 3.6 beta 2 can deliver stability in the long term, Mozilla may have a winner on its hands. While Chrome, Opera, and Safari have all been faster than Firefox for some time now, many users prefer Firefox due to its interface and easy-to-use extensions. Still, with Chrome and Opera gaining ground, its important for Firefox to continue to deliver improvements.

You can download the new beta from here and try it for yourself.

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Good thing you remembered...

By iFX on 11/11/2009 10:32:40 AM , Rating: 3

... to disable Ad Block for your screen shot. That wouldn't have gone over too well with the boss? Think so?

RE: Good thing you remembered...

By the goat on 11/11/2009 11:57:37 AM , Rating: 3

Dailytech looks ugly with ads.

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RE: Good thing you remembered...

By Marlonsm on 11/11/2009 12:23:49 PM , Rating: 4

I've been using ABP for so long I didn't even know it has ads.

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RE: Good thing you remembered...

By cougar1701 on 11/11/09, Rating: 0

RE: Good thing you remembered...

By Nehemoth on 11/11/2009 3:23:58 PM , Rating: 2

Me too

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RE: Good thing you remembered...

By jithvk on 11/12/2009 12:14:49 AM , Rating: 2

i think he got lucky coz ad-block wont work with the beta version of 3.6

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Microsoft?

By MamiyaOtaru on 11/11/2009 10:39:53 AM , Rating: 3

"If Firefox 3.6 beta 2 can deliver stability in the long term, Microsoft may have a winner on its hands."

Might want to fix that.

Anyway, this is the same crap we hear with every new version of a program. "Overall, it's ... faster, by feel". Sure. Slower in benchmarks, but somehow faster. Like every version of everything, ever (Qt4, I'm looking at you)

RE: Microsoft?

By Seth174 on 11/11/2009 10:41:11 AM , Rating: 2

darn it was just going to post on that!

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RE: Microsoft?

By maugrimtr on 11/11/2009 11:00:21 AM , Rating: 2

Benchmarks rely on standardised tests - the real web can be a lot different with far more in the way of simpler pages, and varying degrees of javascript/css heavy rendering. So measuring "by feel" is actually not a completely useless assessment. And 3.6 does feel snappier in my opinion. Not as snappy as Chrome/Safari but I have problems beyond performance with those - in particular Safari's UI is a torment and its search box overwrites my typed terms with suggestions way too easily. Firefox might be slightly slower but it's UI remains well ahead and who can beat it's extensions?

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