Firefox update boasts a 20 percent speed increase

Mozilla has released version 3.6 of the Firefox browser, which addresses a number of bugs and adds some new features to the browser. In addition, it refines the code, bringing about a 20 percent increase in speed over the prior version of the browser.

Firefox has additional support for the latest DOM and HTML5 specifications, allowing for more interactive web pages and compatibility with websites that make use of the latest specifications. Additionally, new CSS styles have been added, including gradients, background sizing, and pointer events (I am eager to see background sizing implemented in all browsers). They have also been tackling the relatively slow javascript performance (when compared to Chrome and Safari), and have boosted its performance as well as the overall browser responsiveness.

Lastly, they have added a new feature called "Personas", which make it easy to apply new themes and other appearance attributes with a single click. While more aesthetic than functionally significant, people who like customizing their browser may find Personas to be rather appealing.

This is the last expected full version update to Firefox for some time to come, since Mozilla has changed their development schedule and has removed Firefox 3.7 from its expected release date sometime in the second quarter of this year. The next Firefox release should be expected sometime later this year, or even next year. Meanwhile, Mozilla will continue to release updates to Firefox 3.6 as is needed.

If you have not used Firefox, you can download it for Mac, Windows, and Linux from the Mozilla website: http://www.firefox.com.

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