In case you missed it, the next version of Firefox was released yesterday morning. While version 4.0 has been in “beta” for quite some time now, this is now the full release version. It includes some interesting new features, such as:
- moving tabs to the top of the window (not an aesthetic that I particularly like, but somebody may)
- a unified stop/reload button
- “App tabs” - for pages/sites you always keep open
- “Switch to Tab” – great for those who keep about 50 tabs open at any given time, when you enter something in the URL bar that’s already loaded, this goes to the already-opened tab, rather than spawning a new one.
- “Panorama” – Another one for “tab junkies.” Allows you to drag and drop tabs into groups, helping you keep things a little more organized.
- There’s also improved HTML 5 support and other “under the hood” changes.
Even though I, personally, tend to stick with Safari for the vast majority of my Web browsing, I still keep an updated copy of Firefox handy; every so often, I’ll find a site that pitches a fit over Safari, yet handles Firefox just fine. However, on the two virtual machines (Windows 7 and Ubuntu Linux) I have on my MacBook Pro, Firefox is the main browser I use.
Many other people I know—both Mac and Windows users—use Firefox almost exclusively. Its popularity and cross-platform compatibility are just two good reasons to at least keep a copy around.
You can get the latest version at the Firefox Web site. While the latest version doesn’t appear to be supported on PowerPC-based machines, you should be able to get the previous version on the same page. Firefox seemed to render complex pages faster than Safari under 10.5 on a PPC Mac, so grabbing Version 3.6.15 may be a good option for you if you have a PowerBook or PowerMac still in regular use.
Four years ago today, Web users everywhere that were looking to escape from the mediocrity of Internet Explorer were treated to the official release of a new browser, 