Firefox 9 beta reaches desktop and Android

Mozilla quickly followed on a completed Firefox 8 by posting Firefox 9 in the beta channel for both the desktop and Android. On the desktop, the interface is now designed to blend in with Mac OS X Lion and properly supports two-finger scrolling as well as multiple displays. Speed is also a focus through a faster, inference-supporting JavaScript engine and the ability to break XML web requests into pieces to make a complex web page load faster.

Tablet changes are focused the most on the interface It now has a completely revamped look optimized for the larger screen that puts tabs on the side with thumbnails, not unlike Android 3's own multitasking pane, but with room for a full web page on the right. The interface now allows for full-screen browsing in any orientation. An action bar collapses features that were otherwise spread out through the interface into a single area.

Subtler Android optimizations let HTML5 grab input from the camera and automatically validate HTML5 form fields.

The desktop betas should be available for Linux, Mac, and Windows users at the same time. Getting the full effect of the Android improvements needs at least Android 3.0.

By Electronista Staff