Firefox 3.1b2 is here - faster javascript, still no private browsing

Filed under: Internet, Mozilla, Freeware, Beta, Browsers

Firefox 3.1b2 is here - faster javascript, still no private browsing

by Lee Mathews Oct 14th 2008

If you're anxiously waiting for the arrival of Firefox 3.1, you may want to sit tight. While the 3.1b2 is now available in the nightly builds, you probably don't need to make the jump just yet - unless you're looking for speedier javascript processing.

The changes that are included are a good start, and bode well for the final release of 3.1. The improved ctrl+tab switching looks and functions well, and the new TraceMonkey javascript engine provides a nice performance boost. You'll have to activate it yourself by opening about:config and setting the javascript.options.jit.content boolean to true.

A quick comparison on acid3.acidtests.org revealed a score of 90 in 3.1b2 versus a 71 in 3.0.3 - a gain of about about 27%. Not too shabby!

Also included in the build is the geolocation function Mozilla introduced with the previously reviewed Geode addon, which simplifies the delivery of location-specific web content.

Notably absent from the build are the highly anticipated private browsing feature (can we please stop calling it "porn mode"?) and smart session restore. If you're waiting for them, you'll have to be patient a bit longer. On a good note, none of my addons failed to work after installing the upgrade.

Betaphiles, stay tuned to the nightly builds on Mozilla's FTP server for the latest releases.

Tags: beta, firefox, firefox 3.1, Firefox3.1, minefield

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

clay said 9:54PM on 10-14-2008

how stable is the build?

Jon said 9:57PM on 10-14-2008

Any difference w/ this and Minefield ?

Christopher Finke said 12:39AM on 10-15-2008

Technically, the nightly builds are still 3.1b2pre.

Damian said 1:10AM on 10-15-2008

Here's the private browsing bug:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=248970

You can test the new session restore by typing in to the address bar: about:sessionrestore (well you can on the nightly, I assume it's the same for the b2 branch).

I find the nightlies relatively stable, there's been 2 or 3 builds that crashed a fair bit on me but for the most part it's been a fairly stable run (code changes aren't nearly as massive or fundamental as 2 -> 3)

Sabretooth said 3:51AM on 10-15-2008

Only Adblock is working for me. Browser itself is great; very fast and the javascript is blazing! Still, won't be using it till I get all the extensions working...

fabbaz said 4:22AM on 10-15-2008

please don't get me wrong, i really like firefox and like using firefox, but what i read here is absurd. whoever is programming the firefox and chose to include a ctrl-tab tab switcher obviously has no idea and never understood what firefox is supposed to be about. did you notice that there is an area below your adressbar and bookmarks where the program shows you random names of strange pages? well dude, try to click one. dude - tab bar, tab bar - this is dude. is there any more need for another tabswitcher?
oh most certainly, a keyboard shortcut is necessary to switch through those tabs! ctrl-pagedown, ctrl-pageup, i want you to meet dude. "hey dude!" "whazzup!"
now for those thinking a ctrl-tab is pretty - SO WHAT THE HULK? did you know that mozilla actually has a website where optional enhancements can be downloaded and installed? of course, if this is mozillas browser, they can do whatever they want with it, so just bloat it up until it nicely fits the vista experience, but it just wont make it a better browser.
someone should go there and clean the "opera's cool" from the firefox project whiteboard...

of course this is just one little feature and wont blow the program size up high, but this is the kind of development that just directly leads there.

Jash Sayani said 6:23AM on 10-15-2008

Wow.. I like the black TabSwitcher... What plug-in is it..?

Damian said 7:03AM on 10-15-2008

Jash Sayani: Just press crtl + tab in Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 or higher, or drag and drop the "all tabs" button from the customize toolbar window to somewhere where you can use it.

fabbaz: Visual preview of tab is useful for people. They've created a new event called MozAfterPaint which fires off notifications of when a specific part of a page changes, this allows the tab preview to have almost no performance impact on Firefox (old tab preview extensions looked for dom mutation and slowed down Firefox performance slightly).

fabbaz said 7:49AM on 10-15-2008

that IS my point. it is _useful_ to some, but not _necessary_ for any.
firefox should deliver the necessary, the useful should be taken care of by plugins.

James said 10:01AM on 10-15-2008

So the Awesome Bar should have been an extension, not default functionality?

HERESY!

Fernando said 3:01PM on 10-26-2008

You can still disable it via about:config, hope they keep it until the final. Ctrl+tab works faster without the preview, less confusing too.

Samuel said 7:31AM on 10-15-2008

I think they need to sort their webpage search out, I love the animations that Safari has. There is a hack for FF to get it sort of like that and further scripting to actually get it as close as possible but that's all ad-hok..

Why can't it be as smooth as Safari?!!

Josh said 7:31AM on 10-15-2008

Isn't it Firefox 3.1 beta 1? Not beta 2?

kingabraham3 said 1:18PM on 10-15-2008

why can i not download it?

Superevil said 4:02PM on 10-15-2008

How do I turn off the "feature" that loads the last page I was looking at when I close & reopen the window?

BillyG said 6:12AM on 10-17-2008

The fact that none of your ext's failed is, of course, relative; several of mine failed.

I just graduated from 2.16 this week, so I'll wait awhile to make sure my ext's are good to go. I mean, without them, what's the sense?

ches said 9:34PM on 11-02-2008

Is there any way I can switch off the new ctrl+tab preview?? I prefer the old style where ctrl+tab moves to the right tab, and ctrl+shift+tab moves to the left tab. The new preview annoys me somewhat...

ches said 9:51PM on 11-02-2008

Oop, never mind. I just had to restart my browser after changing the browser.ctrlTab.mostRecentlyUsed to 'false'.

Liam Wolf said 6:32AM on 11-05-2008

When I tested on Acid3 I got 92/100 and I tested three times, so thats a 29% increase, and for me the browser was already set to for the java script.

Ken Thomas said 11:59PM on 12-05-2008

Firefox 3.1 beta 2 Release Candidate Build 2 is now available at:

ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/3.1b2-candidates/build2/

Likely to be the final candidate.

Ken Thomas
http://www.hortongroup.com

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