Filed under: Mozilla

Firefox 4 Beta 2 was just released, and you can grab it from the Beta page.

Every tab now has a "Make into App Tab" command in the context menu, which shrinks the tab down to just the favicon and puts it on the leftmost position (similar to Chrome's pin tab feature). Also, tabs on top have arrived in the Mac version. I couldn't test it myself – share your thoughts in the comments, Mac users!

Mozilla made a snazzy video showing App Tabs, which you can watch after the jump.

As Sebastian jaunts around Montenegro snapping photos, the task has fallen to me to cover this week's spate of Firefox news... So grab your stuffed Foxkeh and pull up a chair -- it's time for the Friday Five!

Firefox 4 Beta 2 is coming soon (as in today, maybe)!
... Which is great news! I've been using Firefox 4 for my primary browser since the first beta builds showed up on the Mozilla nightly servers. It's fast and as customizable as it ever was, and Sebastian even discovered that its hardware acceleration performance was right up there with Internet Explorer 9's.

Beta 2 was actually slated for release today, but the download page is still serving up b1. When it's ready, you'll find Firefox 4 beta 2 at getfirefox.com/beta/.

As with many good changes, however, all the improvements in Firefox 4 can't come with some kind of trade off... Right?

Since the release of the Firefox 4 beta, I've been happily using it as my default Web browser once again. Google Chrome had been my primary browser for quite some time, but Firefox 4's improved speed and the fact that it can do three things I've wished Chrome could do for ages have won me back.

The three things? A real download manager (plus great add-on options like DownThemAll and Automatic Save Folder), being able to right click an image and set it as my wallpaper, and the euphoria-inducing ability to copy and paste in our CMS once more (with Chrome, you have to right click, paste, paste into a pop-up window, then click OK -- it's a security thing, supposedly, but rather cumbersome).

One thing I don't like about Firefox 4 is that big, orange button and all the wasted space it creates along the top. I like Chrome's minimalist UI -- and with Firefox's awesome array of customization options it's easy enough to mimic without a theme or addon!

Good afternoon! I have good news and bad news. This will be my last Firefox Friday for July, because I'm going on holiday. Lee and Matthew will pick up the slack while I'm gone. A different point of view is always interesting and I thoroughly look forward to reading the column while on vacation, sprawled across a babe-blanketed balmy beach somewhere in Eastern Europe...

Anyway, there's a lot of stuff to cover this week, so let's dive right in with the most pertinent morsel!

1. Firefox Home now available for your iPhone and iPod Touch (and iPad, I think)

Get it while it's hot! It's free (obviously), and promises to revolutionize your mobile Web experience. Here's a direct iTunes link if you want to dive right in.

We've already covered Firefox Home a bunch of times, so I'll spare you the details and jump right into the next juicy bit of Firefox news.

Just yesterday I was musing about why Firefox Home had yet to appear in the App Store, and today it finally has!

Approval was pretty much a foregone conclusion: like Opera's app, Firefox Home is not actually a browser and doesn't utilize any undocumented APIs. Both apps were designed from the get-go to be approved -- and, ultimately, they were. Don't worry, you're free to install both on your iPhone or iPod touch without fear of a great chasm opening up beneath your feet and swallowing you whole.

Two interesting notes about Firefox Home: running on iOS 4 on my iPod touch, it crashes. A lot. It's surprising, really, because compiling the pre-approval code from Mozilla and loading it went very smoothly and I didn't experience the crashing -- but I was running OS 3 at that point.

The other thing? Like so many other apps which don't merit them, Apple has slapped Firefox Home with the naughty content warning. Yes, that's right... a sync client (hey, MobileMe kinda does that too, right?) needs a content warning in Apple's mind.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that anyone who does store the kind of links in the Firefox bookmarks that Apple is warning about -- probably don't give a flying expletive about warnings. As for the rest of us? It just makes Apple look a little more clueless.

So I don't like Firefox's native Find functionality; and it turns out I'm not the only one. There have been lots of comments on my post; the one I found most entertaining was the one calling me to "stop acting like a tabloid" – gotta love those comments!

The most useful comment, however, came from reader Ken Saunders. Ken pointed me towards Find All, which is an add-on that goes a long way to fixing the Find problem.

Basically, with Find All installed, you open the Find box normally and start typing your search string. You see the first instance highlighted on the screen, as per usual. But when you then hit Enter, something really cool happens: A new pane opens at the bottom of the window, with all instances of the word on the page, each with its context so you don't have to skip to it to see if it's relevant. A single click on the line takes you to that spot on the page and highlights the word.

In addition, all instances of the word are highlighted on the page. I know this is an option which exists without the add-on, but it's switched off by default (why, Mozilla?), and the comments to my original post show that many people are unaware of it. So Find All switches this on for you.

While the add-on has less visual flair than Opera's Find, it is very useful and I will definitely keep it installed. Thanks for the tip, Ken!

These Firefox Friday titles are really getting out of hand. Perhaps I should shorten them... or simply use more buzzwords... and square brackets (Firefox Friday Five [FEATURE]: news round-up, 2 billion incentivized [ADD-ON] downloads...) Still, at least you know, at a glance, exactly what you're getting. There'll be none of that sensational 'look at me!' crap here on Download Squad.

Moving swiftly along: this week was a big one for Mozilla! Not only did they release Firefox 4.0b1, but there was tons of other goodies too! Ever heard of Bespin? Thunderbird's Quick Filter or Mailing List Manager add-on? How about the fact that over 2 billion Firefox add-ons have been downloaded in just five years?

In fact, let's lead with that one.

1. Firefox reaches 2 billion add-on downloads; 150 million add-ons in use every day

It took three years, from 2005 to 2008, to reach 1 billion downloads. Now, just 18 months later, the counter has reached 2 billion. I think it's safe to say that add-ons are very much a primary feature in Firefox!

The more important statistic is the the every-day usage figure, though. I'm sure a large number of those 2 billion downloads are by bleeding-edge users, like you and I, who update their add-ons regularly -- but 150 million add-ons are being used every day. I wonder if Mozilla has statistics on how many add-ons the average user has installed -- I wonder how many of those 150 million add-ons are installed by regular users.

Incidentally, Mozilla pointed me to a site I've never seen before: Rock Your Firefox. It's a great (and easy) way to get your friends and family using highly-rated Firefox add-ons -- send them the link!

The new Firefox 4 Beta has a Feedback button; for some people, that may be an eyesore.

Some people have worse problems, like the one shown in the screenshot above. That's my default FF4 installation, by the way; I just ran it and got this, and it wouldn't budge even when I tried to customize it. The four rows of buttons stay. Only when I run it in Safe Mode it looks fine. Interesting.

Anyway, hopefully most of you have it running fine, and maybe you just want to get rid of that Feedback button. Here's how you do it:

1. Click the Firefox button (top-left corner, unless you removed it using Sebastian's tutorial).
2. Go to Customize > Add-ons.
3. Locate the Test Pilot add-on.
4. Click Disable.

Voila, no more Feedback button!

On a personal note, I must say I think disabling this button is a bad idea. Mozilla is running a top-notch usability testing program, and I think they deserve user feedback (because, after all, they just want to make a better browser for all of us). Still, if you really want to disable that button, now you can.

And now on to figuring out how to make those four rows of buttons disappear ...

If you're not the type to install beta software on your computer, or you're at work and unable to install software, grab Mozilla Firefox Portable Edition 4.0 Beta 1!

I've only tested it for a few minutes, but it seems to be fully-featured and as fast as the real deal (which you can download here). The only difference is that it doesn't require installation, so you can run it from a USB memory stick, or anywhere else.

Users of the PortableApps Platform can do some other funky things with it, but that's outside the scope of this article (in fact, we should totally write something about PortableApps...)

Oh, our guide on removing Firefox's big orange button works with this portable version! Simply navigate to FirefoxPortableTest > Data > Profile > chrome and dump userChrome.css in there.

Yup, you're not alone: that orange button in the top left corner of Firefox 4.0 just won't move.

Fortunately, with the help of a Neowin forum thread and a little hacking, I am now the proud owner of a see-through Firefox button that's in-line with my tabs! If you'd also like to move that orange button -- or simply change its color! -- follow these easy steps:

• Locate your Profile directory -- click Help > Troubleshooting Information and then Open Containing Folder
• Now navigate to the Chrome directory
• Copy userChrome-example.css
• Rename your copy to userChrome.css
• Open userChrome.css your editor of choice and dump the following code in it:

#appmenu-button-container {

position: fixed !important;

}

#appmenu-button {

padding: 3px 18px 3px 18px !important;

margin-top:3px !important;

background-color: rgba(54, 121, 166, 0.2) !important;

}

#navigator-toolbox[tabsontop="true"] #TabsToolbar {

padding-left: 95px !important;

}

#navigator-toolbox[tabsontop="true"] #TabsToolbar {

padding-left: 105px !important;

padding-top:1px !important;

padding-right:98px !important;

}

Alternatively, download my userChrome.css file and copy it into the directory. Don't forget to rename it.

The second block (#appmenu-button) is the most important. You could easily change the color (54, 121, 166) or the opacity (0.2) -- simply change the values, save, and restart Firefox 4.0.

With some knowledge of CSS you could also move the button around (padding and margin), but I'll investigate more tomorrow. In the mean time, enjoy your less intrusive Firefox 4.0 menu!

(Incidentally, if you missed the previous post, Firefox 4.0 beta 1 is now available for download!)

Stop the press! Firefox 4.0 beta 1 has just been released. Download it now! Spread the word! Hammer a nail in Hitler's coffin!

If you've been using the bleeding-edge 3.7 alpha builds, you won't notice much difference -- but if you've been holding off, waiting for things to firm up a little, now's the time to hop on!

The most significant change (other than OMG SHINY WINDOWS 7 AERO UI!!!1) is the inclusion of a built-in Feedback tool. Right there, in the top right corner, you have immediate access to two buttons -- happy and sad. (Check out the happy feedback submission page, it's rather cute.) The Feedback feature also includes Mozilla's Test Pilot, the add-on that lets you take part in anonymous usage studies (like the one used in the Firefox heat map). You can opt out of the feedback system at any time, of course.

Anyway, rather than repeating every new feature in 4.0 beta 1, just check the Mozilla blog instead. I'm now going to put Firefox 4.0 through its paces and see if it benchmarks faster than 3.7!

Good afternoon! This week we're fortunate enough to have the Mozilla Director of Community, Asa Dotzler, here with us in the Download Squad bunker. His yappy little dog doesn't like it much down here -- but with soundproofed cells, who cares?

After my last interview with his comrade Aza Raskin (what are the chances of having two people called Asa working in the same office?), I was keen to find out a little bit more about Mozilla itself. Raskin knows a lot about how Firefox works, but Dotzler is a cornerstone of the the framework that supports Firefox -- Mozilla. In many ways it is Dotzler's work that has shaped the direction of Firefox's development, from its early, messy roots at Netscape, through to today where each Firefox release is the cumulative effort of thousands.

In today's interview I cover a truly epic range of questions: from HTML5 support and Jaegermonkey, to the future of Firefox's community efforts; from Firefox's roots as an IE-with-add-ons-and-pop-up-blocking, to its future in the enterprise environment. Asa has tried his very best -- and succeeded! -- to respond with an unprecedented level of detail about the inner workings of Firefox and Mozilla

Read this interview and you'll walk away enlightened, entertained, and slightly in awe of the all-encompassing might of the Mozilla machine.

Proving yet again that Mozilla is a cut above the rest, its Metrics team has just published a fantastic interactive Firefox heat map that illustrates exactly how we interact with the main browser window.

The Mozilla Metrics blog has some background info on the project and some basic analysis of the figures. I'm going to try and dig a bit deeper, however. Let's start with Windows versus Mac OS X (with a soupçon of Linux).

• Mac and Linux users seem to be more voracious surfers -- with 550 uses of the Location Bar throughout the 5-day test period, Mac and Linux users seem to visit a lot more sites than Windows users (only 395 Location Bar uses). Alternatively, Windows users might just have other things to do -- like playing video games.
• Windows users seem to really love those scroll bars -- and no, I'm not sure why. Windows (and Linux!) users seem to use the vertical and horizontal scroll bars a lot more than Mac users. This could be due to Macs having larger monitors -- but leave a comment if you have another theory!
• Everyone uses their Back button a lot -- 95% of all Firefox users clicked the Back button in the 5-day test period, and it's the second most-used button on the entire UI (behind the Location Bar). I thought more people had back buttons on their mouse; obviously not! Backspace on the keyboard works most of the time too...

There are lots of things we don't do with Firefox too! Only 0.9% of users printed something during the test period. Almost no one checks their History, and only 5% use that RSS icon (though I bet most people simply don't know what it does). There's a startlingly low occurrence of copying and pasting -- but that could be because Ctrl-C and Ctrl-P aren't being captured by the test program!

This heat map was produced using Mozilla's Test Pilot program -- and so that you can help with the fine-tuning of Firefox 4.0's interface, go and install the Test Pilot add-on!