Gecko posts

Filed under: Internet, Mozilla, Browsers

Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 now available!

by Sebastian Anthony Oct 30th 2009

Let's not beat around the bush: Download the new version of Firefox now.

With that out of the way, here are the new features that debut with Firefox 3.6, straight from the release page:

Users can now change their browser's appearance with a single click, with built in support for Personas.
Firefox 3.6 will alert users about out of date plugins to keep them safe.
Open, native video can now be displayed full screen, and supports poster frames.
Support for the WOFF font format.
Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness and startup time.
Support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies.

These new changes mostly come from an upgrade to version 1.9.2 of Gecko, the HTML engine that does most of the rendering work in Firefox (and its light-weight sister Camino) -- and as with all version revisions, you will have to update most or all of your add-ons (there's even a compatibility checker!)

Developers should check out the notes for 3.6, if they haven't yet updated the add-ons they administer.

If you've heard enough, here are some direct download links to get you upgraded to the Beta ASAP:

Tags: beta, firefox, gecko

Filed under: Utilities, Browsers

Coral IE Tab: the best way to view IE-only sites in Firefox

by Jay Hathaway Sep 9th 2009

If you're a Firefox fan who frequently has to use sites that only display properly in Internet Explorer, don't despair. Coral IE Tab lets you do it without running two browsers at once. It's a modified version of the popular IE Tab add-on, with a couple of important features added on. Like IE Tab, it displays pages as if you were using Internet Explorer, but it also saves your cookies and works with the Adblock Plus add-on.

In Coral IE Tab's settings, you can assign preferences to individual sites, so you don't have to manually switch to IE whenever you visit an offending page. If you're already running IE Tab, Coral IE Tab can import its settings (you should disable it afterward to avoid any conflicts). I hope that we can leave IE-only sites behind sooner rather than later but, until that time, an add-on beats running an entire second browser.

[via instantfundas]

Tags: browsers, coral ie tab, CoralIeTab, firefox, gecko, ie tab, IeTab

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Freeware, Browsers

Lunscape - 1 browser, 3 rendering engines

by Brad Linder Nov 25th 2008

Lunascape is a web browser for people who just can't decide which web browser to use. That's because the latest Alpha version of Lunascape supports three of the most popular rendering engines used in other web browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Google Chrome.

Upon setup, you can select your default rendering engine. Geck or WebKit are known for their blazing fast performance when loading many web pages and web apps,. Or you can choose Trident if you frequently visit web pages that only work with Internet Explorer.

The browser also supports bookmarklets, has a built in screen capture utility, skins, and has a full screen mode. Lunascape5 Alpha also supports add-ons, but right not there aren't a ton of plugins available. Unfortunately it will not work with plugins designed for Firefox, Safari, or Internet Explorer.

[via OStatic]

Tags: gecko, lunascape, lunascape5-alpha, trident, webkit

Filed under: Macintosh, Mozilla, Browsers

Camino 2.0 preview is out, with plenty of new features

by Jay Hathaway Oct 22nd 2008

Camino is the dark horse in the Mac browser competition. It's the faster, lighter little brother to Firefox, and there's a solid base of users who prefer it over Firefox and Safari. Camino uses the same Gecko rendering engine that Firefox is built on, but its focus is on a speedy user experience instead of maximum extensibility. With the preview of version 2.0, just released, Camino has added and tweaked some things to make the browsing experience even better.

Despite some rumors that Camino would be switching to Webkit, the rendering engine shared by Safari and Google Chrome, the browser is stick with Gecko. Version 2 updates Camino to the latest version of Gecko, which should improve its ability to handle flash. It also improves support for web standards, scoring a 71 on the Acid3 test (that's the same as Firefox 3.)

In terms of new features, there's a "tab overview" mode that shows thumbnails of all your tabs. This is a big plus if you're someone who keeps a huge number of sites open at once. There's also a new menu within the browser history that shows your recently-closed pages, so you can get back if you closed something by accident. What's more, full content zoom allows you to shrink or magnify an entire page, not just the text size. All in all, a solid improvement for Camino.

Tags: browser, Camino, Gecko, Mac, Mozilla, OS X, OsX

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Freeware, Browsers

Sleipnir: Customizable web browser uses IE or Firefox rendering engines

by Brad Linder Jul 23rd 2008

Sleipnir is a web browser that's popular in Japan and pretty much unheard of in the rest of the world. The Windows-only browser lets users choose between the rendering engines used by market leaders Internet Explorer and Firefox. But Sleipnir is more than just a pretty front end for either browser. It's a standalone tool that provides users with a huge number of customization options.

Fenrir, the company behind the free browser, has been making an English language version for a while now, but Computer World reports that the company is stepping up its efforts to promote the browser outside of Japan.

Here are a few of the things that make Sleipnir worth checking out:

If you install the optional Gecko plugin, you can switch between the Firefox and Internet Explorer rendering engines with the click of a button. You can do something similar with the IETab add-on for Firefox, but Sleipnir includes this functionality out of the box.
When you select text, a box shows up on screen letting you search for that text on the web or translate the text from English to Japanese and vice versa. You can even plot a highlighted address on a map.
You can extend the browser's functionality with scripts and plugins.

There's also a portable version of Sleipnir that you can run from a flash drive.

[via Digital Inspiration]

Tags: fenrir, gecko, rendering-engine, sleipnir, trident, web-browsers

Filed under: Linux, Open Source, Browser Tips

Galeon: It's like Firefox for Spartans

by Brad Linder May 19th 2008

A few weeks ago we looked at K-Meleon, a light-weight browser for Windows that uses the same rendering engine as Firefox 2. The result is a browser that loads any page you can open in Firefox, which uses significantly less RAM than Firefox. There's also no support for add-ons or many of the other bells and whistles that make Firefox tick.

Galeon pretty much the same thing, except it runs on Linux, not Windows. In our tests, the browser eats about half the RAM of Firefox 3, and renders pages using the same engine as Firefox 2, which means that some pages that look funny in Firefox 3 look better in Galeon, making the browser excellent companion piece of software.

Like K-Meleon, Galeon does not support add-ons, or Greasemonkey scripts. And it doesn't have some of the more useful features you can find in Firefox 3 like full page zoom.

There's no shortage of light weight web browser for Linux. But since Galeon can render any web page Firefox can, the browser is far more useful than other browsers such as Dillo or Konqueror.

Tags: dillo, firefox, galeon, gecko, k-meleon, konqueror

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Browser Tips

K-Meleon: It's like Firefox, without the bloat

by Brad Linder Apr 29th 2008

K-Meleon is a light weight web browser for folks who don't need a ton of plugins, options, or much of anything except for a good utility for viewing web sites. The browser uses the same rendering engine as Firefox, so pretty much any page that you can access in Firefox can also be opened in K-Meleon. But don't expect your Firefox add-ons or Greasemonkey scripts to play nice with K-Meleon.

Because K-Meleon lacks some of the bells and whistles you'd find in Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Opera, the browser is fast. Like really fast. It also doesn't use as much RAM as Firefox, which is known to be something of a memory hog.

That's not to say that K-Meleon is a one-trick pony. The browser is customizable, and you can choose from a variety of skins and themes. And K-Meleon supports tabbed browsing, mouse gestures, pop up blocking, and macros.

K-Meleon is Windows only. But if you're looking for light weight Mac or Linux web browsers that use the same Gecko rendering engine as Firefox, check out Camino or Galeon.

Tags: firefox, gecko, k-meleon, web-browser

Filed under: Mozilla, Browser Tips

Firefox 3 Alpha 5 released

by Brad Linder Jun 7th 2007

Mozilla has released Firefox 3 Alpha 5. Keep in mind, when we say alpha, we mean this thing hasn't even earned the right to be called beta software yet, so install at your own risk. For example, when you install Firefox 3 (code named Gran Paradiso), you'll notice that clicking on your Firefox 2 icon will bring up Gran Paradiso whether you like it or not.

Gran Paradiso doesn't actually uninstall Firefox 2.0 though, so you can install Gran Paradiso and uninstall it with minimal risk. Except there's a chance you might lose some bookmarks. That's because the biggest change in the latest build is that Mozilla has added "Places," a new way of managing bookmarks, RSS subscriptions, and browser history in your sidebar.

Places first showed up in Firefox 2 Alpha 1, but has been disabled for the last few builds. It makes its triumphent return with Alpha 5, but you probably won't really notice any changes, since there's no graphical redesign to go along with the changes under the hood.

Some other updates:

A new crash reporting system is enabled on Mac OS X and about half of Windows installations. It's not yet available for Linux.
There's a new Javascript-based password manager.
And some miscellaneous bug fixes in the new Gecko 1.9 rendering engine.

[via WebWare]

Tags: firefox, gecko, gran paradiso, GranParadiso, web browser, WebBrowser

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Mozilla, Open Source

uBrowser: Web browsing in 3D

by Jordan Running Feb 24th 2006

What would you do if you could stick your web browser on a virtual 3D surface and spin it around in real time? Probably scratch you head and ask "but what is it good for?" Well, that's what you get with uBrowser, head-scratching included. In truth it's basically a tech demo that showcases Mozilla's Gecko web page rendering engine married to OpenGL. It's not really good for anything, but it is fun to stick your favorite web site on a sphere or a waving flag and turn it this way and that. Since it's based on LibXUL, it's a fully functional web browser, which means you can click on links, check your Gmail, and even play flash games. And it's also open source, so despite what I just said it probably is useful for developer-types.

Tags: 3d, gecko, libxul, mozilla, opengl, ubrowser

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