Mozilla has posted the fourth beta download of its next-generation Web browser for developers to review. According to head interface designer Mike Beltzner, Firefox 3, Beta 4 contains more than 900 enhancements from last month’s release of beta 3, including drastic improvements in performance and memory use, stability fixes, and user-interface improvements.
“This is the twelfth developer milestone focused on testing the core functionality provided by many new features and changes to the platform,” Beltzner wrote in a blog. “Testers can download Firefox 3, Beta 4 builds for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux in over 35 different languages.”
Security Enhancements
Improved security is a major goal. To check Web-site authenticity, users will click on the site’s favicon (image) in the location bar to see the identity of the site’s owner.
A Web-site indicator turns green when users access sites that employ Extended Validation SSL certificates, which add a trust component to online secure transactions by mandating that the site operators undergo vetting by an established certificate authority. Web surfers also will be able to determine whether their Internet connections are protected from eavesdropping.
Built-in malware protection warns users whenever they visit pages known to install viruses, spyware, trojans or other infections. In addition, the contents of Web pages suspected to be phishing forgeries are no longer displayed.
Firefox 3’s revised download manager lets users see, and even search on, the Web site from which they have downloaded one or more files. Users also will be able to resume downloads after restarting the browser or resetting their network connections.
New Features
A new full-page zoom feature lets users scale a Web page, or they can simply change the text size. In addition, an auto-complete feature allows typing in all or part of the title, tag or address of a page to…