Mozilla has released the first of what it promises will be a succession of Firefox 4 betas.
The new version of the open-source browser introduces a new add-on manager, crash protection from third-party plug-ins, more support for CSS3 and better performance with accelerated hardware support, as Firefox plays catch-up with Google Chrome and Safari.
The most obvious interface change is the tabs are moving to the top of the screen, following Google’s lead, though this hasn’t yet been implemented on the Mac
“We moved the tabs to the top to make it easier to focus on the web content and easier to control the tools in your web browser,” lead developer Mike Beltzner notes on the Mozilla blog. This is something Apple also tried with the Safari 4 beta, before user feedbacks persuaded it to put the tabs back in the traditional position.
New from the last version, Firefox 4 will include support for HTML5, HD video via Google’s new WebM format, with support for a full-screen video API coming soon. The next betas for Firefox 4 will also support other HTML5 technologies, such as scalable vector graphics for animation and web forms.
Mozilla says it will release a new beta every two or three weeks until the final version arrives. Subsequent iterations will add bookmark, history and open tab syncing, additional privacy controls and further performance enhancements.
The Firefox 4 beta runs on OS X 10.4 Tiger or later, unlike Google Chrome and Safari which both require Leopard.
