Firefox 3.1 beta 1 adds offline apps, more
updated 09:15 am EDT, Wed October 15, 2008
Firefox 3.1 beta 1 posted
Mozilla has posted the first beta of Firefox 3.1, a major update to the group's multi-platform browser. This release is said to be a test of v3.1's new features, which include web standards improvements within the Gecko engine, support for CSS 2.1 and 3 styles, and a variety of new technologies, including offline applications, geolocation, SVG transforms and JavaScript query selectors. Site coders should now be able to use the "video" and "audio" elements.
The interface for the browser has also been adjusted, and now incorporates a tab-switching shortcut that displays a preview of the upcoming item. The location bar has been tweaked to support special characters, which if used can narrow down a search. The Mac beta is a free, 16.6MB download.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2007
Mac version needs work!
Just because FF on OS X shares the same name as it does with its siblings on other platforms, don't make the mistake of thinking they are equal. I've found the OS X incarnation has big problems rendering some sites. I can't use it with maps.google.co.uk as the maps don't appear in the map frame: they draw, then vanish. Just recently I went to view gimp.org/screenshots and FF on my Mac refuses to load and display then. Finally today I tried to book a couple of movie tickets on myvue.com, but when I tried to change the seat allocation it wouldn't work. Safari on OS X doesn't have a problem with any of these sites, and FireFox 3.0.3 on Ubuntu Linux works just fine too.