Firefox 2.0 alpha 2 released

by David Chartier on May 13, 2006 at 08:45 PM

Mozilla has released a 2nd alpha version of Firefox 2.0. As usual, this release is not recommended for any kind of serious use, but if you're salivating at some of the new version's features, check out what has been incorporated in this 2nd development milestone:
  • Links default to opening in new tabs, not new windows
  • Close buttons now appear on every tab, and the close behavior is slightly different
  • Inline spell checking in text boxes (Works well, though apparently not on all sites yet)
  • Automatic restoration of your browsing session if there is a crash
  • Search suggestions now appear in the search box auto-complete for Google and Yahoo!
  • New search plugin manager for removing and re-ordering search engines
  • Improved support for previewing and subscribing to web feeds
  • New microsummaries feature for bookmarks (Really interesting new feature)
  • New Add-Ons manager improves the user interface for managing extensions and themes
  • Updates to the extension system to provide enhanced security and to allow for easier localization of extensions
  • New search service that supports Sherlock and OpenSearch engines
  • Support for SVG text using svg:textPath
A mouthful, I know. I typed this post using this development version (Bon Echo, as they call it) on Mac OS X and I have to say, it's nice so far. Of course, none of my extensions were compatible, and I highly recommend backing up your Firefox app support folder before testing this, no matter what OS you're using. When I tried the last Bon Echo development version, it rendered my support folder incompatible with the latest stable release of Firefox. Just another one of those hazards of playing with dev editions.

If you want more details of this release, check out its download page and Mozilla's release notes.

[via diggdot.us]

Tags: 2.0, alpha, Bon Echo, BonEcho, bookmarks, crash, features, Firefox, Firefox 2.0, Firefox2.0, microsummaries, Mozilla, opensource, release, restore, spell check, SpellCheck, SVG, tabs