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Final Firefox 4 beta released, add-ons still languishing
Other than increased stability and performance when viewing Flash content, and some tweaks to hardware acceleration, beta 12 simply represents one last bug-stomping push towards the Release Candidate. The RC, incidentally, is due in the next few days.
With only a handful of bugs remaining, it is now almost time for Mozilla to pass its new browser over to the next standard bearers: the add-on developers. Most big-name add-ons now support Firefox 4, which is a relief -- but at the same time, very few add-ons are utilizing all of FF4's new UI elements. We struggled to find more than 20 add-ons designed specifically for Firefox 4, which is odd, considering there are "millions of beta testers." Still, with the final release of Firefox 4 around the corner, things can only improve.
Finally: it may please you to hear that, in beta 12, link tooltips are yet again displayed in the bottom left corner, rather than in the address bar! If you fancy some fun Saturday afternoon reading, there's an epic thread on Bugzilla that chronicles their return to the bottom of the window -- be warned, however: open source contributers sure are a feisty bunch...
[Thanks to Silver Wave for the tip!]
Comments
20
Subscribe to comments3tearFeb 26th 2011 2:55PM
If you'd like to have the old status bar back, the Status-4-Eva addon can do that for you: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/status-4-evar/
BTW Seb, the comments are still not showing up when I click on a downloadsquad article link via google reader. :(
Sebastian AnthonyFeb 26th 2011 2:57PM
@3tear We've had a few emails about the broken comment system recently! :(
There are some things in the pipeline, but nothing ever happens quickly.
We're aware of the pain it causes, and the detrimental effect it has on community! I just hope it's fixed quickly...
SilverWaveFeb 27th 2011 8:12AM
@3tear
I like Barlesque:
"Reclaims the browsing space by transforming Firefox 4's wide grey add-on bar into a neat set of buttons."
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/barlesque/
Anthony S.Feb 26th 2011 4:58PM
@Sebastian Anthony I wish you guys would just use Disqus like your sister site Engadget does. It's a great platform! Single sign-in across sites, very powerful management/monitoring for admins, and the fact that it doesn't scatter comment replies across the comments section all sound like a win to me.
5hRreDDyFeb 26th 2011 3:35PM
Glad to see "increased stability and performance when viewing Flash content" is one of the things fixed in this release. Flash in FF4b11 on my MacBook Air turned it into an egg cooker.
Sebastian AnthonyFeb 26th 2011 5:01PM
@Anthony S. We wish it was as simple as that :)
(We've asked for their Disqus platform before! It just takes... time!)
((Btw, I like how our names are basically the inverse of each other...))
XenoFeb 26th 2011 8:38PM
@Anthony S. q(-_- )
SpeedGunFeb 26th 2011 5:41PM
@Sebastian Anthony Are you sure that isn't the joke? :P
XenoFeb 26th 2011 8:58PM
Final Firefox 4 beta! Whoooo!
I've been using the Firefox 4 Beta ever since it's inception and amazed as to how much has changed and how efficient it has become. The release notes of the very first beta were ... pretty substantial:-
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/4.0b1/releasenotes/
but now Firefox 4 is jam packed with even more really cool features!:-
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/4.0b12/releasenotes/
It will be interesting to see how the web will look and perform once some of Firefox 4's new features are fully taken advantage of.
I ♥ Firefox
Sebastian AnthonyFeb 27th 2011 6:21AM
@Xeno It sounds like we may have just found Firefox's #1 fan!
XenoFeb 27th 2011 12:56AM
Wow, I've only just now discovering the glory of 'pin as app tab' Firefox function. I had no idea that just by right clicking on a tab and selecting 'pin as app tab' you could pin tabs that you visit on a daily/regular bases (like Download Squad) right onto you tab bar. Start Firefox and *snap* there are all your daily websites. Really handy for the lazy navigator, Firefox makes web browsing such a breeze.
The 'Pin as App Tab' feature goes really well with the 'autopager' add-on.
XenoFeb 27th 2011 12:59AM
@Xeno - I notice feature in a previous article about conceptual features for Firefox 5 a few days ago but I had now idea it was be this convenient.
SilverWaveFeb 27th 2011 8:17AM
>add-ons still languishing
Use Add-on Compatibility Reporter
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/add-on-compatibility-reporter/
---
How To:
With the Add-on Compatibility Reporter you need to do the following:
Install the Add-on Compatibility Reporter and restart Firefox.
Go to Add-ons > Extensions, there should be a note at the top saying:
"Add-on compatibility checking is disabled. You may have incompatible add-ons."
There will be an "Enable" link to the right. Do not click this! Its a trap.
None of your old Extensions will work at this point!
Restart Firefox again (No I'm not kidding).
Now your old Extensions will be enabled and may be working.
Optional
Go to Add-ons > Extensions. This time use the "Compatibility" button to report if the add-on is working or not.
Your add-ons will still display a warning that it is "incompatible with 4.0b13pre".
If you have reported that it still works then the "Compatibility" button turns in to a green tick with the words "Works properly."
Observations
It works... so thats great but I have to say that I found it very unintuitive.
SilverWaveFeb 27th 2011 8:22AM
@SilverWave
All this lot works OK:
Aardvark 3.0
Adblock Plus 1.3.3
Add-on Compatibility Reporter 0.7
Barlesque 1.15
Boox 3.0a1
Download Statusbar 0.9.7.2
Greasemonkey 0.9.1
Image Zoom 0.4.6
Locationbar² 1.0.5
Make Link 10.12
Menu Editor 1.2.6
Nightly Tester Tools 3.1
NoSquint 2.1
OptimizeGoogle 0.78.2
Places’ Full Titles 4
Re-Pagination 2011.01.08
Readability 1.2
Reliby 1.5.0
RequestPolicy 0.5.18
Shelve 1.23
Shockwave Flash
Tab Utilities 1.0
Toolbar Buttons 1.0
Tree Style Tab 0.11.2011011301
Ubuntu Firefox Modifications 0.9rc2
XenoFeb 27th 2011 11:54AM
@Xeno - ahh, okay maybe I was a little wrong about that 'pin to app tab' thing - this feature performs pretty much like your average open tab.
XenoFeb 27th 2011 11:56AM
@Sebastian Anthony - Oh well, maybe not #1 but I think I'm definitely high up there somewhere, hang on ... Jesus(?), Sebastian Anthony(!) you're the author of all the Firefox articles!
Sebastian AnthonyFeb 27th 2011 12:01PM
@Xeno Jesus was my nickname at university!
I think you're on to something.
XenoFeb 28th 2011 11:28AM
It suits you, it really does.
I had no idea you were that author of all these articles.
motangFeb 28th 2011 1:20PM
To my surprise (when I got home last night from SCaLE9x) FF had updated itself and was waiting for me to apply it, and it is very good and smooth experience on Ubuntu. Loving FF 4 Beta 12,000,0012...I mean Beta 12. :)
SteveMar 1st 2011 11:19AM
How about some increased performance? The latest Chrome runs perfectly smooth on my work PC... Hell, IE 8 runs better than Firefox 4b11 was. Going to various websites just locks up FF for several seconds, and this happens all day, everyday.