Archive for the ‘Safari’ Category

Firefox 4.0 Beta 1, bringing major changes released

Monday, July 19th, 2010

Firefox 4.0 Beta 1, bringing major changes released

Mozilla Firefox is, without doubt, one of the revelations of recent years. Although having to fight off serious competition, it has managed to overcome browsers like Google Chrome, Safari, Opera and set itself as a serious rival for Internet Explorer, the number one browser for as long as we can remember. This ascent is mostly due to Mozilla’s constant desire to improve its products. We’ve lately discussed about the Firefox 3.6.4 Beta Build Release and then about the Final Mozilla Firefox 3.6.4 Release and just when we were getting ready to announce the 3.7 version, in a last moment move, Mozilla renamed it to Firefox 4.0, our star today.

The new release is meant to refresh the image of the browser, making it faster and better looking. One of the main things that have changed is the interface which now allows the users to show or hide the tabs and the menus displayed in the upper partof the window. A significant number of other changes have been made, amongst which the new single button for stop and reload functions, the Home tab, a bookmarks button and an application tab. Furthermore, crash support and protection have been added, while running either Adobe Flash, QuickTime or Microsoft Silverlight plug-ins.

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Apple Stocks Up On Safari Extensions

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Apple Stocks Up On Safari Extensions

Apple has called on developers to submit extensions for its HTML 5-based Safari web browser, to be released in the soon-to-be-launched Safari Extensions Gallery.

Safari Extensions Gallery will come with an App Store-like interface, and will contain web extensions that will allow users to customise and enhance their browsing experience on the Safari web browser.

In an email reminder sent to registered developers, the company said that “Selected extensions will be featured on the new Safari Extensions Gallery. We’ll soon be launching the Safari Extensions Gallery, a new destination that provides you with an opportunity to increase the visibility of your Safari extension beyond your website.”

Apple explained in the email that the Extensions Gallery will offer one-click install functionality, allowing users to install extensions from a developer’s website without actually leaving the Gallery.

The Safari Extensions Gallery, which was announced during the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference, will contain toolbar buttons and plug-ins that will enhance the functionality of the web browser.

Source : itproportal.com

Apple soliciting Safari extensions for upcoming gallery

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Apple soliciting Safari extensions for upcoming gallery

In an e-mail sent to its registered third-party developers, Apple continues to solicit submissions for the upcoming Safari Extension Gallery, a curated collection of extensions for the latest version of the company’s desktop Web browser. Apple doesn’t give an exact date for the gallery’s unveiling, saying only that it will launch “soon.”

There’s no mention of the exact criteria that the company plans on applying when deciding whether a particular extension is worthy of inclusion in the gallery. Apple says only that the forthcoming Gallery will offer “selected extensions that offer an innovative user experience.”

At the time of submission, developers are given the opportunity to categorize their extension into one or more different classifications, depending on the extension’s intended use—e.g., blogging, development, e-mail, and so on—and on the kind of functionality that they provide (such as, for example, whether they add functionality to the browser’s toolbar or run silently in the background).
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IE9 will have better JavaScript performance

Friday, November 20th, 2009

IE9 will have better JavaScript performance

Microsoft has said today that its upcoming Internet Explorer 9 browser will “nearly” close the JavaScript performance gap that its current browser version has against rivals Firefox and Chrome.

The claim is notable especially because the software giant only started developing IE9 last month.

Says Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft president of Windows and Windows Live: “We know we have a lot of work to do in some areas of performance. [However], we’re getting very close to the other browsers.”

Mozilla’s director of community development Asa Dotzler says the move is unsurprising but Microsoft still has tons of work to do to match Firefox or Chrome in terms of speed and performance.

“Microsoft dug a huge hole when it mostly abandoned IE6 and the Web from 2001 until 2006. Their early efforts at ramping back up with IE7 were a big disappointment to most Web developers and while their efforts with IE8 were much better, they’re still at least a full generation behind the modern browsers,” says Dotzler.

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Firefox 4.0 goes Chrome, will arrive with new UI in Q4 2010

Monday, August 31st, 2009

Firefox 4.0 goes Chrome, will arrive with new UI in Q4 2010

Mozilla recently updated its product roadmap through 2010. According to the first draft, the current browser will see a minor update in Q4 2009 as well as Q2 2010. Version 4.0 is headed for an October or November 2010 release and will bring a new user interface and browser sync

The current release schedule is just in draft status, which means we have to take it with a grain of salt. But the guys over at Mozilla are surely busy getting two new versions of Firefox out by mid 2010 and apparently a completely new browser by the end of 2010.

The current 3.5x version will be updated with version 3.6, code-named Namoroka and currently available as alpha 1 release. The software will have a slightly faster Javascript engine than version 3.5, a faster startup time and will update the Gecko layout engine from version 1.9.1 to 1.9.2. Mozilla also promises Windows 7 integration light weight themes called Personas, as well as an improved form completion feature called awsomeformcomplete.

Perhaps most interestingly, version 3.6 will debut with Fennec 1.0, the mobile version of Firefox, which will also be use the Tracemonkey Javascript engine.
The draft roadmap suggests that Firefox 3.7 will follow in Q1 or Q2 of next year, bringing and updated fennec v1.1 browser, a Gecko engine that is updated to version 1.9.3, support for XUL animations, task-oriented browsing, out-of-process plug-ins for more software stability, online bookmark synchronization, as well as further Tracemonkey and pageload enhancements. We will be especially looking forward to a transition in the way websites are handled by Firefox – version 3.7 will run websites as an application. Mozilla recently released Firefox 3.7 as a pre-alpha 1 version to developers.

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