Mozilla Firefox 4 Beta 2 Released, Adds New “App Tabs” Feature

Mozilla has released the second beta version of its improved and redesigned Firefox 4 web browser. The new version can be downloaded from the release notes or official beta download page. It available for all supported operating systems (Linux, Mac, Windows) and now available in 24 languages. This second beta release also gives Apple Mac’s the same tabs-on-top look as in Windows. The one orange main button is still isn’t there in the Mac version, but the new toolbar formations are available now.

The most “talked about” new feature in Firefox 4 Beta 2 is “App Tabs”, which looks like Google Chrome’s “Pin Tab” feature. This “App Tabs” mode lets you keep an eye on sites you want to. Now, every tab in Firefox 4 has this new option “Make into App Tab,” on right-click to convert it into an “App Tab”.

Just like “Pin Tab” in Google Chrome, “App Tabs” reduces the normal tabs into the site’s favicon and places it to the leftmost side of the tabbar. Even though I couldn’t get App Tabs to re-appear when I relaunched Firefox, but Mozilla says they’ll stick, and show up in their own space.

Mozilla developers have also created a short video to show the new App Tab feature:

Whats new in Firefox 4 Beta 2?

  • Firefox 4 Beta 2 is available in 24 languages.
  • Tabs are now on top by default on Windows and OS X – Linux will be changing when the theme has been modified to support the change.
  • You can turn any tab into an “App Tab” by right-clicking on it and selecting “Make into App Tab” from the context menu.
  • Web developers can animate content using CSS Transitions.
  • Responsiveness and scrolling improvements from the new retained layers layout system.
  • JavaScript speed improvements due to engine optimizations.
  • Changes to how XPCOM components are registered to help startup time and process separation.
  • See the complete changelog from the earlier beta.

This Firefox 4 Beta is considered to be stable and safe to use for daily web browsing, though the features and content may change before the final product release. At this time many Add-ons may not yet have been tested by their authors to ensure that they are compatible with this release.

You can download it using following link:

[ Download Mozilla Firefox 4 Beta 2 ]

You may also like...