Mozilla 1.7 Beta Released
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
Mozilla rules ! It’s faster then ever and waaaaay better then IE IMHO !
* Support for smb:// URLs using the gnome-vfs library (only enabled in GTK2+XFT Linux builds).
Very nice! I coudlnt get it to work though. Can anybody give this a quick test? Does it support the new gnome-keyring in gnome 2.4?
In related news, yelp and devhelp are have moved to gtkmozembed, meaning that gtkhtml2 can finally start to die off and be officiall replaced by gecko.
It’s so much faster it’s not funny anymore. I wonder why they still bother developing Mozilla and don’t put all their efforts into Thunderbird and Firefox?
Wow. It just keeps getting better:
“Mozilla 1.7 size and performance have improved dramatically with this release. When compared to Mozilla 1.6, Mozilla 1.7 Beta is 7% faster at startup, is 8% faster at window open time, has 9% faster pageloading times, and is 5% smaller in binary size.”
Now that is impressive for an already very nice browser!
When will they split the rendering engine from the browser so I won’t have to have two browsers installed to get Epiphany running?
Has anyone used this on a Mac with OSX yet? I use 1.6 on mine, but only as a web browser – when I tried setting up an email account in it, it crashed after I finished inputting the details. Twice. Anyone had any luck with 1.7b?
I immediately updated my iBook to 1.7a and had only one crash so far. Going to update again NOW…
Usually a beta should be more stable than an alpha.
Have you tried erasing your old Library/Mozilla folder, just in case?
Ulrich: It was a brand new Mac.
It’s so much faster it’s not funny anymore. I wonder why they still bother developing Mozilla and don’t put all their efforts into Thunderbird and Firefox?
Firefox and Mozilla are from same source tree. They use same function calls, same rendering engine etc. The difference is toolkit which they use for user interface.
So in short: functionality that is made to Mozilla source tree is also directly available in Firefox. Only difference is that if Firefox author decide to use it or not.
In long term, like Mozilla.org has stated, when Firefox and new XUL (was it XUL?) toolkit matures enough, it will replace Mozilla Browser as default browser, as Thunderbird will replace Mozilla Mail.
So in short: They put all their efforts on underlying technology which can be used in *both* browsers.
I still think that Mozilla suite is more mature than Firefox and Thunderbird as whole. It’s very integrated suite of internet applications and many users like it that way. Of course for some people only browser and mail is enough.
Good to have choices, isn’t it?
Hmmm…
For me the beta works fine with the alpha’s profile…
If your crash is reproducible, use the for-mac-newly-included talkback agent.
Funny thing though, some sites renders correctly i Mozilla, but not i FOrefox. If the only difference is UI toolkit, I wonder why that can be?
I wish they could get a true cross platform palm sync going for mail and addresses.
I keep my mail folders and addresses on a separate fat32 partition and share them between linux and windows – which keeps all os’s the same all the time.
Unfortunately, my palm keeps me in windows more often than I’d like because palm support isn’t up to par in linux yet.
If they could get a full hotsync soloution going, that would be a major accomplishement.
Wasn’t it supposed to be that Mozilla was supposed to incorporate the codebase of Firefox? Is that already happening (would explain the speed increases that we’ve seen since 1.6), or did they ditch those plans ?
– “A new option to prevent sites using Javascript to block the browser’s context menu.” THANK GOD!!!
On windows, i think you could always just press Shift+F10 (or use a shortcut on your keyboard for it, if you have one of those fancy keyboards with windows-centric keys). Very nice that you don’t have to deal with that on other OS’s now´too.
Ctrl+I and Ctrl+U did mostly the same before this, but it is always good to see developers caring more about users than moronic javascript users who think they are clever
shif+f10 opens the context menu for the page as a whole but what if you wanted to right click on an image and view it’s properties for instance…
before i had to use the web developer extensions to disable javascript on the and then open the properties or whatever i wanted to do which was pain in the a…
Please, all you “when will Firefox replace standard Mozilla” people: could you just stop asking that? I use Firefox exclusively at work, it is a great browser (in my opinion the best there is, currently) BUT it’s at 0.8 for a reason: the developers think that it’s not mature enough yet. Seamonkey and Firefox share a huge common codebase, so both sides benefit from most occurring development. So continue using Firefox (so will I), but PLEASE, don’t whine at every single Seamonkey release.
The ua string is also slightly different, so depending on how they do their browsers dection it may be getting different code.
I agree both Mozilla and Firefox are better than IE when it comes to loading pages fast. Though, Mozilla tends to be more compatible. I have spotted a few that Firefox doesn’t work on.
Anyways, the main reason I keep using IE is because of autoscroll. I really really like being able to hit the middle mouse button and just drag the mouse and have it scroll the page without my having to lean on the mouse or keyboard, good for reading stuff too if you don’t mind scrolling.
On IE it’s very smooth. The refresh is quick. On Mozilla browsers, the autoscroll plugin is flickery and choppy compared to IE. I wonder if it’s just the code, or if it will be permanently like this.
There are FireFox extentions that can enable this handy feature.
The feature you’re describing works perfectly for me with Firefox. I have a Logitech mouse, but doubt that’s the reason.
The reason why I asked is because of the speed increases in Mozilla as of late, I thought maybe they had already started
I mean, from Mozilla 1.5 to 1.6 was a HUGE leap in speed. I haven’t tried 1.7 yet, but apparently its even faster. So, just not sure why Mozilla has been slower than snot on a doorknob for so long, and then suddenly got speedy. My only explanation was that maybe they had started to incorporate Firebird’s code.
My main reason for using Firebird/Firefox over Mozilla was the speed. And now that that isn’t really an issue anymore, the only thing I miss in Mozilla is the ability to edit bookmarks in personal toolbar folders by right clicking on them.
seriously would you get over the fact that two browsers are installed.
It is not a big deal.
i could understand hundreds of packages extra, but moz is used by numerous apps. Why is it such a BIG DEAL to have it installed.
move on
I love to see the mother ship developing. Been using it since 0.95 on Os X. That was slow. Now she is both fast and powerful. Still capable of being a desktop/ environment unto itself. I Find myself daydreaming about Moz and Plan 9
It’s annoying to have mozilla on my system. I just want a stinkin’ library for Galeon/Epiphany. ugh
The autoscroll function works for me also, and I have a microsoft mouse. I haven’t done anything special to enable it.
I started using Moz at 0.92 on Linux. I distinctly remember 0.95 being much, much faster and 0.96 was the debut of tabs.
I used to install every alpha/beta/final release up to 1.3a, but I stopped for no real reason except 1.2 did everything I wanted it to. Then there is phoenix/Firebird/Firefox.
All I can say is that the Moz people continue to make strides with every release. There are not so many new features coming out now as there were in the 0.95 to 1.3 days, but the suite continues to get faster and leaner. I hope their plans for the GRE (Gecko Runtime Environment) and componentizing Mozilla work out.
Because Mozilla is big and makes Epiphany pretty much irrelevant?
Lovechild: Did you tried a “lite” version of Gnome? I’m using gnome2-light under Gentoo. It doesn’t come with Epiphany but I can install Firefox instead…
In the future, the engine will be separated from the applications that use it, so you’ll be able to install the GRE (Gecko Runtime Environment), and have your Galeon (or Epiphany) without needing to install Seamonkey.
No, new speed enchantments are not related with firefox at all. They are totaly core engine related (Gecko). There was some serious string processing ant layout work going on behind the curtains. it is a fact that this kind of enhancements frst come to mozilla, and eventually to firefox.
Opera’s faster than Mozilla AND Firefox. Take that.
I have more interesting things to do than benchmarking interactive software. Take that.
Hi
I dont care about how fast opera is. Its a end user application and thats more than speed. so take your trolling elsewhere
Jess
I tried to use opera but I don’t see the need.
It looks neat but the ads take up to much screen space.
I see no reason to buy it since IE, Konqueror, Safari, Firefox etc… are free and are awesome (except for IE).
The is less fair as I last used opera at least a year ago if not more… It might have changed, but I remember that getting plugins was painful and display of IE only pages (other wise known as badly coded pages) was worste than on Firefox
I just hate it when Firefox puts those ugly icons on everything from webpages to images…
I hope this new icon is better.
My opinion is that it should show wether it is an image or a web page.
I don’t want it to show a lizard… Every user I try to switch to Firefox loves it but asks me what these lizard icons are… They really don’t need to know what application the file is associated with…
Yes, it’s a pain that Firefox takes over all kinds of associations. Just so you know, though, Firefox’s icon is a flaming fox, go figure. Mozilla uses the lizard (in reference to Godzilla I would assume).
New option: to prevent sites using Javascript to ‘Disable or replace context menues.’
What is a context menu?
Sorry for being such a dumb *ss!
1.7b launches *fast*. wow.
tried the new password manager screen (with ‘show passwords’, it’s excellent, I have so many passwords saved in this thing it’s nice to see them all and remove ones I know for sure I dont need.
and good move disabling image context menu hiding. I guess I can get rid of my little proxomitron filters and wget scripts to get around lame sites that dont let you save images
havent tested that feature out yet though, just toggled the option in prefs..
“What is a context menu?”
Better known as the right-click menu.
Font sizes can be enlarged with ^+ while keeping good page composition. This feature is designed much better than ie, opera, or kde/gnome browsers. Fonts are clean and good looking. This is good for an old man with poor eyesight.
“Font sizes can be enlarged with ^+ while keeping good page composition. This feature is designed much better than ie, opera, or kde/gnome browsers.”
No way. Opera’s zoom is way superior than the klunky mozilla way at keeping good page composition. Everything else is enlarged and graphics are smoothen, plus the page still manages to mantain its original width even when zoomed. Now thats what i call intelligent page composition.
Hi
“No way. Opera’s zoom is way superior than the klunky mozilla way at keeping good page composition. Everything else is enlarged and graphics are smoothen, plus the page still manages to mantain its original width even when zoomed. Now thats what i call intelligent page composition.
”
page size should be retained along with image size.of couse stupid opera doesnt know that
Karry
The enhanced page rendering engine is significantly faster, very noticable. Startup time is also very good! IMHO the 1.6 tree was a let down, but this new 1.7 tree looks extremely promising!
“page size should be retained along with image size.of couse stupid opera doesnt know that”
wow, just say what “should” be without giving any facts to back it up. somethings stupid around here, but it sure isnt opera. No it shouldnt. Its much more intuitive, when Zooming, to zoom all the content. Not just text, which would totally screw up alignments and content would wordwrap at wrong places sometimes rendering it unreadable. tables that dont go up in size will get misaligned and hard to read when just increasing the text. pictures which were designed porportinately to the length of text would be either too short or too long causing more text below it to misalign. What a mess. opera’s solution is much more elegant and practical in daily use.
Opera is great browser if you are low on system resources, otherwise I can’t see any real advantages compared to Mozilla/Firefox. I guess it’s a matter of taste as much as anything disregarding that.
Funny thing though, some sites renders correctly i Mozilla, but not i FOrefox. If the only difference is UI toolkit, I wonder why that can be?
Different code in Gecko perhaps since pretty surely your Mozilla build is not built on same day as your Firefox build.
Maybe. Idon’t know. What I do know is that those sites that don’t get the correct layout, has been consistently wrong/uncomfortable for as long as I have tried to switch to Firefox/Firebird/Phoenix while Mozilla has not. That would be a hole under the waterline to that theory, right?
Used mozilla and phoenix / fire* a lot lately, but I have nevre seen that .. what pages and versions are you talking about?
os