Firefox Beta 4 (Win)

[drachma]

Firefox 3 Beta 4

Although it's in the "nightly" folder...it appears to be packaged up as a beta build. (Also I don't believe the .exe has been signed for Vista, but otherwise I would think the build is the same considering their beta 4 code freeze was 2/26? -- eagerly waiting beta 5 now)

Windows

http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/fir...7-firefox3.0b4/

Linux

http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/fir...8-firefox3.0b4/

Updated -- sorry wrong original linky :)

Edited March 4, 2008 by johnorien

[gigapixels Veteran]

No Windows builds yet? :(

EDIT: Here is another folder, tagged as beta 4, with Windows & Mac builds.

[Ayepecks]

I'm downloading the Win32 build now :blink:

[k776]

When this release becomes official, let me know. I generally avoid nightly releases.

[Azusa]

Am i the the only one who is missing 3?

[1Frothy]

Well this is exciting :cool: but I might just wait for Beta 4 to be released by Mozilla before I download.

[giga Veteran]

And...it's a nightly.

[Avi]

There's still a long way until the official Beta 4... http://wiki.mozilla.org/Releases/Firefox_3.0b4

[drachma]

There's still a long way until the official Beta 4... http://wiki.mozilla.org/Releases/Firefox_3.0b4

Cool. Didn't know of such wiki page.

[ckgni]

After testing Firefox 3 beta versions, I have been completely disappointed... I remain with Firefox 2 at least till the FF3 Final becomes available.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

For what it's worth: The build string of the latest nightly builds (to be found here) has been bumped up to 3.0b5 pre, and release candidates for 3.0 Beta 4 are available here.

I think beta 5 is going to end up being Firefox 3.0 RC 1soon-ish.

Edit: The XP theme was refined again. The site icon now matches the 'keyhole' design:

Edited March 4, 2008 by Mephistopheles

[ckgni]

What I hate more on Firefox 3:

- On Firefox 2 when I hit Ctrl+T to open a new tab, the cursor focus automatically in the address bar, so I can start typing a web address immediately. On FF 3 this does not happen. So, I have to:

1) hit Ctrl+T

2) click with the mouse on the address

3) start typing

Maybe it sounds not to be a big issue, but it is something I do hundreds of times every day and I loose time.

- The auto-complete address by history just sucks. I type an address and I press Enter, but Firefox 3 does not open the address I typed. It opens the first selected address from the history. For instance:

Previously I had opened a site www.thesite.com/file.html

Later I go the the address bar and type www.thesite.com... but it does not open this. It automatically select www.thesite.com/file.html from the autocomplete drop down, so if I click Enter, it opens this.

- The "Go" button from the address bar has gone. I used it a lot on FF2 when I needed to reload a site without hitting Refresh (and waiting for ages for all the images to reload)

So, I will stay with FF2

Edited March 4, 2008 by ckgni

[tunafish]

i really hate the whole new GUI they got there. The buttons are huge.

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9b5pre) Gecko/2008030405 Minefield/3.0b5pre

Edited March 4, 2008 by tunafish

[Kristian]

What I hate more on Firefox 3:

- On Firefox 2 when I hit Ctrl+T to open a new tab, the cursor focus automatically in the address bar, so I can start typing a web address immediately. On FF 3 this does not happen. So, I have to:

1) hit Ctrl+T

2) click with the mouse on the address

3) start typing

Maybe it sounds not to be a big issue, but it is something I do hundreds of times every day and I loose time.

- The auto-complete address by history just sucks. I type an address and I press Enter, but Firefox 3 does not open the address I typed. It opens the first selected address from the history. For instance:

Previously I had opened a site www.thesite.com/file.html

Later I go the the address bar and type www.thesite.com... but it does not open this. It automatically select www.thesite.com/file.html from the autocomplete drop down, so if I click Enter, it opens this.

- The "Go" button from the address bar has gone. I used it a lot on FF2 when I needed to reload a site without hitting Refresh (and waiting for ages for all the images to reload)

So, I will stay with FF2

I'm using the latest nightly and your Ctrl+T problems are no where to be found.

The same about the auto-complete issues.

[Hurmoth]

I'm using the latest nightly and your Ctrl+T problems are no where to be found.

The same about the auto-complete issues.

Not happening here either.

[shakey_snake]

What I hate more on Firefox 3:

- On Firefox 2 when I hit Ctrl+T to open a new tab, the cursor focus automatically in the address bar, so I can start typing a web address immediately. On FF 3 this does not happen. So, I have to:

1) hit Ctrl+T

2) click with the mouse on the address

3) start typing

Maybe it sounds not to be a big issue, but it is something I do hundreds of times every day and I loose time.

This is how it works in fx3 beta3 as well. I imagine this functionality will be restored, but that's the risk you run when using a minefield nightly build.

- The auto-complete address by history just sucks. I type an address and I press Enter, but Firefox 3 does not open the address I typed. It opens the first selected address from the history. For instance:

Previously I had opened a site www.thesite.com/file.html

Later I go the the address bar and type www.thesite.com... but it does not open this. It automatically select www.thesite.com/file.html from the autocomplete drop down, so if I click Enter, it opens this.

You are ether wong, or encountering another nightly-specific bug. If you are only pressing enter after typing something it should attempt to go to the URL you've typed, or do a google "I'm feeling lucky search" if it's not an actual URL, just like all versions of Fx have done.

As for the order of results, this gets better the more you use it. It scores your results based on how often you select something and how recently you've done so. So if you you frequently visit www.thesite.com then www.thesite.com/file.html will quickly move down in the results and www.thesite.com/ will reemerge on top. This is certainly an improvement in functionality over simple auto complete.

- The "Go" button from the address bar has gone. I used it a lot on FF2 when I needed to reload a site without hitting Refresh (and waiting for ages for all the images to reload)

The Go button appears when you are typing something into the URLbar.

Images have never reloaded by simply pressing the reload button, they've always loaded from the cache. You've always had to "super reload" by pressing Shift + Reload to reload everything from the web. This could again be a regression in this nightly build.

Edited March 4, 2008 by shakey_snake

[Smitjel]

<gripe>

That default theme for Windows is hideous. Why can't they just stick with simple, consistent icons like FF2? What's this keyhole crap...why did they waste their time with that?

People make custom skins/themes if they want a radical look to the browser. By default, KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID! Now you'll have to go download someone's FF2 theme for FF3 on each install. I guess that's a fair tradeoff IF they've fixed the performace issues. :rolleyes:

</gripe>

[Ayepecks]

Beta 5 is out.

My Minefield is currently downloading it. It literally just came out.

[PyX]

MY. GOD. The back and forward buttons are one of the ugliest thing I've ever seen in OS X... what's wrong with them!? It was okay in Beta 2 or 3.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Beta 5 is out.

My Minefield is currently downloading it. It literally just came out.

That's beta 5 pre... the build string of the latest nightly was bumped up.

[what]

MY. GOD. The back and forward buttons are one of the ugliest thing I've ever seen in OS X... what's wrong with them!? It was okay in Beta 2 or 3.

I'm beginning to wonder whether any of the Mozilla developers use a Mac as their main computer. No application looks like that. As you said, the older versions of the skin, when they didn't have the keyhole design, were much, much better.

[tsupersonic]

Well, here is 3.0b5pre (2008030405) in Vista:

BTW, I added the Home and Add Tab buttons next on the navigation toolbar.

[ViperAFK]

Wow beta 4 is FAST, this seems to blow away opera, ff2 and ie in rendering speed, it uses alot less memory too and the gui is much more responsive.

[KeeperOfThePizza]

firefox is getting better and better.

[tsupersonic]

Using Hulu and Neowin, I'm at 121 MB and 93 MB Virtual

Another update: 3.05bpre is using RAM just like Firefox always does. Just 60MB on this site alone. Way to go Mozilla. /sarcasm

Edited March 4, 2008 by tsupersonic