Firefox 8 Hits Beta Channel, Brings Twitter Search

Posted 09/30/2011 at 9:27pm | by Pulkit Chandna

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Time and browser updates wait for no one. Even though Firefox 7’s reign as the latest stable release of the browser is just two days old, the countdown to version 8 has already begun. Firefox 8 is now available in the beta channel for testing on Windows, Mac, Linux and Android.

If Mozilla focused on reducing the browser's memory appetite while developing Firefox 7, it’s all about delivering a more convenient browsing experience with version 8. “This beta adds features and user interface elements that make browsing easier and tools that help developers build more secure and innovative Web experiences,” Mozilla wrote in a blog post.

With the latest beta, Twitter search finally gets its rightful place in the pantheon of web services included in the browser’s built-in search box by default. If that does not excite you, now you can restore tabs on demand, “resulting in faster start-up times when windows with lots of tabs are restored.” This feature can be enabled by going to the General Tab under Options. According to Mozilla, tabs are now easier to “tear off” thanks to “animated tab movement.”

The beta also packs a number of developer-specific enhancements:

• CORS for WebGL textures: Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) enables Web developers to load textures from other domains for WebGL in a secure way.
• WebSockets updates: Firefox now prevents the use of plaintext WebSockets when created from an SSL page, which improves security for users.
• HTML5 Native Right Click Menu: Web developers can now add items directly to the Firefox right click menu using simple HTML5 markup.
• HTML5 media elements: Developers can add a lot of video and audio elements to a website without impacting performance.