

Firefox 7 Live: Download Here - lforrest
http://www.mozilla.org/firefox/new/

======
gkoberger
Desktop highlights:

* Drastically improved memory handling for certain use cases

* Added a new rendering backend to speed up Canvas operations on Windows systems

* Bookmark and password changes now sync almost instantly when using Firefox Sync

* The '<http://> URL prefix is now hidden by default

* Added support for text-overflow: ellipsis

* Added support for the Web Timing specification

* Enhanced support for MathML

* The WebSocket protocol has been updated from version 7 to version 8

* Added an opt-in system for users to send performance data back to Mozilla to improve future versions of Firefox

* Fixed several stability issues

* Fixed several security issues

[http://blog.mozilla.com/blog/2011/09/27/mozilla-firefox-
sign...](http://blog.mozilla.com/blog/2011/09/27/mozilla-firefox-
significantly-reduces-memory-use-to-make-web-browsing-faster/)

\--

Android highlights:

* Android-style Copy & Paste

* Ability to quit

* Use Firefox in your language

* WebSocket API

[http://blog.mozilla.com/blog/2011/09/27/firefox-for-
android-...](http://blog.mozilla.com/blog/2011/09/27/firefox-for-android-
empowers-developers-to-build-seamless-web-experiences/)

[Edit] Updated the list of highlights

~~~
jimktrains2
>* The '<http://> URL prefix is now hidden by default

I hate that:( I hate that they removed the rss button too:(

~~~
ck2
RSS urlbar icon <https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/rss-icon/>

~~~
starwed
That's weird -- the icon is still there, but not default, and it just takes
about two clicks to restore it.

So what's the purpose of the addon?

~~~
ck2
You mean the icon in customize? You cannot put that one inside the urlbar.

~~~
starwed
Aha, all is now clear. (I really liked the idea of the RSS button when they
added it, but never actually ended up using it...)

------
gcp
IMHO quite importantly, this version also includes a list of Microsoft fonts
that don't render well with DirectWrite, and will switch back to GDI font
rendering for those.

On my machine, this fixes the "fuzzy fonts" issue that existed since Firefox 4
if you enabled hardware acceleration.

~~~
demetris
Thanks for the information! I first noticed the improvement in Aurora and
Nightly builds, and was wondering what they did to fix the problem.

Here is some more information I just found for anyone interested:

Main bug report:

<https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=661471>

The two new preferences:

gfx.font_rendering.cleartype_params.force_gdi_classic_for_families

gfx.font_rendering.cleartype_params.force_gdi_classic_max_size

And a post talking in detail about the issue:

[http://blog.mozilla.com/nattokirai/2011/08/11/directwrite-
te...](http://blog.mozilla.com/nattokirai/2011/08/11/directwrite-text-
rendering-in-firefox-6/)

------
code_duck
Why would I go there to download a new version of Firefox? I went to 'About
Firefox', it downloaded a 10 MB update, restarted, and here's Firefox 7.

~~~
Qz
Consider the case of not having Firefox already installed.

~~~
diminish
As a user of Firefox since 0.x versions, I am happy FF still keeps up with
nice updates in 2011 and onwards.

------
Urgo
* Drastically improved memory handling for certain use cases

^^ apparently not the use cases I use. FF7's been running for about 12 hours
on my win7 box and is using over a gig of ram just like normal...

It started off good but then just kept growing over the hours. Nothing really
improved here. :(

~~~
nailer
> FF7's been running for about 12 hours on my win7 box and is using over a gig
> of ram just like normal...

Are you looking at resident set size (aka real memory), versus virtual set
size (aka virtual memory)?

The memory VMs in both Windows and Linux kernels will happily let an app
malloc all they want until they hit the userspace address limit, with no
affect on performance. It's only when those apps use the memory that there's a
perf hit.

------
onedognight
I thought the point of Mozilla's new release scheme was that we don't have to
download anything anymore. The updates just come to us, as if by magic.
<https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Updating%20Firefox>

~~~
CWuestefeld
But extensions are still version dependent.

I was just about to update my installation, but it told me that my Roboform
extension isn't compatible with v7.

If they allow the application to update when it wants, they're going to
quickly render me unable to use Firefox, since I won't be able to log into
secure web sites.

~~~
WalterGR
_I was just about to update my installation, but it told me that my Roboform
extension isn't compatible with v7._

How do you get to that information prior to the upgrade?

I've only realized extensions were incompatible _after_ updating, because
Firefox disables them.

~~~
mbrubeck
Did you receive the update automatically, or did you download and install it
manually? If you are using automatic updates, Firefox should ask before
updating if any of your add-ons will be disabled.

~~~
WalterGR
My experience is that if I click "Check for updates" and an update happens to
be available, then there's no way to prevent that update from being installed,
even if it causes add-ons to be disabled.

------
allertonm
Great. So now I have to be _two_ versions behind if I need to use GWT hosted
mode.

(Grrr... yet more evidence of G's gradual sunsetting of GWT.)

~~~
techdmn
I came here to see if anyone had anything to say about this. Hadn't heard
rumblings about sunsetting GWT, but the conspiracy portion of my brain
wondered if Google not trying too hard to keep the plugin up to date was a
subtle push for GWT dev's to move to Chrome. :)

Last I checked the plugin for FF6 can be found here:
[http://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=https://dl.google.com/d...](http://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=https://dl.google.com/dl/gwt/plugins/firefox/1.0.10582/gwt-
dev-plugin.xpi&usg=AFQjCNE1fEGhqK6BxLJNcYAlYMlPYN6Jhg)

More discussion here: [http://groups.google.com/group/google-web-
toolkit/browse_thr...](http://groups.google.com/group/google-web-
toolkit/browse_thread/thread/48d34a9fb54af7e6/bfc299c964a61172)

~~~
allertonm
Well, the main evidence for me can be found in the leaked "Dart/Dash" memo,
where GWT is referenced a few times:

"The JSPrime effort was begun to unify and be a (single!) successor to GWT and
Closure/JSCompiler"

"What is the future of the JSCompiler and GWT? JSCompiler and GWT were already
on a merger path. This effort gives us a direction for that unification around
the Dash language. _We will actively support teams for a long time on the
current generation of JSCompiler and GWT_ and provide fantastic co-existence
and migration tools to Dash."

See: <http://markmail.org/message/uro3jtoitlmq6x7t>

(My emphasis added. I read that as "maintenance mode".)

(Edit: thanks for the heads-up on the FF6 version of the plugin - but I guess
I have now missed the two-week window where both FF6 and the compatible
version of the plugin where available to download!)

~~~
DenisM
Whoa! I had no idea, thanks for sharing. This needs its own submission, so
that more people can see it.

------
StuffMaster
>The '<http://> URL prefix is now hidden by default

This can be changed back with browser.urlbar.trimURLs in about:config. They
should've provided an option for it.

~~~
sambe
No, they really shouldn't. If you care, you already know about about:prefs.

~~~
nitrogen
This is one example of a devastatingly common category of assumptions. Never
assume that the set of people who care about something is the same as the set
of people who know how to fix it. Similarly, distrust statements of the form,
"Anyone who is/does/has X already knows about Y."

I myself have been bitten by this assumption when I discovered a new subject
for study (e.g. math, entity formation, physics, a new programming language,
etc.), but found most of the web pages related to the subject assumed that all
those interested in the subject were already fully knowledgeable about it.

------
danso
The designer sitting next to me is most excited about this: >* Added support
for text-overflow: ellipsis

~~~
allertonm
This one drove me nuts. Many developers were achieving the same result in
firefox 3.6 and earlier using an XUL hack - but in FF4, the ability to do that
XUL hack was removed for (valid) security reasons - but without addressing the
text-overflow: ellipsis issue for which they'd had an open bug tracker entry
for about 5 years. There were many complaints about this months before FF4 was
released but they went ahead anyway.

------
codecaine
After Firefox 4 came out I had to install so many extensions to make it feel
like 3.6 that it became unstable and incredibly slow. Because Firefox
apparently tries to be more like Chrome I decided to switch to the original
and I haven't looked back yet. I only fire up Firefox when Chromes built-in
developer tools lack functionality compared to Firebug, which is rarely the
case. The way Firefox decided to take makes me really sad, as I was a big
Firefox supporter, until they screwed me over with the new UI. I hope this is
not too off topic, but I never got the chance to comment on the changes.

~~~
afhof
I actually still run 3.6 since I like the UI on it better. The speed of the
browser means very little to me, I'd rather have the familiar UI. If you liked
FF 3.6, why not stick with it?

~~~
hollerith
And FF 7 (which I've been using for about 5 months now) is not even
_noticeably_ faster than 3.6 on my usage pattern. In fact it seems to spend
more time with an unresponsive UI than 3.6.

------
AshleysBrain
Great! Love the new canvas renderer. Anyone know when they're planning to add
generational GC or other improvements to the GC? It's making some HTML5 games
choppy as far as I can tell.

~~~
gcp
Smooth animation would require shorter GC pauses, i.e. incremental GC.

<https://wiki.mozilla.org/Platform/Features/Incremental_GC>

The implementation seems to be in active progress, which means it's going to
take at least a few more versions to make it to stable.

------
davemo
If you're looking for an updated version of Firequery
(<http://firequery.binaryage.com/>) I patched and submitted a pull request:
<https://github.com/davemo/firequery/tree/firefox7>

Until it's officially accepted you can fork, build it with rake and have
yourself a working copy for Firefox 7 :)

------
beefman
Still no 64-bit version? I can't find a clear page on the status of Mozilla's
x64 stuff.

~~~
ozten
Firefox reflects the general state of x64 adoption:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox#64-bit_builds>

------
asymmetric
why is the channels[1] page never up-to-date? the 'download beta' link still
sends 7.0 - if they don't want to confuse people, they should try to be more
consisten across their site (which is in general not very well thought-out in
my opinion)

[1]: <http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/channel/>

~~~
mbrubeck
The Aurora and Beta channel updates are released a few days after the stable
channel update. See the text on
<https://wiki.mozilla.org/RapidRelease/Calendar> \- or for even more details
see [http://blog.mozilla.com/channels/2011/05/11/merge-dates-
vs-r...](http://blog.mozilla.com/channels/2011/05/11/merge-dates-vs-release-
dates/)

~~~
asymmetric
"Code is not always released to users on the same day as the branch migration.
The release to users may be a few days later, to allow for manual testing and
sign-off."

I think this is confusing. Either you synch the switch (i.e. when you release
the "release" version to users you release the "beta" too), or it doesn't make
a whole lot of sense.

------
Maro
I upgraded, but Fast Dial is broken on 7.0, so I downgraded to 6.0.2.
Hopefully it'll get fixed soon.

------
itswindy
I like this BUT addons need to catch up and for many it's impossible due to
such frequent changes.

~~~
AaronMT
99% of the add-ons that are hosted on <http://addons.mozilla.org> are
compatible and had been automatically updated to be compatible. Can you list
which ones you use that are not?

~~~
itswindy
My most important one, roboform is coming as 'will be disabled.'

~~~
simcop2387
This may be because roboform proper isn't hosted on addons.mozilla.org, so
they can't vouch for it or bump the version for you. The Roboform Lite that is
on addons.mozilla.org is properly marked.

[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/roboform-
onli...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/roboform-online-
password-manag/)

------
twodayslate
I have been having terrible freeze issues with 6.x so hopefully this update
fixes it.

~~~
asadotzler
what OS? what extensions do you have installed? I'm very interested in your
freezes. can you say more?

~~~
xuhu
I've had these as well. Firefox 6 on win7-32, with latest Adblock-Plus,
Firebug(usually disabled), Flashblock, Greasemonkey, Noscript(in allow-
everything mode), Foxit plugin, latest Flash, no antivirus, no other media
plugins.

~~~
starwed
Just read this and thought of your comment...

[http://blog.bonardo.net/2011/09/30/is-your-firefor-
freezing-...](http://blog.bonardo.net/2011/09/30/is-your-firefor-freezing-at-
regular-intervals)

~~~
twodayslate
That sounds like my bug. Hopefully this fixes it! Thanks!

------
rednaught
Nice to see Web Timing support make it into this catching up with Chrome and
IE.

------
dekz
Anyone know a reason the auto updater goes from 5.0 -> 6.0.2 -> 7.0?

~~~
mbrubeck
It looks like some of the old configurations on the update server have not
been updated to reflect the latest release; some details at
<http://bugzil.la/689004>

------
artursapek
Looking at the features, it looks like they're fashioning the UI after
Chrome's. The reload/stop button and tabs on top are new, and what is an
"Awesome Bar" but an omnibar?

~~~
spwert
An omnibar that predates the omnibar.

