Firefox was created by Dave Hyatt and Blake Ross as an experimental branch of the Mozilla browser, first released as Firefox 1.0 on November 9, 2004. Starting with version 5.0, a rapid release cycle was put into effect, resulting in a new major version release every six weeks. This was gradually accelerated further in late 2019, so that new major releases occur on four-week cycles starting in 2020.[3]
In April 2011, the development process was split into several "channels", each working on a build in a different stage of development. The most recent available build is called "Nightly Builds" and offers the latest, untested features and updates. The "Aurora" build is up to six weeks behind "Nightly" and offers functionality that has undergone basic testing. As of version 35, the "Aurora" channel has been renamed to the "Developer Edition" channel.[4][5] The "Beta" channel is up to six weeks behind the "Aurora" build, for up to about twelve weeks compared to the most recent "Nightly" build. The "Beta" channel provides improved stability over the "Nightly" builds and is the first development milestone that has the "Firefox" logo. "Release" is the current official version of Firefox. Gecko version numbering is the same as the Firefox build version number, starting with 5.0 on Firefox 5.
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The stated aim of this faster-paced process is to get new features to users faster.[6] This accelerated release cycle was met with criticism by users, as it often broke add-on compatibility,[7] as well as those who believe Firefox was simply trying to increase its version number to compare with other browsers such as Google Chrome.[8]
Firefox 5 was released on June 21, 2011,[9] three months after the major release of Firefox 4. Firefox 5 is the first release in Mozilla's new rapid release plan, matching Google Chrome's rapid release schedule and rapid version number increments.[10] Firefox 5 has significantly improved the speed of web-related tasks, such as loading pages with combo boxes or MathML. Mozilla also integrated the HTML5 video WebM standard into the browser, allowing playback of WebM videos.[11]
Firefox 6 was released on August 16, 2011, introducing a permissions manager, new address bar highlighting (the domain name is black while the rest of the URL is gray[12]), streamlining the look of the site identity block, a quicker startup time, a ScratchPad JavaScript compiler, and many other new features. This update also brought the infamous feature that caused JavaScript entered in the address bar to not run.[13]
Firefox 7.0.1 was released a few days later, fixing a rare, but serious, issue with add-ons not being detected by the browser.[18] Some URLs are trimmed in the address bar, so the " scheme no longer appears, but " is still displayed. Trailing slashes on domains are also hidden, for example: becomes [12][19]
Firefox 8 was released on November 8, 2011[20] and prompts users about any previously installed add-ons. Upon installation, a dialog box prompted users to enable or disable the add-ons. Add-ons installed by third-party programs were disabled by default, but user-installed add-ons were enabled by default. Mozilla judged that third-party-installed add-ons were problematic, taking away user control, lagging behind on compatibility and security updates, slowing down Firefox startup and page loading time, and cluttering the interface with unused toolbars.[21]
Firefox 9 was released on December 20, 2011, includes various new features such as Type Inference, which boosts JavaScript performance up to 30%, improved theme integration for Mac OS X Lion, added two-finger swipe navigation for Mac OS X Lion, added support for querying Do Not Track status via JavaScript, added support for font-stretch, improved support for text-overflow, improved standards support for HTML5, MathML, and CSS, and fixed several security problems. It also features a large list of bug fixes.[22]
Firefox 10 and Firefox ESR 10 were released on January 31, 2012.[37][38] Firefox 10 added a full screen API and improved WebGL performance, support for CSS 3D Transforms and for anti-aliasing in the WebGL standard for hardware-accelerated 3D graphics. These WebGL updates mean that more complex site and Web app animations can render smoothly in Firefox, and that developers can animate 2D objects into 3D without plug-ins.[39][40] It also introduced a new CSS Style Inspector, which allow users to check out a site's structure and edit the CSS without leaving the browser.[37] Firefox 10 assumed all add-ons made for at least Firefox 4 were compatible. The add-on developer is able to alert Mozilla that the add-on is incompatible, overriding compatibility with version 10 or later. This new rule also does not apply to themes.[41]
Firefox 10 ESR is the first Extended Support Release (ESR) as previously on January 10, 2012, where the Mozilla Foundation announced the availability of an ESR version of Firefox.[42] Firefox ESR is intended for groups who deploy and maintain the desktop environment in large organizations such as universities and other schools, county or city governments and businesses. During the extended cycle, no new features will be added to a Firefox ESR; only high-risk/high-impact security vulnerabilities or major stability issues will be corrected.[43]
Firefox 11 was released on March 13, 2012. Firefox 11 introduced many new features, including migration of bookmarks and history from Google Chrome,[45] SPDY integrated services, .mw-parser-output .vanchor>:target.vanchor-textbackground-color:#b1d2ffPage Inspector Tilt (3D View), Add-on Sync, redesigned HTML5 video controls, and the Style Editor (CSS).[46] The update also fixed many bugs, and improved developer tools.[47]
Firefox 12 was released on April 24, 2012. Firefox 12 introduced few new features, but it made many changes and laid the ground work for future releases. Firefox 12 for Windows added the Mozilla Maintenance Service which can update Firefox to a newer version without a UAC prompt.[48] It also added line numbers in the "Page Source" and centered find in page results. There were 89 improvements to Web Console, Scratchpad, Style Editor, Page Inspector, Style Inspector, HTML view and Page Inspector 3D view (Tilt).[49] Many bugs were fixed, as well as many other minor under-the-hood changes.[50][51] Firefox 12 is the final release to support Windows 2000 and Windows XP RTM & SP1.[52][53]
Firefox 13 was released on June 5, 2012.[54] Starting with this version, Windows support was exclusively for Windows XP SP2/SP3, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Firefox 13 adds and updates several features, such as an updated new tab[55] and home tab page.[56] The updated new tab page is a feature similar to the Speed Dial already present in Opera, Google Chrome, Apple Safari, and Internet Explorer. The new tab page will display nine of the user's most visited websites, along with a cached image. In addition to the updated new tab and home tab page, Mozilla has added a user profile cleaner/reset, reduced hang times, and implemented tabs on demand.[57] The user profile cleaner/reset provides a way for users to fix Firefox errors and glitches that may occur.[58] Mozilla's tabs on demand restores tabs that were open in the previous session, but will keep the tabs unloaded until the user requests to view the page.[59]
Firefox 14 was released on June 26, 2012, for mobile devices only, just outside the regular release schedule of the web browser.[60] In order to sync the version numbers of the desktop and mobile versions of Firefox, Mozilla decided to release version 14.0.1 for both mobile and desktop on July 17, 2012, instead of Firefox 14 version 14.0 for the desktop and version 14.0.1 for mobile devices.[60]
Firefox 14 introduces a new hang detector (similar to how Mozilla currently collects other data) that allows Mozilla to collect, analyze, and identify the cause of the browser freezing/hanging. Mozilla uses this information to improve the responsiveness of Firefox for future releases.[61] In addition to tackling freezing and not-responding errors that occur because of Firefox, Mozilla implemented opt-in activation for plugins such as Flash and Java. Mozilla wants to reduce potential problems that could arise through the unwanted use of third-party applications (malware, freezing, etc.).[62]
Firefox 15 was released on August 28, 2012, with a "Responsive Design View" developer tool,[63] adds support for the Opus audio format, and adds preliminary native PDF support (disabled by default).[64]
Firefox 15 introduced silent updates, an automatic update that will update Firefox to the latest version without notifying the user,[65] a feature that the web browsers Google Chrome and Internet Explorer 8 and above have already implemented,[66][67] although the user was able to disable that function.[68] The startup time in Firefox 15 was improved for Windows users.[69]
Firefox 16 was released on October 9, 2012, fixing outstanding bugs of the new features in Mac OS X Lion. There were improvements made to startup speed when a user wants to restore a previous session.[70] Support for viewing PDF files inline was added in placement of a plugin. Support for web apps was added. Opus audio format is now enabled by default.[71]
The roll-out of Firefox 16 revision 16.0.0 was stopped on October 10, 2012, after Mozilla detected a security flaw and recommended downgrading to 15.0.1 until the issue could be fixed.[72] The security flaw was fixed in version 16.0.1, which was released the following day, October 11, 2012.[73]
Firefox 17 and Firefox ESR 17 were released on November 20, 2012.[95] It was not planned to bring as many user-facing features as previous releases, it brings improved display of location bar results,[96] improvements to the silent update mechanism for users with incompatible add-ons,[97] and refinements to the Click-To-Play system introduced in Firefox 14.[98] A new feature for developers, an HTML tree editor[99] is also included. Firefox 17 is the first version of the browser that uses SpiderMonkey 17.[100] 2ff7e9595c
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