Firefox 29 (new interface) released: Find out what is new

[shamu726]

Firefox 29 ships with an interface redesign called Australis, a new customization mode that goes along with it, and a redesigned Firefox Sync synchronization feature that is incompatible with the old.

Mozilla will make available Firefox 29 to all users of the stable version of the web browser over the course of the next 24 hour period.

Existing Firefox 28 installations will be updated to Firefox 29 in that period if they have enabled automatic updates in the browser. The same is true for Beta, Aurora and Nightly versions of the browser which will receive an update to the next version as well, in this case version 30, 31 and 32 respectively.

The update to Firefox 29 is already available on the official Mozilla FTP repository and third-party sites. While you may head over to one of those download locations right now, it is usually better to wait until the release is officially announced as last minute changes may replace the current build with a different one.

You can check which version of Firefox you are running by tapping on Alt, and selecting Help > About Firefox from the options menu. Alternatively, load about:support in the browser's address bar right away.

If you plan to download the new version, note that net-installers are provided by default. If you want full installers, check out our Firefox full installation guide.

Since this is release with major changes, you may also be interested in testing it before you make the upgrade.

Firefox 29 Changes

Firefox 29 features a major interface rebuild that Mozilla named Australis internally. A tutorial is displayed on first start to users who upgrade to Firefox 29 which aims to highlight the major changes of the new interface to users to make adaption easier.

A set of new improvements to the Firefox user interface

As mentioned earlier, Firefox 29 ships with a new interface that moves, removes and changes interface elements of the browser.

The new interface is an improvement according to Mozilla, as it is simplified and flexible. It "helps you get things done, faster" thanks to the new tabs design, and the new customization menu.

The first thing you may notice is that the Firefox button is gone, replaced by a Hamburger button on the opposite side of the interface.

You may also notice the curved tabs, that the add-on bar is gone (if you had enabled it), that tabs are no longer displayed on the bottom (if you had them there), that the bookmarks icon has been merged with the bookmarks button and moved out of the address bar, that you cannot move some interface elements such as the back and forward buttons anymore, that buttons are displayed larger (small button mode is gone), and that there is no option to display icons and text in the interface anymore.

You can bring back the majority of interface elements that were removed by installing add-ons. Read our guide on how to do so here.

A redesigned and improved customization mode

The new customize mode displays directly in a browser tab. It allows you to drag and drop most toolbar elements and icons displayed under additional tools and features, to the browser UI.

Note that browser UI in this regard means the main Firefox toolbar, the bookmarks toolbar that you can display additionally, and the new Firefox menu.

You can customize the new menu to your liking, as the majority of icons displayed here by default can be removed. Only the bottom links and buttons starting with "sign in to Sync" cannot be removed or moved.

What is interesting here is that you can move add-on icons to the menu as well, and may need to do so if you have not installed an extension to bring back the add-on bar or another toolbar.

The core reason here is that all add-on icons are now displayed in the main toolbar as well. If you have many, you may notice that not all are displayed here as Firefox cuts them off so that enough room for the address bar and search bar remains.

An interactive onboarding tour to guide users through new interface changes

The tour walks you through some of the new features. Here it is in its full glory:

The ability to set up Firefox Sync by creating a Firefox account

Mozilla decided to redesign Firefox's data synchronization feature and introduce it in Firefox 29. While existing Sync users can still use the old synchronization feature for the time being -- but not add new devices to it anymore -- it will be disabled in the future.

I have published a guide that explains how you can set up the new Firefox Sync on your system. The major change is that you need an email address to set up an account now.

You do use the email address and a password now on all devices once set up to enable the synchronization, so that you do not have to juggle around with keys anymore to do the same.

Note that you will create a Firefox Account in the process.

It is still possible to set up and use custom Firefox sync servers.

Gamepad API finalized and enabled

The gamepad API should have been included in Firefox 28 originally but has now found its way into Firefox 29 instead.It was available since Firefox 24, but disabled and had to be enabled on about:config by setting dom.gamepad.enabled to true there. This is no longer the case.

It adds gamepad support to the Firefox web browser which web developers can now utilize for their games.

Additional information about the API are available here.

Other changes

• Malay [ma] locale added
• Text Rendering issue on Windows 7. Workaround involves setting the preference layout.paint_rects_separately to true in about:config.

Developer changes

• navigator.plugins is no longer enumerable, for user privacy. This means that it is no longer possible to enumerate the nagivator.plugins array and compare it with plugin names to get a full listing of all installed plugins.
• The add-on bar has been removed. It can no longer be a target for extension icons.
• Clicking on a W3C Web Notification will switch to the originating tab.
• Australis Toolbar changes
• Australis CustomizableUI
• SharedWorker enabled by default (JavaScript Shared Web Workers in HTML5)
• Promises enabled by default.
• <input type="number"> implemented and enabled.
• <input type="color"> implemented and enabled.
• 'box-sizing' (dropping the -moz- prefix) implemented.
• Enabled ECMAScript Internationalization API
• Console object available in Web Workers
• Web console improvements such as arrays shown inline now.
• Network Monitor shows pie chart performance statistics.
• CSS source map now supported by Style Editor.
• Auto-completion of CSS properties and styles in Style Editor.

Firefox 29 for Android

The Android version of Firefox shares many features with the desktop version. The following major changes have been introduced in Firefox 29 for the Android operating system.

• The Bing search engine supports search suggestions now which you can enable in the settings under Customize > Search.
• You can now set up the new Firefox Sync on Android as well.
• New quick share buttons were added.
• Open Web Apps integration improved. Firefox will repackage a web app from Fx29 on so that it integrates better with the rest of the system.
• Performance improvements

Security updates / fixes

MFSA 2014-47 Debugger can bypass XrayWrappers with JavaScript

MFSA 2014-46 Use-after-free in nsHostResolve

MFSA 2014-45 Incorrect IDNA domain name matching for wildcard certificates

MFSA 2014-44 Use-after-free in imgLoader while resizing images

MFSA 2014-43 Cross-site scripting (XSS) using history navigations

MFSA 2014-42 Privilege escalation through Web Notification API

MFSA 2014-41 Out-of-bounds write in Cairo

MFSA 2014-40 Firefox for Android addressbar suppression

MFSA 2014-39 Use-after-free in the Text Track Manager for HTML video

MFSA 2014-38 Buffer overflow when using non-XBL object as XBL

MFSA 2014-37 Out of bounds read while decoding JPG images

MFSA 2014-36 Web Audio memory corruption issues

MFSA 2014-35 Privilege escalation through Mozilla Maintenance Service Installer

MFSA 2014-34 Miscellaneous memory safety hazards (rv:29.0 / rv:24.5)

Impact key:

• Critical: Vulnerability can be used to run attacker code and install software, requiring no user interaction beyond normal browsing.
• High: Vulnerability can be used to interact gather sensitive data from other sites the user is visiting or inject data or code into those sites, requiring no more than normal browsing actions.
• Moderate: Vulnerabilities that would otherwise be High or Critical except they only work in uncommon non-default configurations or require the user to perform complicated and/or unlikely steps.

Additional information / sources

• Firefox 29 release notes
• Firefox 29 Android release notes
• Add-on compatibility for Firefox 29
• Firefox 29 for developers
• Hacks Mozilla on Firefox 29 developer changes
• Site compatibility for Firefox 29
• Firefox Security Advisories

Source: ghacks.net

Edited April 29, 2014 by shamu726

[banned]

Don't like it. Don't want tabs in title bar.. Disabled it. Tabs are too large. Can't move toolbar buttons where I want them.. Any steps forward? Two steps back.

[Arizin]

Firefox just turned into Chrome and the Sync is incompatible with the old.

END OF AN ERA

[OG1502]

Firefox just turned into Chrome and the Sync is incompatible with the old.

END OF AN ERA

True, but for the better. Sync is objectively better and there's plenty of substantive reasons for the redesign.

Firefox is faster¹, lighter, and now just as aesthetically pleasing as Chrome. Not to mention that user privacy is of utmost emphasis.

The end of an old era, and beginning of a new, indeed.

¹http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/chrome-27-firefox-21-opera-next,3534-12.html

Edited April 29, 2014 by OG1502

[spudboy]

Just use the Classic Theme Restorer add-on & all is well. :)

[Gamkutopolowk]

I HAVE FIREFOX 29 WITH FT DEPPDARK 10BETA17 look fanstatic theme :)

[dMog]

the new sync is way better than the old one

[locolol]

If you don't like the new interface,use Palemoon :) !

[SPECTRUM]

Don't want tabs in title bar..

tabs are like that in v28 too and earlier.

Tabs are too large.

more tabs you have, more small they become, so is normal, like in most of the browsers.

Can't move toolbar buttons where I want them.. Any steps forward?

you can customise and move/remove them wherever you want, even more better tan before.

[Myna]

Firefox 29 is faster than the old versions..... And I like how we can handle the addon icons. Its better now. The only thing I don't like is the vintage British Tab caps.... :P

[Roy W]

NOT very impressed with this "New" version.

What happened to the Navigation Bar?

[Labradoodle]

Good thing i'm using waterfox as my default browser nowadays and never looked back. Been a happy camper eversince... :thumbsup:

[Purple Trail]

Don't want tabs in title bar..

tabs are like that in v28 too and earlier.

In Firefox 28 and earlier there is a flag to disable tabs on top, it's called "browser.tabs.onTop" and it was removed in Firefox 29.

[Tucker]

If you dislike the blue top when on windows classic mode, try this theme called Windows plain. :cheers:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/windows-plain/

[948bennett]

uninstalled the maintence and sticking with firefox 28 for now

[Roy W]

@948bennet done the same and will stick with 28.0.

[Lacius]

uninstalled the maintence and sticking with firefox 28 for now

That's a great way to make yourself vulnerable to known security holes. If you want to be less stupid, you can do one of the following:

1. Install Firefox 29.0 and get over it
2. Install Firefox 29.0 and an add-on like Classic Theme Restorer
3. Install Firefox 24.4.0esr
4. Switch to a different web browser

[shamu726]

Updated article with list of security updates.

Edited April 29, 2014 by shamu726

[SPECTRUM]

Don't want tabs in title bar..

tabs are like that in v28 too and earlier.

In Firefox 28 and earlier there is a flag to disable tabs on top, it's called "browser.tabs.onTop" and it was removed in Firefox 29.

now is even more easy, just enter in options and enable "Title Bar" button.

Edited April 29, 2014 by SPECTRUM

[shamu726]

For those who keep complaining about the new interface just use Classic Theme Restorer (Customize Australis). It has every option (and then some) to customize the interface.

:)

[Arizin]

Firefox just turned into Chrome and the Sync is incompatible with the old.

END OF AN ERA

True, but for the better. Sync is objectively better and there's plenty of substantive reasons for the redesign.

Firefox is faster¹, lighter, and now just as aesthetically pleasing as Chrome. Not to mention that user privacy is of utmost emphasis.

The end of an old era, and beginning of a new, indeed.

¹http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/chrome-27-firefox-21-opera-next,3534-12.html

Does it start faster?

[Purple Trail]

Don't want tabs in title bar..

tabs are like that in v28 too and earlier.

In Firefox 28 and earlier there is a flag to disable tabs on top, it's called "browser.tabs.onTop" and it was removed in Firefox 29.

now is even more easy, just enter in options and enable "Title Bar" button.

My mistake, you guys are talking about a different thing. I was referring to the option of having the tabs on bottom, which was removed in Firefox 29.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/put-tabs-back-on-bottom

Edited April 30, 2014 by Purple Trail

[sujith]

Hey guys have u seen this.

In FF 29, if you remove everything from the menu(using customisation mode),

you will then see a unicorn in the menu.Interesting. :)

.

[shamu726]

My mistake, you guys are talking about a different thing. I was referring to the option of having the tabs on bottom, which was removed in Firefox 29.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/put-tabs-back-on-bottom

Classic Theme Restorer (Customize Australis) has option to disable tabs at top:

[jilowjacob1990]

Where is innovation, FF? GUI,looks even worse than chrome.

Edited April 30, 2014 by jilowjacob1990