Firefox 34: Find Out What Is New

[shamu726]

Mozilla is rolling out updates for specific versions of the web browser. If you are running a non-stable build you may have already received updates last week as Mozilla postponed the release of the stable version and the ESR version by one week to get additional development time to stabilize development.

 

This means that stable users will receive the upgrade to version 34, Beta users to 35, Developer Edition (former Aurora) users to version 36, and Nightly users to 37.

 

In fact, some version have already been upgraded by Mozilla in the past but the stable update is definitely coming this week.

 

To find out which version and channel you are running type about:support in the browser's address bar and hit enter. You find the information listed under Application Basics there.

 

Firefox 34 Download

 

 

Mozilla will make available the update to Firefox 34 in a bit. As always, it is already available on the official (and public) ftp server from where it can be downloaded.

 

Several third-party downloads sites are also hosting the Firefox 34 download already.

 

It is possible that Mozilla will push another version out to users if last minute changes demand it. It is best usually to wait for the official release announcement before the new version is downloaded.

 

Most users of the browser will receive the update via the built-in automatic update functionality but it will be made available on the official Mozilla website as well.

 

 

Firefox 34 Changes

 

Firefox 34 introduces several changes and improvements to the browser. The following paragraphs list the most important of them.

 

New Search Bar Behavior

 

 

I have reviewed this when it landed in Firefox Beta. It changes Firefox's separate search form that is displayed by default in several ways.

 

Most notable is the display of other search providers installed in the browser so that you can run searches using them instead of the default search engine with just a click.

 

Mozilla added a search tab to Firefox's options which you can use to manage the search providers more comfortably in the browser.

 

 

You can change the default search engine there and select which search engines you want displayed as one-click options in the search form.

 

Firefox users who don't like the change can disable it in the following way:

1. Type about:config in the browser's address bar and hit enter.
2. Confirm you will be careful if the prompt appears.
3. Search for browser.search.showOneOffButtons and set it to false.

Note: This is currently only available in the US version of Firefox.

 

 

Firefox Hello

 

 

This is a new real-time communication feature of Firefox using WebRTC. It enables you to communicate with friends, family and colleagues using the browser and nothing else.

 

What you may find interesting about it is that it does not require the creation of an account to communicate with other users. You have to exchange a link then. Users who don't mind the creation of accounts can use their Firefox account to save contacts and other information so that they are always available right away in the browser without having to exchange links first.

 

Firefox Hello supports voice and video calls and requires no additional software or plugins.

 

Mozilla is rolling out the feature gradually. To get it right away, set the preference loop.throttled to false and restart Firefox. Hello should be available then,

 

Check out my full review of Firefox Hello here.

 

 

Theme switching in customize menu

 

 

If you switch themes regularly you may like the option to do so in the new customize menu.  You find five default "light" themes that Firefox ships with there that you can switch between.

 

You find installed Personas themes there as well so that you can switch between them. Please note that this does not include so-called complete themes in any way as they are not listed there at all.

 

It is still possible to enable, disable or uninstall themes in the add-ons manager.

 

 

Firefox is already running on Windows fix

 

 

"Firefox is already running" can come up when you try to open Firefox when a browser process is still running on the system. This can happen when the Firefox profile is locked for example and can be caused by Firefox running exit processes in the background before the process itself is terminated (say you have configured it to delete temporary data on exit for example).

 

From Firefox 34 on, Windows users receive a different message that they can use to close that Firefox process which terminates it on the system.

 

It is like you opening the Task Manager and killing the Firefox process manually, only faster.

 

I have reviewed the new feature here in detail.

 

 

Other Changes

• Default search engine changed to Yandex for Belarusian, Kazakh, and Russian locales.
• Disabled SSLv3.
• Firefox signed by Apple OS X version 2 signature
• HTTP/2 (draft14) and ALPN (Application-Layer Protocol Negotiation) implementation.
• Proprietary window.crypto properties/functions re-enabled (to be removed in Firefox 35)
• Wikipedia search is using https now (US-only).

 

Developer Changes

 

 

• New Storage Inspector. This needs to be enabled in the Firefox Developer Tools (press F12) first before you can use it. Locate Storage in the options and check the box next to it to enable it. Additional information here.
• WebIDE enabled by default. Shipped in Firefox 33 but was disabled by default. You can use it to run and debug Firefox OS apps. Additional information here.
• Performance tool revamped Profiler interface and frame rate timeline.
• jquery events visible in Page Inspector
• console.table support
• CSS Fonts Level 3 progress.
• WebCrypto: RSA-OAEP, PBKDF2, AES-KW and ECDH support.
• ECMAScript 6 Weak6.
• JavaScript Template Strings.

 

Firefox 34 for Android

 

Firefox for Android and the desktop version of Firefox share improvements. This part of the review looks only at Android-specific changes.

 

Chromecast Mirror Tab support

 

 

Firefox for Android users who also own a Chromecast can mirror tabs displayed in the mobile browser now. This is done by tapping on the menu button on the device and selecting Tools > Mirror Tab from the context menu that opens up.

 

All devices are displayed on the next screen and all that is left to do is pick one of them to start the mirroring process. To stop the process tap on the menu button again and select stop mirror from there.

• Added support for Prefer:Safe HTTP Header - If parental controls are enabled, Firefox will send a Prefer:Safe header to every site and service that is visited using it. Sites that support the header may deliver different contents or restrict access to some contents.
• Device Storage API for privileges apps enabled. Additional information here.
• Public Key Pinning support enabled - This allows sites to specify certificate authorities on first connect. Firefox will then use these information on future connections to those sites.
• Theme refresh
• Redesigned first run experience
• Fixed: mp4 videos on Android L
• Unresolved: Flash and mp3 does not work on Android L.

 

Security updates / fixes

 

 MSFA-2014-91  Privileged access to security wrapped protected objects

 MSFA-2014-90  Apple CoreGraphics framework on OS X 10.10 logging input data to /tmp directory

 MSFA-2014-89  Bad casting from the BasicThebesLayer to BasicContainerLayer

 MSFA-2014-88  Buffer overflow while parsing media content

 MSFA-2014-87  Use-after-free during HTML5 parsing

 MSFA-2014-86  CSP leaks redirect data via violation reports

 MSFA-2014-85  XMLHttpRequest crashes with some input streams

 MSFA-2014-84  XBL bindings accessible via improper CSS declarations

 MSFA-2014-83  Miscellaneous memory safety hazards (rv:34.0 / rv:31.3)

 

 Fixed  CSS transitions start correctly when started at the same time as changes to display, position, overflow, and similar properties

 Fixed  Fullscreen video on Mac disables display sleep, and dimming, during playback

 Fixed  Various Yosemite visual fixes (see bug 1040250)

 

 

Additional information / sources

• Firefox 34 release notes
• Firefox 34 Android release notes
• Add-on compatibility for Firefox 34
• Firefox 34 for developers
• Hacks Mozilla on Firefox 34 developer changes
• Site compatibility for Firefox 34
• Firefox Security Advisories

 

 

Source: ghacks.net

[ASIO]

34.0.5

[shamu726]

34.0.5

Except for default search engine (and only for en-US North American users) there is no difference between the two.

[Whoopenstein]

Thanks for the tip on changing the search bar back. The new one is :shit:

I just don't get how they can call that an improvement. :(

[ROMANTICGUY50]

I have Firefox checked to be my default browser and when I open options it says FireFox is Not my default browser. What gives. Is anyone else having this problem?

[khatulistiwa]

new search bar like :shit: :shit: :shit:
to change the default search engine, must always go into the settings. earlier versions have more easier method to exchange it :thumbsdown:
no major changes in 34.0.5. :oops:
Now, I stopped in 33.1.1. :showoff: :showoff:

[CODYQX4]

new search bar like :shit: :shit: :shit:

to change the default search engine, must always go into the settings. earlier versions have more easier method to exchange it :thumbsdown:

no major changes in 34.0.5. :oops:

Now, I stopped in 33.1.1. :showoff: :showoff:

That is one thing I liked in FF over Chrome, but at least in Chrome you can tab on the domain name to search it.

This just leaves way too little ability to change it, unless we throw even more add-ons at the browser.

[Karlston]

Always worth reading these posts, BEFORE updating.

Lets me check to see how to revert some/all changes that Mozilla, the (self-described) "champion of users' rights" have imposed on this "change-resister" (what Mozilla labels users who don't have multiple orgasms over their changes, and dare to complain), and restore lost functionality that the (self-described) "defenders of the web" have removed.

Also lets me spend 10-15 minutes manually checking to see if my important add-ons are compatible with the new release. Mozilla, with its misguided arse-about logic, still updates Firefox first and THEN decides to check for add-on compatibility.

There... I feel better now... :)

[TheAslan]

http://www.askvg.com/how-to-disable-new-one-click-search-bar-interface-in-mozilla-firefox/

[dcs18]

Those running the latest beta CTR can also use the following figure to disable the new 'Search' and 'Conversation' feature, respectively:--

[Blackchildcx]

The new "skype killer" feature ....

Firefox Hello

seems to b cool feature----:eekout:

[petok]

Now Firefox 34.0.5 is unstable crashing on flash plugin-container.exe what is hell... Adobe flash is more more bugs and hard leak memory.

[stylemessiah]

The new search bar is a fricking annoyance, and i am pretty sure it will be the most disabled feature in the next x months.

My issue with it, is if you happen to paste a term in there form a source outside the browser (which i do a lot) after you paste the search termi in there that bloody ridiculous new search box tends to popup and steal focus from your search term, so that when you click on the normal search button it doesnt search for whats in the box.

Whoever thought that search addition was a good idea needs to divert their attention to things like memory leaks or any of the half dozen bugs ive provided feedback for.

Getting very tired of the "eye candy" and gui centric developing over functionality developing disease that seems to permeate developers in the last few years...Windows 8 being the fricking prime example.

Especially frickin tiresome are those clowns that had functional gui's that the minute Windows 8 came out trashed them by replicating their gui's in ugly tile style. It may be worth following a trend, sometimes, but its probably best if you dont attach yourself to a design paradigm thats in a death spin like Windows 8.

13 year olds should be kept away from the code, its big boy stuff.

Dont even get me started on e10......

[dcs18]

Last night, have already done deploying a lockdown policy comprising of a complete disabling of the above 2 new features (and then, some more.)