Firefox 4 Beta 5 released

[nsane.forums]

Mozilla has released Firefox 4 beta 5 to the official beta site, we can also report that Mozilla have selected the 08/31 dated build candidate as beta 5.

Beta 5 includes the new "Firefox Button menu" this new "Firefox Menu" will replace the Menu Bar. The goal is to put the most frequently used controls in a single menu, and return vertical space to the web content area by removing the pixels otherwise taken up by the Menu Bar, you can read more info on how the menu came about here.

Hardware acceleration is also enabled by default in this build, meaning your graphics card is used for much of the page rendering.

Whats new in Beta 5:

• Firefox 4 Beta 5 is available in 39 languages.
• Support for the new proposed Audio Data API
• Direct2D Hardware Acceleration is now on by default for Windows 7 users
• Firefox button has a new look for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users
• Support for HSTS security protocol allowing sites to insist that they only be loaded over SSL.
• See the complete changelist from the previous beta.

Firefox 4 is scheduled to release in October.

View: Original Article

[DKT27]

Didn't know that Direct2D was enabled by default. Last time, testing it in Direct2D off mode gave better results. :think:

The "Firefox" button sure looks better now. ^_^

[Sonar]

cant wait :-)

[Toshiro]

Audio data can be used to create 3D images

Mozilla has made enhancements to its Firefox 4 beta, promising a better sound and vision experience.

The latest release includes the use of hardware acceleration to improve graphics rendering and performance, and an API for developers who want to improve the audio experience for users.

Mozilla offered a teaser of the hardware acceleration in a YouTube video released earlier this month, showing an increase in frames per second from 12 to 90.

"Firefox 4 Beta now takes advantage of the built-in graphics hardware in Windows computers with DirectX 10 to improve graphics performance," said Mozilla in a blog post.

"On supported hardware, Firefox will use Direct2D by default to speed up the display of content on graphically intensive sites, giving more power to the web. "

The second enhancement aims to turn sound into something visual and interactive, enabling "the visualisation of audio data within the browser", linked in to HTML5 to create a better audio experience.

"Until now, people haven't had the ability to interact with sound on the web in all the creative ways that video and images allow. Firefox 4 Beta introduces a new audio API to expose the raw audio data housed within the and elements in HTML5 to redefine how people experience sound on the web."

This update exposes the data within a song or speech file to the browser, and turns it into something that can be used, exploited and made more interesting, the firm said.

The API was shown off during a presentation at a Mozilla developer event by developer Dave Humphrey, who said that it could be used to turn audio files into something that could be enjoyed by deaf people, for example, or to make sound more interactive.

Firefox could be used to manipulate the pitch and tone of an audio file, analyse its beats per minute, or render it as a 2D or 3D image.

"It's an attempt to do something with audio that does not involve plug-ins, like Flash for example," Humphrey said.

Mozilla has also added the HTTP Strict Transport Security protocol to the beta, claiming to protect against man-in-the-middle attacks by loading only sites with secure connections.

View: Original Article

[jofre]

Thanks Toshiro !

Using sense a few days Firefox 4.0 beta 5 on a WinXP Pro Sp3 ( x86 ) and all is fine.

[Marik]

Firefox just became PiMP with this update :dance2: