2834 Mozilla.org has released Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 as a public preview. This milestone build is focused on testing the core functionality provided by many new features and changes to the platform scheduled for Firefox 3.1, which includes new mouse gestures on the Mac version

I've been using Firefox 3.1 beta 2 for the past couple of days. It seems stable and as fast as the current final version. The new JavaScript engine presumably improves performance in that department, but I haven't noticed any dramatic improvement in early days running.

New features and changes in this milestone release include:
• This beta is now available in 54 languages
• A new Private Browsing Mode that allows you to browse without Firefox storing any traces of where you've been - perfect for online holiday shopping
• New functions that make it easy to remove the history of your past few hours of browsing, or remove all traces of a website.
• New support for web worker threads.
• The new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine is now on by default for web content.
• Improvements to the Gecko layout engine, including speculative parsing for faster content rendering.
• Removed the new tab-switching & preview behavior based on feedback from Beta 1 users
• Support for new web technologies such as the video and audio elements, the W3C Geolocation API, JavaScript query selectors, CSS 2.1 and 3 properties, SVG transforms and offline applications.

The adventuresome can download Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 builds for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux.

The final version of Firefox 3.1 is expected to be released in Q1 2009.

For more information, visit:
https://developer.mozilla.org/devnews/index.php/2008/12/08/firefox-31-beta-2-now-available-for-download/
and
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

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Update: Since I posted this story on Thursday, som other interesting details about the new Firefox beta have come to my attention:

Latest Firefox beta gets touchy on Mac

The Register's Austin Modine reports:

Newer MacBook owners can set their fingers to work on the latest beta build of Firefox, which adds multi-touch gesture support for trackpads.

Mozilla this week carted out Beta 2 of Firefox 3.1 sporting new toys like a private browsing mode, improved rendering, a faster JavaScript engine, and stability fixes.

Unique to the Mac version is support for Apple's multi-touch trackpad shipping with every model of MacBook since early this year.

For the full report visit here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/11/firefox_3point1_multitouch_support/

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How To Modify Mac Multi-touch Gestures In Firefox 3.1b2

jkontherun.com says:

Ever since we found out that the latest Firefox 3.1 beta for Mac supports multi-touch trackpad gestures, I've been giving my fingers a work out. Just as a refresher, here are the commands that are natively supported:

- 3 finger swipe Left: Go back in history (hold Cmd to open it in a tab)
- 3 finger swipe Right: Go forward in history
- 3 finger swipe Up: Go to the top of the page
- 3 finger swipe Down: Go to the end of the page
- Pinch Together: Zoom out
- Pinch Apart: Zoom in
- Twist Right: Next tab
- Twist Left: Previous tab

Dave Zatz asked a great question in the comments from yesterday's post: "Whatever I've been doing accidentally has been zooming in and out of pages and occasionally flipping tabs. I seriously thought Beta 2 was buggy. Glad to know it's only multitouch. But how do I turn it off??"
After some digging, I can answer that question. In fact, you can not only turn these commands off, but you can customize them if you know how....

For the full report visit here:
http://www.jkontherun.com/2008/12/how-to-modify-m.html

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