IE 9 & Firefox 4 Go Live

It's been a busy couple of weeks for the web. Last week Microsoft officially launched Internet Explorer 9 and today Mozilla have followed suite by releasing Firefox 4.

Both browsers include a "minimal" new look (see below), pushing the tabs to the top and moving the focus to the web page. 

Internet Explorer 9:

Firefox 4:

Microsoft and Mozilla have also been aggressive advertising their browser's new features and performance improvements, but which is better? The guys over at Lifehacker have run a number of tests in an attempt to find out. The two tests below focus on the areas that I care about, namely performance. At the end of the day a browser can look great and have unlimited add-ons, but for day to day use it is speed that I prioritise.

Firstly, it is important to say that all the browsers tested are significantly better (faster) then their predecessor and therefore competition is fierce. However, across JavaScript and DOM/CSS tests, it is clear that Chrome still lives up to Google's claim "as the fastest all round browser for Windows". If you were to dig a little deeper you will see that Opera and IE9 do manage to take the crown in specific tests, but overall they fall short of Chrome. Firefox 4 seems to be a solid performer across the board, but nothing to get too excited about.

For a full break down of the results head over to Lifehacker and you can download Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 and Mozilla Firefox 4 for free now.

Introducing Firefox 4 Beta 1

Today Mozilla unleased Firefox 4 Beta 1 for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. This is a significant upgrade from previous builds and includes a new user interface for Windows users.

The new streamlined user interface moves the tabs to the top by default (similar to Google Chrome) and consolidates the menu bar under a new Firefox button. Mozilla has promised these changes will come to Mac OS X and Linux soon.

The other new features (included in all versions) are:

• You can search for, and switch to, already open tabs in the Smart Location Bar
• New Addons Manager and extension management API (UI will be changed before final release)
• Significant API improvements are available for JS-ctypes, a foreign function interface for extensions.
• The stop and reload buttons have been merged into a single button on Windows, Mac and Linux.
• The Bookmarks Toolbar has been replaced with a Bookmarks Button by default (you can switch it back if you like).
• Crash protection for Windows, Linux, and Mac when there is a crash in the Adobe Flash, Apple Quicktime or Microsoft Silverlight plugins.
• CSS Transitions are partially supported.
• Full WebGL support is included but disabled by default at this time.
• Core Animation rendering model for plugins on Mac OS X. Plugins which also support this rendering model can now draw faster and more efficiently.
• Native support for the HD HTML5 WebM video format.
• An experimental Direct2D rendering backend is available on Windows, turned off by default.
• Web developers can use Websockets for a low complexity, low latency, bidirectional communications API.
• Web developers can update the URL field without reloading the page using HTML History APIs.
• More responsive page rendering using lazy frame construction.
• Link history lookup is done asynchronously to provide better responsiveness during pageload.
• CSS :visited selectors have been changed to block websites from being able to check a user's browsing history.
• New HTML5 parser.
• Support for more HTML5 form controls.

To try out Firefox 4 Beta 1 for yourself, head over to Mozilla.

Testing the Great Firewall of China

Anyone working in IT/networking who has ever attempted to deliver a circuit or web service to China will have probably encountered issues with the Great Firewall of China.

For those who don't know, the Great Firewall of China is part of a government programme known as the Golden Shield Project that aims to block specific Internet content from entering mainland China. They are able to achieve this by setting up firewalls and proxy servers that filter IP addresses at all the main Chinese Internet gateways. A few examples of sites that are blocked in China are: Wikipedia, YouTube and Facebook.

This can cause real issues if you are trying to deliver content to China via the Internet, which is only set to become more popular with the increase in cloud computing and SaaS.

Unfortunately for many services there is no legitimate way of bypassing the China firewalls (as encrypting traffic or using an external proxy is not always practical) and therefore it is important to do adequate testing before deploying a new service. Thankfully there is a new Firefox plugin that is set to help.

China Channel is open source and offers a free and easy way to test web sites as if you were located in mainland China. This works by temporarily routing your Internet traffic through a proxy server in China, allowing you to complete your testing.

Simply download the plugin, install, and restart Firefox. Now you just have to click "Go" to start China Channel and your Internet browsing will automatically be routed through China.

Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 Available

Mozilla has unleashed Firefox version 3.6 on to the world. The beta can now be downloaded for Windows, Mac OS X and/or Linux.

The most significant change is to Gecko, the layout engine used by Firefox, which has been upgraded to version 1.9.2. This brings support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies as well as performance improvements. Other new features include:

• Users can now change their browser's theme with a single click, with built in support for Personas.
• Firefox 3.6 will alert users about out of date plugins to keep them safe.
• Open, native video can now be displayed full screen, and supports poster frames.
• Support for the WOFF font format.
• Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness and startup time.

There are no significant user interface changes in Firefox 3.6.

One visual upgrade that is noticeable is the introduction of personas which allows for simple theme switching. Head over to Mozilla Labs for hundreds of examples.

Overall Firefox 3.6 looks like it will be a good upgrade, offering better compatibility with modern web technologies, more speed and simpler customisation. Although still in beta, the release appears to be very stable and I would expect a short run before it is officially released. Head over to the Mozilla developers community to download the beta now.