Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 released
Author: Gareth Halfacree Published: 16th October 2008
If you're a Firefox fan that just has to be on the cutting edge, you'll be pleased to hear that the Mozilla Foundation has released the first public beta for Firefox 3.1.
According to Download.com the main change for 3.1 above the current Firefox 3.0 release is a different JavaScript engine with vastly improved performance, alongside a smartened user interface for switching between tabs, and improvements to the so-called 'Awesome Bar'.
The new JavaScript engine, the most important change over existing Firefox builds, is included in the beta but deactivated by default. In order to make use of the improved engine – codenamed TraceMonkey – you'll have to make a tweak in Firefox's internal configurations via the about:config menu accessible from the location bar. By changing the value of javascript.options.jit.content to true, the new TraceMonkey engine will be enabled the next time you start Firefox.
When the fiddling is over and done with, you should be rewarded with a marked improvement to JavaScript rendering performance. According to tests performed by Download.com on theSunSpider benchmark suite, Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 completed the tests in 2787.6 milliseconds compared to Firefox 3.0.3 – which doesn't use the TraceMonkey engine – achieving a rather poorer 5446.6 milliseconds. Although the SunSpider tests are an extreme case, the figures still demonstrate that a noticeable improvement is possible on JavaScript-heavy sites. ....
Read more at the Source:
bit-tech.net | Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 released
Download Firefox 3.1 Beta at:
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