prone to crashing. To be fair, these
problems were often due more to the
add-ons used than to the browser itself,
but, with Version 3. 5, Firefox appears to
have fixed most of these issues.
In my tests of the betas, release
candidates and final version
of Firefox 3. 5, I have found
the browser to be very stable. I’ve seen no noticeable
slowdowns, even with large
numbers of open windows
and tabs.
And when it comes to performance, Firefox and its new browser
engine look to have improved significantly. In multiple tests using online
resources, including Futuremark’s
Peacekeeper benchmark, Firefox 3. 5
3. 5 update puts
Firefox back on top
showed considerable performance
gains, more than doubling the speed
of Firefox 3.0. And while it still lags
behind performance leaders such as
Safari 4 and Chrome 2.0, Firefox 3. 5
is now much more comparable.
HTML 5 support
However, a much more significant new feature in Firefox 3. 5 is
its extensive support for HTML 5.
Although it is not yet a full World
Wide Web Consortium standard,
HTML 5 is already offering an
intriguing glimpse into the future of
the Web. Indeed, HTML 5 is much
more than just the next version of
HTML; it is a reimagining of the
Web and how browsers work, providing many of the same powerful GUI
interactions that one gets from RIA
(rich Internet application) platforms
or even desktop applications.
One of the more interesting
aspects of Firefox 3. 5’s support for
HTML 5 is in its handling of video.
Throughout the history of the Web,
browsers have treated video as a second-class citizen, relying on plug-ins
and other applications to handle video.
However, through
its implementation
of HTML 5, Firefox
3. 5 can handle video
directly, in the same
way that the browser
can display images
or text.
This is not an
edge Firefox will
have for long: Safari
and Opera have also
taken strides to support HTML 5, and
other browsers will
soon follow.
Firefox has also
boosted standards
support in general.
In the Web Standards Project’s Acid3
REVIEW: Mozilla addresses performance, reliability
issues and adds extensive support for HTML 5.0
By Jim Rapoza
In the last year, Firefox has faced challengers in areas in which it was always comfortably ahead of Internet Explorer, such as innovative new features, standards support
and reliability. In many ways,
the only claim to superiority that Firefox most recently
had over rivals such as Apple
Safari, Google Chrome and
Opera was in its large community of add-ons.
However, with the release of Firefox
3. 5, Mozilla has addressed many
of the biggest problems of its Web
browser. And, while most of the new
features are under the hood, Firefox
3. 5’s improvements are enough to
push it back among
the top Web browsers in all areas and
to make it one of the
more significant new
browser releases.
The improvements
are also enough to
gain Firefox 3. 5 an
eWEEK Labs Analyst’s Choice.
Among the biggest
criticisms leveled at
recent versions of
Firefox have been
slow performance
and poor reliability,
with many claiming
that Firefox drags
after long browsing
sessions and that it is
With performance and reliability improvements in the new Firefox 3. 5, users
should be able to engage in long browsing sessions with multiple open tabs and
windows without fear of crashes or slowdowns.
its implementation of HTML 5, Firefox
3. 5 can handle video
directly, in the same
way that the browser
can display images
or text.
edge Firefox will
have for long: Safari
and Opera have also
taken strides to suport H
ort H TML 5, and
other browsers will
soon follow.
boosted standardsupport in general.
upport in general. With performance and reliability improvements in the new Firefox 3. 5, users
