Mozilla

Desktop versions of Firefox have nightly update channels. New versions are automatically downloaded and available for install as they become available. Each morning, a Firefox user can quickly and easily update to the newest nightly version.

Firefox for Maemo beta 5 is Firefox! Huh?

Firefox for Maemo (Fennec) beta 5 has been released! This release packs in a lot of good stuff. I’ve been trying to highlight a few of the new features. This time, I want to tell you about some web form features.

Back when MTV still played videos, the Internet was full of web pages designed to work in desktop browsers. Life was good - so were the videos. Fast forward to today. The Web is still full of “best viewed in a desktop browser” web pages, however, you can also find lots of “made for mobile” web pages too.

Mobile Firefox for Maemo Beta 5 will have lots of improvements. One of those will be support for multiple locales. The install package will include several locales. The application will detect the locale of the device and try to find the corresponding Mozilla locale. If the system works as designed, the Firefox UI will automagically appear in the device’s locale.

Building an add-on for Fennec (mobile Firefox) can be a bit tedious. We release desktop versions of Fennec that allow developers to test and play with their add-ons without the need for a mobile device. However, there are a few things that the desktop versions of Fennec do not expose: Performance characteristics of running on a mobile device; and the affect of small screens and high DPI.

The Mozilla Mobile Team is happy to announce the release of Fennec 1.0 beta 4 for Maemo. As promised, we have been working hard on user experience and UI polish. Here’s a few changes you’ll find in this release: