The toolbar , also called a bar or standard toolbar (originally known as ribbon ), is a graphical control element on which on-screen icons can be used. A toolbar often allows for quick access to functions that are commonly used in the program. Some examples of functions a toolbar might have are open file, save, and change font. Toolbars are usually distinguished from palettes by their integration into the edges of the screen or of other windows. This can result in wasted space if multiple underpopulated bars are stacked atop each other or interface inefficiency if overloaded bars are placed on small windows.
95-520: Firefox was created by Dave Hyatt and Blake Ross as an experimental branch of the Mozilla browser, first released as Firefox 1.0 on November 9, 2004. Starting with version 5.0 , a rapid release cycle was put into effect, resulting in a new major version release every six weeks. This was gradually accelerated further in late 2019, so that new major releases occur on four-week cycles starting in 2020. In March 2011, Mozilla presented plans to switch to
190-476: A File Transfer Protocol (FTP) client for browsing file servers, the ability to block images from individual domains (until version 72), a 3D page inspector (versions 11 to 46), tab grouping (until version 44), and the ability to add customized extra toolbars (until version 28). Functions can be added through add-ons created by third-party developers . Add-ons are primarily coded using an HTML , CSS , JavaScript , with API known as WebExtensions , which
285-546: A Metro-style version of Firefox, optimized for touchscreen use, on the "Aurora" release channel. However, on March 14, 2014, Mozilla cancelled the project because of a lack of user adoption. In March 2017, Firefox 52 ESR, the last version of the browser for Windows XP and Windows Vista , was released. Support for Firefox 52 ESR ended in June 2018. Traditionally, installing the Windows version of Firefox entails visiting
380-526: A blacklist and whitelist of sites that will be used in the filter. Version 23, released in August 2013, followed the lead of its competitors by blocking iframe , stylesheet, and script resources served from non-HTTPS servers embedded on HTTPS pages by default. Additionally, JavaScript could also no longer be disabled through Firefox's preferences, and JavaScript was automatically re-enabled for users who upgraded to 23 or higher with it disabled. The change
475-521: A built-in PDF viewer. Firefox 20 was released on April 2, 2013, and introduced a panel-based download manager, along with H.264 decoding on the <video> tag (on Windows only), and per-window private browsing. It also includes a new developer toolbox, that combines all developer tools into one panel. Firefox 21 was released on May 14, 2013. The Social API now supports multiple providers, and an enhanced three-state UI for Do Not Track (DNT). Firefox 22
570-425: A configuration menu at about:config for power users , and location-aware browsing (also known as " geolocation ") based on a Google service. Firefox has an integrated search system which uses Google by default in most markets. DNS over HTTPS is another feature whose default behaviour is determined geographically. Firefox provides an environment for web developers in which they can use built-in tools, such as
665-464: A faster 16-week development cycle , similar to Google Chrome . Ars Technica noted that this new cycle entailed "significant technical and operational challenges" for Mozilla (notably preserving third-party add-on compatibility), but that it would help accelerate Firefox's adoption of new web standards, feature, and performance improvements. This plan was implemented in April 2011. The release process
760-653: A heartbeat user rating system, which provides user feedback about the Firefox, and improved protection against website impersonation via OneCRL centralized certificate revocation. Also, Bing search is changed to use HTTPS for secure searching, and added is support for opportunistic encryption of the HTTP traffic where the server supports HTTP/2's AltSvc feature. Both Firefox 38 and Firefox 38 ESR were released on May 12, 2015, with new tab-based preferences, Ruby annotation support and availability of WebSockets in web workers, along with
855-519: A large list of bug fixes. Firefox 10 and Firefox ESR 10 were released on January 31, 2012. Firefox 10 added a full screen API and improved WebGL performance, support for CSS 3D Transforms and for anti-aliasing in the WebGL standard for hardware-accelerated 3D graphics. These WebGL updates mean that more complex site and Web app animations can render smoothly in Firefox, and that developers can animate 2D objects into 3D without plug-ins. It also introduced
950-526: A new CSS Style Inspector, which allow users to check out a site's structure and edit the CSS without leaving the browser. Firefox 10 assumed all add-ons made for at least Firefox 4 were compatible. The add-on developer is able to alert Mozilla that the add-on is incompatible, overriding compatibility with version 10 or later. This new rule also does not apply to themes. Firefox 10 ESR is the first Extended Support Release (ESR) as previously on January 10, 2012, where
1045-498: A new ESR version is released), though Mozilla warned that it would be less secure than the release channel, since security patches would only be backported for high-impact vulnerabilities. In 2017, Mozilla abandoned the Aurora channel, which saw low uptake, and rebased Firefox Developer Edition onto the beta channel. Mozilla uses A/B testing and a staged rollout mechanism for the release channel, where updates are first presented to
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#17327873027731140-611: A new project called Servo to write a completely new and experimental browser engine utilizing memory safe techniques written in Rust . In 2018, Mozilla opted to integrate parts of the Servo project into the Gecko engine in a project codenamed the Quantum project. The project completely overhauled Firefox's page rendering code resulting in performance and stability gains while also improving
1235-427: A nickname of the red panda , which became the mascot for the newly named project. For the abbreviation of Firefox, Mozilla prefers Fx or fx, although it is often abbreviated as FF . The Firefox project went through many versions before version 1.0 and had already gained a great deal of acclaim from numerous media outlets, such as Forbes and The Wall Street Journal . Among Firefox's popular features were
1330-511: A permissions manager, new address bar highlighting (the domain name is black while the rest of the URL is gray), streamlining the look of the site identity block, a quicker startup time, a ScratchPad JavaScript compiler, and many other new features. This update also brought the infamous feature that caused JavaScript entered in the address bar to not run. Firefox 7 was released on September 27, 2011, and uses as much as 50% less RAM than Firefox 4 as
1425-413: A previous session. Support for viewing PDF files inline was added in placement of a plugin. Support for web apps was added. Opus audio format is now enabled by default. The roll-out of Firefox 16 revision 16.0.0 was stopped on October 10, 2012, after Mozilla detected a security flaw and recommended downgrading to 15.0.1 until the issue could be fixed. The security flaw was fixed in version 16.0.1, which
1520-497: A randomized device ID to prevent services from uniquely identifying the device for tracking purposes. The DRM module, once it has been downloaded, is enabled, and disabled in the same manner as other plug-ins . Since version 47, "Google's Widevine CDM on Windows and Mac OS X so streaming services like Amazon Video can switch from Silverlight to encrypted HTML5 video" is also supported. Mozilla justified its partnership with Adobe and Google by stating: Firefox downloads and enables
1615-500: A result of the MemShrink project to reduce Firefox memory usage. Firefox 7.0.1 was released a few days later to fix a rare, but serious, issue with add-ons not being detected by the browser. Some URLs are trimmed in the address bar, so the " http ://" scheme no longer appears, but " https ://" is still displayed. Trailing slashes on domains are also hidden, for example: https://www.example.org/ becomes https://www.example.org. Firefox 8
1710-417: A small fraction of users, with Mozilla monitoring its telemetry for increased crashes or other issues before the update is made available to all users. In 2020, Firefox moved to a four-week release cycle, to catch up with Chrome in support for new web features. Chrome switched to a four-week cycle a year later. Firefox 5 was released on June 21, 2011, three months after the major release of Firefox 4. Firefox 5
1805-461: A trademark claim from Phoenix Technologies . The replacement name, Firebird, provoked an intense response from the Firebird database software project. The Mozilla Foundation reassured them that the browser would always bear the name Mozilla Firebird to avoid confusion. After further pressure, Mozilla Firebird became Mozilla Firefox on February 9, 2004. The name Firefox was said to be derived from
1900-662: A web page used too many resources, the entire Firefox process would hang or crash, affecting all tabs. Additionally, any exploit could easily access system resources, including user files. Between 2008 and 2012, most browsers shifted to a multiprocess architecture, isolating high-risk processes like rendering, media, GPU, and networking. However, Firefox was slower to adopt this change. It wasn't until 2015 that Firefox started its Electrolysis (e10s) project to implement sandboxing across multiple components. This rewrite relied on interprocess communication using Chromium 's interprocess communication library and placed various component including
1995-454: A whole; its usage then declined in competition with Google Chrome . As of July 2024 , according to StatCounter , it had a 6.5% usage share on traditional PCs (i.e. as a desktop browser), making it the fourth-most popular PC web browser after Google Chrome (65%), Microsoft Edge (13%), and Safari (9.0%). The project began as an experimental branch of the Mozilla project by Dave Hyatt , Joe Hewitt , and Blake Ross . They believed
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#17327873027732090-450: Is 0, DoH is disabled; 1 activates DoH in addition to unencrypted DNS; 2 causes DoH to be used before unencrypted DNS; to use only DoH, the value must be 3. By setting network.trr.uri to the URL, special Cloudflare servers will be activated. Mozilla has a privacy agreement with this server host that restricts their collection of information about incoming DNS requests. On May 21, 2019, Firefox
2185-524: Is also available for Android and iOS . However, as with all other iOS web browsers, the iOS version uses the WebKit layout engine instead of Gecko due to platform requirements. An optimized version is also available on the Amazon Fire TV as one of the two main browsers available with Amazon's Silk Browser . Firefox is the spiritual successor of Netscape Navigator , as the Mozilla community
2280-482: Is also included. Firefox 17 is the first version of the browser that uses SpiderMonkey 17. Starting with Firefox 17, Mac OS X support is exclusively for Snow Leopard , Lion, and Mountain Lion . Firefox 18 was released on January 8, 2013. A new feature for Firefox 18 is IonMonkey , Mozilla's next generation JavaScript engine, it also uses some functions of WebRTC . Firefox 19 was released on February 19, 2013, featuring
2375-419: Is automatically corrected to https:// . Firefox 30 was released on June 10, 2014. It adds support for GStreamer 1.0 and a new sidebar button, and most plugins are not activated by default. Firefox 31 and Firefox 31 ESR were released on July 22, 2014. Both versions added search field on the new tab page and were improved to block malware from downloaded files, along with other new features. Firefox 31 ESR
2470-432: Is available for Android (formerly Firefox for mobile, it also ran on Maemo , MeeGo and Firefox OS ) and Firefox for iOS is available for iOS. Smartphones that support Linux but not Android, or iOS apps can also run Firefox in its desktop version, for example using postmarketOS . Notes Firefox source code may be compiled for various operating systems; however, officially distributed binaries are provided for
2565-632: Is designed to be compatible with Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge extension systems. Firefox previously supported add-ons using the XUL and XPCOM APIs, which allowed them to directly access and manipulate much of the browser's internal functionality. As compatibility was not included in the multi-process architecture, XUL add-ons have been deemed Legacy add-ons and are no longer supported on Firefox 57 "Quantum" and newer. Mozilla has occasionally installed extensions for users without their permission. This happened in 2017 when an extension designed to promote
2660-727: Is designed to be similar to Chrome and other recent browsers. Firefox 57, which was released in November 2017, was the first version to contain enhancements from Quantum, and has thus been named Firefox Quantum . A Mozilla executive stated that Quantum was the "biggest update" to the browser since version 1.0. Unresponsive and crashing pages only affect other pages loaded within the same process. While Chrome uses separate processes for each loaded tab, Firefox distributes tabs over four processes by default (since Quantum), in order to balance memory consumption and performance. The process count can be adjusted, where more processes increase performance at
2755-404: Is entered. Firefox now supports HTTP/2. In February 2013, plans were announced for Firefox 22 to disable third-party cookies by default. However, the introduction of the feature was then delayed so Mozilla developers could "collect and analyze data on the effect of blocking some third-party cookies." Mozilla also collaborated with Stanford University 's "Cookie Clearinghouse" project to develop
2850-634: Is the final release to support Windows 2000 and Windows XP RTM & SP1 . Firefox 13 was released on June 5, 2012. Starting with this version, Windows support was exclusively for Windows XP SP2/SP3, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Firefox 13 adds and updates several features, such as an updated new tab and home tab page. The updated new tab page is a feature similar to the Speed Dial already present in Opera , Google Chrome , Apple Safari , and Internet Explorer . The new tab page will display nine of
2945-548: Is the first ESR to include the Australis interface, unifying the user experience across different Firefox versions. Firefox 24.x.x ESR versions would be automatically updated to ESR version 31 after October 14, 2014. Firefox 32 was released on September 2, 2014. It shows off HTTP caching improvements, adds HiDPI / Retina support in the Developer Tools UI and widens HTML5 support, among other things. Firefox 33
Firefox version history - Misplaced Pages Continue
3040-538: Is the first release in Mozilla's new rapid release plan, matching Google Chrome 's rapid release schedule and rapid version number increments. Firefox 5 has significantly improved the speed of web-related tasks, such as loading pages with combo boxes or MathML . Mozilla also integrated the HTML video WebM standard into the browser, allowing playback of WebM videos. Firefox 6 was released on August 16, 2011, introducing
3135-468: The <input type="range"> form control attribute in HTML5, dropping support for the <blink> HTML element as well as the text-decoration:blink CSS element , the restriction to have to "switch to a different search provider across the entire browser", and a global browser console, a new network monitor among other things. JavaScript is automatically enabled by the update, without regard to
3230-689: The Acid3 test fully because they believed that the SVG fonts part of the test had become outdated and irrelevant, due to WOFF being agreed upon as a standard by all major browser makers. Because the SVG font tests were removed from the Acid3 test in September 2011, Firefox 4 and greater scored 100/100. Firefox also implements "Safe Browsing," a proprietary protocol from Google used to exchange data related with phishing and malware protection. Firefox supports
3325-580: The Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation . It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current and anticipated web standards. Firefox is available for Windows 10 and later versions of Windows , macOS , and Linux . Its unofficial ports are available for various Unix and Unix-like operating systems, including FreeBSD , OpenBSD , NetBSD , and other platforms. It
3420-563: The WHATWG such as client-side storage, and the canvas element . These standards are implemented through the Gecko layout engine, and SpiderMonkey JavaScript engine. Firefox 4 was the first release to introduce significant HTML5 and CSS3 support. Firefox has passed the Acid2 standards-compliance test since version 3.0. Mozilla had originally stated that they did not intend for Firefox to pass
3515-682: The Adobe Primetime and Google Widevine CDMs by default to give users a smooth experience on sites that require DRM. Each CDM runs in a separate container called a sandbox and you will be notified when a CDM is in use. You can also disable each CDM and opt-out of future updates and that it is "an important step on Mozilla's roadmap to remove NPAPI plugin support." Upon the introduction of EME support, builds of Firefox on Windows were also introduced that exclude support for EME. The Free Software Foundation and Cory Doctorow condemned Mozilla's decision to support EME. From its inception, Firefox
3610-652: The Error Console or the DOM Inspector , and extensions , such as Firebug and more recently there has been an integration feature with Pocket . Firefox Hello was an implementation of WebRTC , added in October 2014, which allows users of Firefox and other compatible systems to have a video call, with the extra feature of screen and file sharing by sending a link to each other. Firefox Hello was scheduled to be removed in September 2016. Former features include
3705-431: The Firefox website and downloading an installer package, depending on the desired localization and system architecture. In November 2021, Mozilla made Firefox available on Microsoft Store . The Store-distributed package does not interfere with the traditional installation. Toolbar There are several user interface elements derived from toolbars: A search box is not in itself a toolbar but one may appear within
3800-522: The Mozilla Foundation announced the availability of an ESR version of Firefox. Firefox ESR is intended for groups who deploy and maintain the desktop environment in large organizations such as universities and other schools, county or city governments and businesses. During the extended cycle, no new features will be added to a Firefox ESR, only high-risk/high-impact security vulnerabilities or major stability issues will be corrected. Firefox 11
3895-485: The Mozilla Suite to Firefox and Thunderbird . The Firefox project has undergone several name changes. The nascent browser was originally named Phoenix, after the mythical bird that rose triumphantly from the ashes of its dead predecessor (in this case, from the "ashes" of Netscape Navigator , after it was sidelined by Microsoft Internet Explorer in the " First Browser War "). Phoenix was renamed in 2003 due to
Firefox version history - Misplaced Pages Continue
3990-475: The Servo team transferring ownership of the project to the Linux Foundation . When Firefox initially released, it used a custom script permission policy where scripts that were signed by the page could gain access to higher privilege actions such as the ability to set a user's preferences. However, this model was not widely used and was later discontinued by Firefox. Modern day Firefox instead follows
4085-517: The ability for Windows users without advanced write permissions to update Firefox, as well as many bug fixes and developer-related changes. Firefox 27 was released on February 4, 2014. It adds improved Social API and SPDY 3.1 support, as well as enabling of TLS 1.1 and 1.2 by default after having been tested through a toggle in about:config since version 23 (TLS 1.1) and 24, released on September 17, 2013. Also, it brings many bug fixes, security improvements, and developer-related changes. Firefox 28
4180-466: The accessibility community" and had not been resolved as of October 2024 . On January 13, 2022, an issue with Firefox's HTTP/3 implementation resulted in a widespread outage for several hours. On September 26, 2023, Firefox 118.0 introduced on-device translation of web page content. On January 23, 2024, along with the release of Firefox 122.0, Mozilla introduced an official APT repository for Debian -based Linux distributions . Features of
4275-627: The addition of Guarani locale, the ability to filter snapshot output in memory tool, and the removal of the Tab Groups (panorama) feature. Firefox 46 was released on April 26, 2016. Among the many additions were improved security of the JavaScript Just In Time (JIT) Compiler, the GTK3 integration (Linux only), HKDF support for Web Crypto API. Firefox Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser developed by
4370-483: The browser or device, and deleted only upon a manual exit. The feature was removed in 2019, purportedly to " streamline the experience ". Firefox implements many web standards , including HTML4 (almost full HTML5 ), XML , XHTML , MathML , SVG 1.1 (full), SVG 2 (partial), CSS (with extensions), ECMAScript ( JavaScript ), DOM , XSLT , XPath , and APNG (Animated PNG ) images with alpha transparency . Firefox also implements standards proposals created by
4465-412: The browser will refuse to install extensions that have not been signed. Firefox 40 also includes performance improvements, such as off-main-thread compositing on Linux. Firefox 41 was released on September 22, 2015. Among many additions are the ability to set a profile picture for a Firefox account, enhanced IME support using Text Services Framework , and instant messaging on Firefox Hello. Firefox 42
4560-427: The browser's performance, modernize its architecture, and transition the browser to a multi-process model. These improvements came in the wake of decreasing market share to Google Chrome , as well as concerns that its performance was lapsing in comparison. Despite its improvements, these changes required existing add-ons for Firefox to be made incompatible with newer versions, in favor of a new extension system that
4655-577: The commercial requirements of Netscape 's sponsorship and developer-driven feature creep compromised the utility of the Mozilla browser. To combat what they saw as the Mozilla Suite 's software bloat , they created a standalone browser, with which they intended to replace the Mozilla Suite. Version 0.1 was released on September 23, 2002. On April 3, 2003, the Mozilla Organization announced that it planned to change its focus from
4750-414: The cost of memory, therefore suitable for computers with larger RAM capacity. On May 3, 2019, the expiry of an intermediate signing certificate on Mozilla servers caused Firefox to automatically disable and lock all browser extensions (add-ons). Mozilla began the roll-out of a fix shortly thereafter, using their Mozilla Studies component. Support for Adobe Flash was dropped on January 6, 2021, with
4845-462: The customization mode. Firefox 35 was released on January 13, 2015. It brings support for a room-based conversations model to the Firefox Hello chat service, and other functions, it also includes security fixes. Firefox 36 was released for desktop on February 24, 2015, bringing full HTTP/2 support and other smaller improvements and fixes. Firefox 37 was released on March 31, 2015, bringing
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#17327873027734940-574: The desktop and version 14.0.1 for mobile devices. Firefox 14 introduces a new hang detector (similar to how Mozilla currently collects other data) that allows Mozilla to collect, analyze, and identify the cause of the browser freezing/hanging. Mozilla uses this information to improve the responsiveness of Firefox for future releases. In addition to tackling freezing and not-responding errors that occur because of Firefox, Mozilla implemented opt-in activation for plugins such as Flash and Java . Mozilla wants to reduce potential problems that could arise through
5035-427: The desktop edition include tabbed browsing , full-screen mode, spell checking , incremental search , smart bookmarks , bookmarking and downloading through drag and drop , a download manager , user profile management, private browsing , bookmark tags, bookmark exporting , offline mode, a screenshot tool, web development tools , a "page info" feature which shows a list of page metadata and multimedia items,
5130-423: The developer tools for testing purposes. Beginning with Firefox 48, all extensions must be signed by Mozilla to be used in release and beta versions of Firefox. Firefox 43 blocked unsigned extensions but allowed enforcement of extension signing to be disabled. All extensions must be submitted to Mozilla Add-ons and be subject to code analysis in order to be signed, although extensions do not have to be listed on
5225-556: The development and release model changed into a "rapid" one; by the end of 2011 the stable release was version 9, and by the end of 2012 it reached version 17. Major redesigns of its graphical user interface occurred on versions 4.0 ( Strata ) in March 2011, 29.0 ( Australis ) in April 2014, 57.0 ( Photon ) in November 2017, and 89.0 ( Proton ) in June 2021. In 2016, Mozilla announced a project known as Quantum , which sought to improve Firefox's Gecko engine and other components to improve
5320-478: The following: Firefox 1.0 was released for Windows 95 , as well as Windows NT 4.0 or later. Some users reported the 1.x builds were operable (but not installable) on Windows NT 3.51 . The version 42.0 release includes the first x64 build. It required Windows 7 or Server 2008 R2 . Starting from version 49.0, Firefox for Windows requires and uses the SSE2 instruction set. In September 2013, Mozilla released
5415-561: The ground work for future releases. Firefox 12 for Windows added the Mozilla Maintenance Service which can update Firefox to a newer version without a UAC prompt. It also added line numbers in the "Page Source" and centered find in page results. There were 89 improvements to Web Console, Scratchpad, Style Editor, Page Inspector, Style Inspector, HTML view and Page Inspector 3D view (Tilt). Many bugs were fixed, as well as many other minor under-the-hood changes. Firefox 12
5510-481: The implementation of the BroadcastChannel API and other features and security fixes. Firefox 39 was released on July 2, 2015, disabling insecure SSLv3 and RC4 , improving performance for IPv6 fallback to IPv4 and including various security fixes. Firefox 39.0.3 was released on August 6, 2015, to fix a zero-day exploit. Firefox 40 was released on August 11, 2015. On Windows 10 , the Australis theme
5605-462: The improvement of warning pages for certificate errors and untrusted connections, enabling of H.264 and WebM/VP9 video support on systems that don't support MP4/H.264, and support for the brotli compression format via HTTPS content-encoding. The "Ask me every time" cookies option was additionally removed without any notifications. Firefox 45 and Firefox 45 ESR were released on March 8, 2016. Among many additions were Instant Browser sharing through Hello,
5700-557: The in-house Pontoon localization platform. The first official release in November 2004 was available in 24 different languages and for 28 locales . In 2019, Mozilla released Project Fluent a localization system that allows translators to be more flexible with their translation than to be constrained in one-to-one translation of strings. As of November 2024 the supported versions of Firefox are available in 97 locales (88 languages). There are desktop versions of Firefox for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux, while Firefox for Android
5795-576: The integrated pop-up blocker , tabbed browsing , and an extension mechanism for adding functionality. Although these features have already been available for some time in other browsers such as the Mozilla Suite and Opera , Firefox was the first of these browsers to have achieved large-scale adoption. Firefox attracted attention as an alternative to Internet Explorer , which had come under fire for its alleged poor program design and insecurity—detractors cite IE's lack of support for certain Web standards, use of
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#17327873027735890-666: The interface with unused toolbars . Added option in preferences to lazy load session tabs (prior to that it could be switched by config setting since version 4.0 beta 7). Firefox 9 was released on December 20, 2011, includes various new features such as Type Inference, which boosts JavaScript performance up to 30%, improved theme integration for Mac OS X Lion , added two-finger swipe navigation for Mac OS X Lion, added support for querying Do Not Track status via JavaScript, added support for font-stretch, improved support for text-overflow, improved standards support for HTML5, MathML, and CSS, and fixed several security problems. It also features
5985-527: The new scrollbar style in Mac OS X 10.7 (and newer), closing tabs to the right, an improved browser console for debugging, and improved SVG rendering, among other things. It is the first version of the browser that uses SpiderMonkey 24. Firefox 25 was released on October 29, 2013. Firefox 25 Nightly was at one point slated to include the Australis theme, but Australis did not actually land on Nightly until Firefox 28, did not make it to Firefox 28 Aurora channel, and
6080-635: The operating system, was considered a safer alternative since it was less likely to have issues that could completely compromise a computer. This led to a significant increase in Firefox's popularity during the early 2000s as a more secure alternative. Moreover, Firefox was considered to have fewer actively exploitable security vulnerabilities compared to its competitors. In 2006, The Washington Post reported that exploit code for known security vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer were available for 284 days compared to only nine days for Firefox before
6175-405: The playback of video content protected by HTML5 Encrypted Media Extensions (EME), since version 38. For security and privacy reasons, EME is implemented within a wrapper of open-source code that allows execution of a proprietary DRM module by Adobe Systems —Adobe Primetime Content Decryption Module (CDM). CDM runs within a " sandbox " environment to limit its access to the system and provide it
6270-568: The potentially dangerous ActiveX component, and vulnerability to spyware and malware installation. Microsoft responded by releasing Windows XP Service Pack 2, which added several important security features to Internet Explorer 6. Version 1.0 of Firefox was released on November 9, 2004. This was followed by version 1.5 in November 2005, version 2.0 in October 2006, version 3.0 in June 2008, version 3.5 in June 2009, version 3.6 in January 2010, and version 4.0 in March 2011. From version 5 onwards,
6365-422: The previous setting, and the ability to turn it off has been removed from the interface, the "contentious" change was made because many websites depend on JavaScript and it was felt that users unaware that they had disabled JavaScript were attributing the resulting unpredictable layout to software bugs in Firefox. Firefox 24 and Firefox 24 ESR were released on September 17, 2013. The release includes support for
6460-476: The problem was fixed. A Symantec study around the same period showed that even though Firefox had a higher number of vulnerabilities, on average vulnerabilities were fixed faster in Firefox than in other browsers during that period. During this period, Firefox used a monolithic architecture , like most browsers at the time. This meant all browser components ran in a single process with access to all system resources . This setup had multiple security issues. If
6555-452: The release of Firefox 85. On June 1, 2021, Firefox's 'Proton' redesign was offered through its stable release channel after being made available in the beta builds. While users were initially allowed to revert to the old design through about:config , the corresponding key-value pairs reportedly stopped working in later builds, resulting in criticism. These included accessibility concerns despite Mozilla's claim to "continue to work with
6650-479: The rendering component in its own sandbox. Firefox released this rewrite in to beta in August 2016, noting a 10–20% increase in memory usage, which was lower than Chrome's at the time. However, the rewrite caused issues with their legacy extension API, which was not designed to work cross-process and required shim code to function correctly. After over a year in beta, the rewrite was enabled by default all users of Firefox in November 2017. In 2012, Mozilla launched
6745-548: The security of existing components. Additionally, the older incompatible extension API was removed in favour of a WebExtension API that more closely resembled Google Chrome's extension system. This broke compatibility with older extensions but resulted in lesser vulnerabilities and a much more maintainable extension system. While the Servo project was intended to replace more parts of the Gecko Engine, this plan never came to fruition. In 2020, Mozilla laid off all developers on
6840-585: The service to be signed. On May 2, 2019, Mozilla announced that it would be strengthening the signature enforcement with methods that included the retroactive disabling of old extensions now deemed to be insecure. Since version 60 Firefox includes the option to use DNS over HTTPS (DoH), which causes DNS lookup requests to be sent encrypted over the HTTPS protocol. To use this feature the user must set certain preferences beginning with "network.trr" (Trusted Recursive Resolver) in about:config : if network.trr.mode
6935-409: The show Mr. Robot was silently added in an update to Firefox. Firefox can have themes added to it, which users can create or download from third parties to change the appearance of the browser. In 2013, Firefox for Android added a guest session mode, which wiped browsing data such as tabs, cookies, and history at the end of each guest session. Guest session data was kept even when restarting
7030-451: The standard same-origin policy permission model that is followed by most modern browsers which disallows scripts from accessing any privileged data including data about other websites. It uses TLS to protect communications with web servers using strong cryptography when using the HTTPS protocol. The freely available HTTPS Everywhere add-on enforces HTTPS, even if a regular HTTP URL
7125-401: The tabs unloaded until the user requests to view the page. Firefox 14 was released on June 26, 2012, for mobile devices only, just outside the regular release schedule of the web browser. In order to sync the version numbers of the desktop and mobile versions of Firefox, Mozilla decided to release version 14.0.1 for both mobile and desktop on July 17, 2012, instead of Firefox 14 version 14.0 for
7220-451: The unwanted use of third-party applications ( malware , freezing, etc.). Firefox 15 was released on August 28, 2012, with a " Responsive Design View " developer tool, adds support for the Opus audio format , and adds preliminary native PDF support (disabled by default). Firefox 15 introduced silent updates, an automatic update that will update Firefox to the latest version without notifying
7315-416: The user's most visited websites, along with a cached image. In addition to the updated new tab and home tab page, Mozilla has added a user profile cleaner/reset, reduced hang times, and implemented tabs on demand. The user profile cleaner/reset provides a way for users to fix Firefox errors and glitches that may occur. Mozilla's tabs on demand restores tabs that were open in the previous session, but will keep
7410-472: The user, a feature that the web browsers Google Chrome and Internet Explorer 8 and above have already implemented, although the user was able to disable that function. The startup time in Firefox 15 was improved for Windows users. Firefox 16 was released on October 9, 2012, fixing outstanding bugs of the new features in Mac OS X Lion . There were improvements made to startup speed when a user wants to restore
7505-427: The websites users visit. Also known as state partitioning or "total cookie protection", SmartBlock works via a feature in the browser that isolates data from each site visited by the user to ensure that cross-site scripting is very difficult if not impossible. The feature also isolates local storage, service workers and other common ways for sites to store data. Firefox is a widely localized web browser. Mozilla uses
7600-514: Was created by Netscape in 1998, before its acquisition by AOL . Firefox was created in 2002 under the codename "Phoenix" by members of the Mozilla community who desired a standalone browser rather than the Mozilla Application Suite bundle. During its beta phase, it proved to be popular with its testers and was praised for its speed, security, and add-ons compared to Microsoft 's then-dominant Internet Explorer 6 . It
7695-504: Was finally available with Firefox 29. This release added support for <iframe srcdoc> attribute, background-attachment:local in CSS, along with Web audio API support, a separate find bar for each tab and many other bug fixes. Firefox 26 was released on December 10, 2013. Firefox 26 changed the behavior of Java plugins to "click-to-play" mode instead of automatically running them. It also added support for H.264 on Linux, password manager support for script-generated fields, and
7790-491: Was made due to the fact the JavaScript was being used across a majority of websites on the web and disabling JavaScript could potentially have untoward repercussions on inexperienced users who are unaware of its impact. Firefox also cited the fact that extensions like NoScript , that can disable JavaScript in a more controlled fashion, were widely available. The following release added the ability to disable JavaScript through
7885-466: Was positioned as a security-focused browser. At the time, Internet Explorer , the dominant browser, was facing a security crisis. Multiple vulnerabilities had been found, and malware like Download.Ject could be installed simply by visiting a compromised website. The situation was so bad that the US Government issued a warning against using Internet Explorer. Firefox, being less integrated with
7980-444: Was released for desktop only on November 14, 2014, fixing a startup crash. Firefox 34 was released on December 1, 2014. It brings Firefox Hello (a WebRTC client for voice and video chat), an improved search bar , and the implementation of HTTP/2 (draft14) and ALPN , together with other features. It also disables SSLv3 , and enables the ability to recover from a locked Firefox process and to switch themes and personas directly in
8075-433: Was released on June 25, 2013. WebRTC is now enabled by default. Partial CSS Flexbox support was added (flex-wrap support was scheduled for Firefox 28). A new feature for Firefox 22 was OdinMonkey, Mozilla's next generation JavaScript engine. Firefox 23 was released on August 6, 2013. It includes an updated Firefox logo, mixed content blocking enabled by default to defend against man-in-the-middle attacks , implementation of
8170-527: Was released on March 13, 2012. Firefox 11 introduced many new features, including migration of bookmarks and history from Google Chrome , SPDY integrated services, Page Inspector Tilt (3D View) , Add-on Sync , redesigned HTML5 video controls, and the Style Editor ( CSS ). The update also fixed many bugs, and improved developer tools. Firefox 12 was released on April 24, 2012. Firefox 12 introduced few new features, but it made many changes and laid
8265-456: Was released on March 18, 2014, and added support for VP9 video decoding and support for Opus in WebM. Firefox 29 was released on April 29, 2014, and includes a redesigned interface codenamed Australis, it also removes the add-on bar and moves its content to the navigation bar. Additionally, it introduced automatic correction of protocol typos to the address bar, meaning that, for example, ttps://
8360-457: Was released on November 3, 2015. Among many additions are private browsing with tracking protection, IPv6 support in WebRTC, and the ability to view HTML source in a tab. Firefox 43 was released on December 15, 2015. Major changes included the availability of a 64-bit version for Windows 7 and above, and a new strict blocklist. Firefox 44 was released on January 26, 2016. Among many additions are
8455-508: Was released on November 8, 2011 and prompts users about any previously installed add-ons. Upon installation, a dialog box prompted users to enable or disable the add-ons. Add-ons installed by third-party programs were disabled by default, but user-installed add-ons were enabled by default. Mozilla judged that third-party-installed add-ons were problematic, taking away user control, lagging behind on compatibility and security updates, slowing down Firefox startup and page loading time, and cluttering
8550-455: Was released on November 9, 2004, and challenged Internet Explorer 's dominance with 60 million downloads within nine months. In November 2017, Firefox began incorporating new technology under the code name " Quantum " to promote parallelism and a more intuitive user interface . Firefox usage share grew to a peak of 32.21% in November 2009, with Firefox 3.5 overtaking Internet Explorer 7 , although not all versions of Internet Explorer as
8645-434: Was released on October 14, 2014. It now has off-main-thread compositing (OMTC) enabled by default on Windows (which brings responsiveness improvements), OpenH264 support, search suggestions on about:home and about:newtab, address bar search improvements, session restore reliability improvements, and other changes. Firefox 33.1 was released on November 10, 2014, celebrating Firefox's 10-year anniversary. Firefox 33.1.1
8740-512: Was released the following day, October 11, 2012. Firefox 17 and Firefox ESR 17 were released on November 20, 2012. It was not planned to bring as many user-facing features as previous releases, it brings improved display of location bar results, improvements to the silent update mechanism for users with incompatible add-ons, and refinements to the Click-To-Play system introduced in Firefox 14. A new feature for developers, an HTML tree editor
8835-573: Was split into four "channels", with major releases trickling down to the next channel every six to eight weeks. For example, the nightly channel would feature a preliminary unstable version of Firefox 6, which would move to the experimental "Aurora" channel after preliminary testing, then to the more stable "beta" channel, before finally reaching the public release channel, with each stage taking around six weeks. For corporations, Mozilla introduced an Extended Support Release channel, with new versions released every 30 weeks (and supported for 12 more weeks after
8930-453: Was updated to include the ability to block scripts that used a computer's CPU to mine cryptocurrency without a user's permission, in Firefox version 67.0. The update also allowed users to block known fingerprinting scripts that track their activity across the web, however it does not resist fingerprinting on its own. In March 2021, Firefox launched SmartBlock in version 87 to offer protection against cross-site tracking , without breaking
9025-429: Was updated to reflect the overall appearance of Windows 10, and the interface is adapted for usability on touchscreens when used in the operating system's "Tablet mode". Firefox 40 includes additional security features, including the filtering of pages that offer potentially unwanted programs , and warnings during the installation of unsigned extensions, in future versions, signing of extensions will become mandatory, and
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