Firefox 3.5

Firefox 3.5

Firefox 3.5 displaying Wikipedia on Linux.
Developer(s)	Mozilla Corporation Mozilla Foundation
Initial release	June 30, 2009 (2009-06-30)
Written in	C++, XUL, XBL, JavaScript,[1] CSS[2][3]
Operating system	Windows Mac OS X Linux BSD Solaris OpenSolaris
Engine	Gecko
Platform	Cross-platform
Size	9.4 MB (Linux) 17.2 MB (Mac OS X) 7.7 MB (Windows) (all archived)
Available in	75 languages
Development status	End of life
Type	Web browser FTP client Gopher client
License	MPL/GNU GPL/GNU LGPL/about:rights
Website	www.mozilla.com/firefox

market share overview According to StatCounter data October 2011[4][dated info]
Browser	% of Fx	% of Total
Firefox 1	--	--
Firefox 1.5	--	--
Firefox 2	0.37%	0.1%
Firefox 3	1.85%	0.5%
Firefox 3.5	2.96%	0.8%
Firefox 3.6	25.34%	6.84%
Firefox 4	5.22%	1.41%
Firefox 5	5.41%	1.46%
Firefox 6	36.09%	9.74%
Firefox 7	22.82%	6.16%
Other[FF 1]	0.03%	0.01%
All variants[5]	100.00%	26.99%
^ 'Other' mostly consists of Firefox 3.1 which is a series of betas for 3.5.
This box: view · talk · edit

(category)
Contents
Firefox 10 · 11 · 12 Firefox 7 · 8 · 9 Firefox 4 · 5 · 6 Firefox 3.6 Firefox Portable History of Firefox Features of Firefox Gecko Add-ons Extensions Firefox market adoption
Origins and lineage
Netscape Navigator Mozilla Foundation Mozilla Suite
This box: view · talk · edit

The results of the Acid3 test on Firefox 3.5

Mozilla Firefox 3.5 is a version of the Firefox web browser released in June 2009, adding a variety of new features to Firefox. Version 3.5 was touted as being twice as fast as 3.0 (due its TraceMonkey JavaScript engine and rendering improvements). It includes private browsing, has tear-off tabs, and uses the Gecko 1.9.1 engine. It was codenamed Shiretoko during development,^[6] and was initially numbered Firefox 3.1 before Mozilla developers decided to change the version to 3.5, to reflect the inclusion of a significantly greater scope of changes than were originally planned.^[7]

Current estimates of Firefox 3.5's global market share as of February 2010^[update] are around 15-20%^[8][9][10] and rose rapidly in July 2009 as users migrated from Firefox 3.0 although since the latter part of January 2010 it started to decline as users migrate to Firefox 3.6. Also, between mid-December 2009 and February 2010, Firefox 3.5 was the most popular browser (when counting individual browser versions) according to StatCounter,^[11] and as of February 2010^[update] is one of the top 3 browser versions according to Net Applications.^[12] Both milestones involved passing Internet Explorer 7, which previously held the #1 and #3 spots in popularity according to StatCounter and Net Applications, respectively.

Due to the January 2010, well-publicized vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, the German, French, and Australian governments had publicly issued warnings to Internet Explorer users to use alternative browsers, at least until a fix for the security hole was made.^[13][14][15] The first browser they recommended was Mozilla Firefox, followed by Google Chrome.

Development

Even before the release of Firefox 3.0 on June 17, 2008, Firefox 3.1 was in development under the codename "Shiretoko". It was planned to include new interface features such as tab previews, tag auto-completion, HTML 5 <video> tag support, and CSS text shadows.^[16]

Alpha

The first Alpha was released on July 28, 2008.^[17] A new tab switching behavior was implemented, that switches to the most recently used tab instead of the adjacent one. When switching thumbnails are displayed so the user can preview the tabs before switching to them. The awesome bar was also improved to have filtering by Bookmarks and history. The Gecko engine was updated to include CSS3 features and includes the HTML Canvas text API.^[18] The Alpha release showed an 18% improvement in the Acid3 test over Firefox 3.0, scoring 84/100.^[19]

Version 3.1 Alpha 2 was launched on September 5, 2008, implementing the HTML 5 video element support and preliminary support for web worker thread, enhancing the speed of some JavaScript computations.^[20]

Beta and release

On October 14, 2008, the first beta of Firefox 3.1 was released.^[21] It included a new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine, which is not enabled by default, and the implementation of the W3C Geolocation API.^[22] Beta 2 was released on December 8, 2008 and included a new private browsing feature.^[23] The new tab switching behavior and interface was dropped at this beta, since the developer found needed more work.^[24] Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 was released on March 12, 2009,^[25][26] followed by Beta 4, the first to be labeled as version 3.5, on April 27, 2009.^[27][28] On June 8, 2009, Mozilla released Firefox 3.5 Preview (labeled 3.5b99) in order to receive additional testing before it became the release candidate.^[29]

Release Candidate 1 was released as an update to Firefox 3.5 Preview users on June 17, 2009.^[30] Released Candidate 2 was made more widely available on June 19, 2009,^[31] followed by a third RC on June 24, 2009. Firefox 3.5 was officially released on June 30, 2009.^[32][33]

Features

Firefox 3.5 uses the Gecko 1.9.1 engine, which adds features that were not included in the 3.0 release. These include support for the <video> and <audio> elements defined in the HTML 5 draft specification, including native support for Ogg Theora encoded video and Vorbis encoded audio.^[34][35] The goal is to offer video and audio playback without being encumbered by patent issues associated with most plugin and codec technologies.^[36] Other features new in Firefox 3.5 include a private browsing mode, native support for JSON and web worker threads, and many other new web technologies.^[37] Multi-touch support was also added to the release, including gesture support like pinching for zooming and swiping for back and forward.^[38] Firefox 3.5 also features an updated logo from the previous releases.^[39]

A minor change for Version 3.5 is the default search engine in Russian language builds, which uses the search engine Yandex rather than Google, after a survey of Russian Firefox users indicated they preferred Yandex.^[40]

The first update, 3.5.1, was released on July 16, 2009. It solved some vulnerabilities detected after the final release. Another update, 3.5.2, was released on August 3, 2009, followed by version 3.5.3 on September 9, 2009, version 3.5.4 on October 27, 2009, version 3.5.5 on November 5, 2009, version 3.5.6 on December 15, 2009 and version 3.5.7 on January 5, 2010.

Starting July 14, 2009, the upgrade to 3.5 was offered to users of Firefox 3.0 through the automatic internal "push" update mechanism.

End of life

Security and stability updates for Firefox 3.5.x were scheduled to end in August 2010. However, Firefox 3.5.12 was released on September 7, 2010^[41] and Mozilla has since continued shipping incremental stability and security fixes. The latest build 3.5.19 was released on April 28, 2011.^[42] Mozilla now plans to terminate support of the Firefox 3.5.x series by issuing Firefox 3.6.18 as a minor update to users of versions 3.6.17 and 3.5.19 in June, with Firefox Release Manager Christian Legnitto explaining that "We feel comfortable making the major update choice for users because a) the versions are very similar and b) we'd rather lose a small amount of miffed users than leave a large amount of users vulnerable".^[43] Details of how the update will be implemented are currently in preparation.^[44]

See also

• History of Firefox

References

1. ^ Firefox Extension Development Tutorial
2. ^ Firefox 3′s Internal Rendering CSS
3. ^ App themes and skins userstyles.org
4. ^ Top 12 Browser Versions on October 2011 StatCounter Global Stats
5. ^ Top 5 Browsers on October 2011 StatCounter Global Stats
6. ^ "Firefox 3.1 "Shiretoko"". 2008-06-12. https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox3.1. Retrieved 2008-06-12. 
7. ^ Mike Shaver (March 6, 2009). "Shiretoko (Firefox 3.1) being renamed to Firefox 3.5". mozilla.dev.planning. 
8. ^ "Browser Version Market Share". Net Applications. February 2010. http://marketshare.hitslink.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=2. Retrieved 2010-03-05. 
9. ^ "Global Web Stats". W3Counter. February 2010. http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php. Retrieved 2010-03-05. 
10. ^ "StatCounter Global Stats". StatCounter. February 2010. http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser_version-ww-monthly-201002-201002. Retrieved 2010-03-05. 
11. ^ Firefox 3.5 is world's most popular browser, StatCounter says, Nick Eaton. seattlepi blogs. 2009-12-21. Retrieved 2009-12-22.
12. ^ UB-News.com
13. ^ France, Germany warn Internet Explorer users TVNZ, January 19, 2010
14. ^ "Why you should change your internet browser and how to choose the best one for you". The Independent (London). January 18, 2010. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/why-you-should-change-your-internet-browser-and-how-to-choose-the-best-one-for-you-1872048.html. Retrieved May 13, 2010. 
15. ^ Bourke, Emily (2010-01-19). "Govt issues IE security warning - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Abc.net.au. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/19/2795684.htm. Retrieved 2010-11-09. 
16. ^ Paul, Ryan (June 15, 2008). "Mozilla prepares for Firefox 3 release and plans for 3.1". Ars Technica. http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2008/06/mozilla-prepares-for-firefox-3-release-and-plans-for-3-1.ars. Retrieved 2009-09-29. 
17. ^ "Firefox 3.1 Alpha 1 now available for download". Developer News. Mozilla. July 28, 2008. https://developer.mozilla.org/devnews/index.php/2008/07/28/firefox-31-alpha-1-now-available-for-download/. Retrieved 2009-09-29. 
18. ^ Paul, Ryan (July 30, 2008). "First look: Ars reviews Firefox 3.1 alpha 1". Ars Technica. http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2008/07/first-look-ars-reviews-firefox-3-1-alpha-1.ars. Retrieved 16 December 2009. 
19. ^ Percy Cabello (2008-07-29). First step to Firefox 3.1: Alpha 1 is here. Mozilla Links. http://mozillalinks.org/wp/2008/07/first-step-to-firefox-31-alpha-1-is-here/. Retrieved 2008-07-29 
20. ^ Paul, Ryan (September 5, 2008). "First look: Firefox 3.1 alpha 2 officially released". Ars Technica. http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2008/09/first-look-firefox-3-1-alpha-2-officially-released.ars. Retrieved 16 December 2009. 
21. ^ "Firefox 3.1 beta 1 now available for download". https://developer.mozilla.org/devnews/index.php/2008/10/14/firefox-31-beta-1-now-available-for-download/. Retrieved 2009-11-11 
22. ^ Paul, Ryan (October 14, 2008). "First look: Firefox 3.1 beta 1 officially released". Ars Technica. http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2008/10/first-look-firefox-3-1-beta-1-officially-released.ars. Retrieved 16 December 2009. 
23. ^ "Don't leave a trace: Private Browsing in Firefox". http://ehsanakhgari.org/blog/2008-11-04/dont-leave-trace-private-browsing-firefox. Retrieved 2008-12-25 
24. ^ Paul, Ryan (December 8, 2008). "First look: Firefox 3.1 beta 2, now with private browsing". Ars Technica. http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2008/12/first-look-firefox-3-1-beta-2-now-with-private-browsing.ars. Retrieved 16 December 2009. 
25. ^ Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 now available for download
26. ^ New beta paves way for Firefox 3.5 | Webware - CNET
27. ^ Firefox 3.5 Beta 4 now available for download
28. ^ Mozilla releases Firefox 3.5 beta | Webware - CNET
29. ^ Firefox 3.5 Preview
30. ^ Firefox 3.5 beta users will receive update to early release candidate
31. ^ Firefox 3.5 release candidate now available for download
32. ^ Firefox 3.5 is now available for download
33. ^ Shankland, Stephen (June 30, 2009). "Mozilla releases Firefox 3.5". Webware. CNET. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10275863-2.html?tag=mncol;posts. Retrieved 2009-07-03. 
34. ^ Eric Shepherd (2009-05-28), Media formats supported by the audio and video elements, Mozilla developer center, https://developer.mozilla.org/En/Media_formats_supported_by_the_audio_and_video_elements, retrieved 2009-10-11 
35. ^ MozillaWiki (2009-03-18), Firefox3.5/Features, MozillaWiki, https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox3.5/Features, retrieved 2009-10-11 
36. ^ Dan Warne (2007-05-07). "Firefox to go head-to-head with Flash and Silverlight". APC Magazine. ACP Magazines Ltd. http://apcmag.com/firefox_to_go_headtohead_with_flash_and_silverlight.htm. Retrieved 2008-01-18. 
37. ^ Firefox 3.5 Release Notes
38. ^ Kim, Arnold (2008-12-10). "Latest Firefox 3.1 Beta Adds Multi-Touch Support". Macrumors.com. http://www.macrumors.com/2008/12/10/latest-firefox-3-1-beta-adds-multi-touch-support/. Retrieved 2009-01-17. 
39. ^ Alex Faaborg (2009-05-15). "Creative Brief for the New Firefox Icon". http://blog.mozilla.com/faaborg/2009/05/15/creative-brief-for-the-new-firefox-icon/. Retrieved 2009-05-30. 
40. ^ Shankland, Stephen (January 9, 2009). "Firefox in Russia dumps Google for Yandex". CNET News. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10138969-2.html. Retrieved 2009-01-10. 
41. ^ Release notes for Mozilla Firefox 3.5.12
42. ^ Release notes for Mozilla Firefox 3.5.19
43. ^ Legnitto, Christian (May 12, 2011). "Firefox 3.5 EOL Plan". mozilla.dev.planning. http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.dev.planning/browse_thread/thread/6e4b5bc15e7bbc1a?pli=1. Retrieved 2011-05-22. 
44. ^ "Releases/3.5 EOL". MozillaWiki. May 11, 2011. https://wiki.mozilla.org/Releases/3.5_EOL. Retrieved 2011-05-22. 

External links

• Mozilla.com, Mozilla Firefox homepage for end-users
• Mozilla.org, Mozilla Firefox project page for developers
• Mozilla.com, Mozilla EULA
• Firefox 3.5 at the Open Directory Project
• Secunia.com—Vulnerability report for Mozilla Firefox 3.5.x
• Technologizer.com, Review of Firefox 3.5
• Computerworld.com, Review of Firefox 3.5