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Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 Adds Private Browsing

Posted by kdawson on from the more-features-late-in-the-game dept.

CWmike was one of several readers to point out the release of Firefox 3.1 Beta 2, the first version of its flagship browser to switch on the much faster TraceMonkey JavaScript engine and sport a working privacy mode dubbed "Private Browsing." An ancillary addition to Private Browsing is a new addition to the "Clear Recent History" dialog box allowing users selectively to erase the last hour, the last two hours, the last four hours, today's, or all browsing history — previously, the wipe was all or nothing. This beta includes support for "web worker threads," a developing specification that will let Web-based application developers run background processes to speed up their apps. One feature present in Beta 1 is gone in the new beta: Ctrl-Tab switching. According to the developer, the UI needs more work; the feature probably won't be in the final 3.1.

10 of 216 comments (clear)

  1. Nothing new by fxkr · · Score: 4, Informative
    Isn't this what Distrust is for? And that one is even better:
    1. Activate it.
    2. Surf.
    3. Deactivate it.

    It then deletes everything that happened between 1. and 3., but keeps what happened before you activated it.

  2. Re:Javascript speed by Azeroth48 · · Score: 3, Informative

    learn jQuery.. one of the best lib ever made for javascript! http://jquery.com/

    --
    This is where we are, our rock we stand, among the world, looking forward, eternally.
  3. Re:Kudos for the improvements, but... by evilNomad · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Ctrl+Tab functionality is still there, they just removed the new interface that they had added in beta 1..

  4. Re:Kudos for the improvements, but... by Shining+Celebi · · Score: 5, Informative

    Don't know what the hell they were thinking with that. I hope there's still some method of switching between tabs without reaching for the mouse.

    You can still switch tabs with Ctrl+Tab, it's just the fancy effects to go along with it are gone, as well as it switching based on recency instead of order. It'll work the same way it does in Firefox 3. You can also switch between tabs with Ctrl+PageUp and Ctrl+PageDown.

  5. Re:Kudos for the improvements, but... by Billhead · · Score: 5, Informative

    Ctrl + Page Up/Page Down navigates through tabs.

  6. Mozilla Links by Bj�rn · · Score: 3, Informative

    There is a good article at Mozilla Links, about 3.1 beta 2.

    --
    Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think. --Niels Bohr
  7. Re:Kudos for the improvements, but... by y5 · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Ctrl+Tab functionality is still there, they just removed the new interface that they had added in beta 1..

    Mod parent up. I'm using the latest nightly, and you can still CTRL+TAB. It just removes the screen previews from the previous beta, which IMO were slow and annoying.

    I wish the summary were more clear.

  8. Re:Kudos for the improvements, but... by creepynut · · Score: 3, Informative

    I suspect this is the reason: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox3.1/control_tab

    A few bug reports I found:
    https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=459303
    https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=463723
    https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=445476 (This seems to suggest it can be disabled, but I haven't tried Fx3.1 yet)

  9. Re:Kudos for the improvements, but... by louzerr · · Score: 4, Informative

    Firefox 3.1 beta ADDED NEW FEATURES to Ctrl+Tab. Those NEW FEATURES are buggy, and likely won't make it into the 3.1 final.

    They didn't BREAK anything ... just the opposite. Ctrl+Tab will behave in 3.1 just as it does in 3.0.

    --
    "The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away" -- "Step Right Up", Tom Waits
  10. Re:But there's always a little problem.... by daniorerio · · Score: 3, Informative

    or maybe just move out of the basement...