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Firefox Quantum Arrives With Faster Browser Engine, Major Visual Overhaul (venturebeat.com)

Posted by msmash on from the browser-updates dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Mozilla today launched Firefox 57, branded Firefox Quantum, for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. The new version, which Mozilla calls "by far the biggest update since Firefox 1.0 in 2004," brings massive performance improvements and a visual redesign. The Quantum name signals Firefox 57 is a huge release that incorporates the company's next-generation browser engine (Project Quantum). The goal is to make Firefox the fastest and smoothest browser for PCs and mobile devices -- the company has previously promised that users can expect "some big jumps in capability and performance" through the end of the year. Indeed, three of the four past releases (Firefox 53, Firefox 54, and Firefox 55) included Quantum improvements. But those were just the tip of the iceberg. Additionally, Firefox now exclusively supports extensions built using the WebExtension API, and unsupported legacy extensions will no longer work, the company said.

6 of 323 comments (clear)

  1. Weird Gaps? by Luthair · · Score: 5, Informative

    Anyone else seeing large gaps to the left of the address bar and to the right of the search bar?

    Also, the new tabs look a lot uglier...

    1. Re: Weird Gaps? by brickhouse98 · · Score: 5, Informative

      The gaps can be taken out. Click the double arrows >> and click customize toolbar. Then just drag and drop to the middle to remove them.

    2. Re: Weird Gaps? by theweatherelectric · · Score: 5, Informative

      but the tab coloring SUCKS

      You can pick a different theme in the Customize settings. Firefox ships with three themes (Default, Light, and Dark). I use the Light theme.

    3. Re: Weird Gaps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      You can also right click on the gap and "remove from toolbar".

  2. Re:It's quantized so it's not continuous anymore by arth1 · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Quantum is the smallest possible increment. Always remember that when someone tells you it's a quantum leap in performance.

    True and false. The astonishing property of a quantum leap isn't the distance, but that it goes from one state to another without anything in-between.
    That's obviously not what happens with Firefox, though. There wasn't a single commit without any betas, even though it feels like it...

  3. Re:It's quantized so it's not continuous anymore by jfdavis668 · · Score: 5, Informative

    A Quantum is a single unit. A leap is an action. So a quantum leap is an action taken by a quantum, and has no limit on distance, just probability.