The Mozilla Blog

If you’re reading this, it’s likely that you are a frequent user of the Internet. To you, it’s no secret Mozilla Firefox 3 is faster and safer, you are well aware you can personalize your experience with Firefox Add-ons and even experience the future of Web browsing with Ubiquity. But how about your friends? Family? You may have convinced them to begin using Firefox ages ago, but have they updated to the latest version Firefox 3 yet?

As the festive time comes to a close, and we turn our focus to the New Year, you’ve probably already put some thought into your New Year’s resolutions. Whatever you want to achieve, it’s likely to mark a fresh start for 2009. It’s all about enriching your life, but what about considering something a little closer to home? Upgrading your browser software is the best way to enjoy new features and to stay safe online. Help those around you to enjoy a safe and fun online year 2009. Simply ask them to go to http://getfirefox.com , and download the latest version of Firefox. It is as simple as that!

Thanks for using Firefox, and wish you a Happy New Year!

We’ve launched a new video section on mozilla.com to help bring some of the many great features of Firefox alive.  The feature-specific videos are narrated by the people who helped bring them to Firefox.  The new video section even includes a walk through on how to install Firefox — perfect to help people make the switch.

The videos include (and the list is growing!):

• Firefox 3 overview
• How to switch to Firefox with Asa Dotzler
• Security features in Firefox 3 with Johnathan Nightingale
• Bookmarks and tags with Alex Faaborg
• Awesomebar with Seth Spitzer

Editor’s note: Mozilla released a security and stability update for Firefox 2.x users on Thursday, December 18th, 2008 at 6:04 pm PT. Check out the Mozilla Developer News announcement , reposted below, for more details.

Editor’s note: Mozilla released a security and stability update for Firefox 3.x users on Tuesday, December 16, 2008 at 4:30 pm PT. Check out the Mozilla Developer News announcement , reposted below, for more details.

Editor’s note: Mozilla released Firefox 3.1 beta 1 on Monday, December 8, 2008 at 2:39 pm PT. Check out the Mozilla Developer News announcement reposted below for more details.

This Friday, support.mozilla.com will be hosting a Support Firefox Day that focuses on extending the global impact of Firefox support and looking forward to Mozilla’s goals for the next two years. support.mozilla.com — or SUMO for short — is the new online help system introduced in Firefox 3. Relying on a community of contributors from around the world, SUMO offers help to hundreds of thousands of users every week through our knowledge base articles as well as through forums and Live Chat services. As Firefox users span the globe, we are looking to expand the site’s coverage through translation and by reaching out to the wide userbase for their input. One of our events in Support Firefox day will be a series of presentations on how to get started and dive into this project and making a contribution right away.

This Support Firefox Day also hopes to engage users, contributors and localizers in a discussion about the directions Mozilla will be taking in the next couple years. Mozilla is not traditional organization — it’s a global community that spans not only the people involved in making software products, but the people using them as well. As such, we feel that it’s important to have input from this greater community when looking forward and planning goals. The highlight of one of these sessions will be a live discussion with Mitchell Baker, chairman of the Mozilla board, where we will be taking your comments, questions and suggestions on Mozilla’s goals for 2010.

As this event is fully interactive, we’ll be running a live video stream and chat channel from the Support Firefox Day main page, tailoring our presentations and discussions to focus on what you are interested in. All you have to do is go to that page during one of the times listed below, scroll down to the video and join our chat room.

Reflecting the international nature of the Mozilla community, there will be three sessions across a number of time zones. Each session will have a number of main events as follows (all events will be held in English):

Friday Nov 21st, 2 PM Tokyo time (5 AM GMT, 6 AM Central European time, Thursday 9 PM PST)
(These times below given in Tokyo time, GMT+9)

• 2 PM: Introduction to Support Firefox Day and support.mozilla.com
• 2:10 PM: Getting started with localization, translating your first article and some advanced tips.
• 3:00 PM: Questions and answers.
• 3:30 PM: Mozilla goals for 2010 discussion with Cheng Wang, SUMO team member
• 4:30 PM: Open meet and greet — get to know the other people who showed up and meet other people interested in Firefox.

Friday Nov 21st, 1 PM Central European time (noon GMT, 9 PM Tokyo time, 4 AM PST)
(These times below given in Central European time, GMT+1)

• 1 PM: Introduction
• 1:10 PM: Getting started with localization, translating your first article and some advanced tips.
• 2:00 PM: Questions and answers.
• 2:30 PM: Mozilla goals for 2010 discussion with David Tenser, Mozilla Support Lead
• 3:30 PM: Open meet and greet — get to know the other people who showed up and meet other people interested in Firefox.

Friday Nov 21st, 11AM PST (7 PM GMT, Saturday 4 AM Tokyo time, 8 PM Central European time)
(These times below given in PST, GMT-8)

• 11AM: Introduction to Support Firefox Day and support.mozilla.com
• 11:10 AM: Getting started with Firefox support, translating articles and advanced tips.
• 12:00 PM: Questions and answers
• 12:30 PM: Mozilla goals for 2010 discussion with Mitchell Baker, chairman of the Mozilla Foundation
• 2 PM: Open meet and greet — get to know the other people who showed up and meet other people interested in Firefox.

We’re really looking forward to seeing you there!

Today Mozilla released Fashion Your Firefox, a new Web application that enables Firefox users to customize their browser based on their interests and online activities. With Fashion Your Firefox, add-ons that fit people’s online lifestyles are organized in easy to discover ways and are available for installation in just a few easy clicks.

Fashion Your Firefox presents add-ons in activity-based categories that make them easy to find and install. Categories in Fashion Your Firefox include:
•    Shutterbug: View and share pictures and videos online
•    Rock Star: Listen to music while surfing, working, emailing or researching online
•    News Junkie: Get the most up-to-date news and weather
•    Shopaholic: Shop and take advantage of online deals
•    Digital Pack Rat: Keep track of favorite sites, bookmarks and blogs
•    Social Butterfly: Share, bookmark, and e-mail web pages via an array of social networking & bookmarking sites
•    Finder and Seeker: Find and make information on the Web more relevant
•    Decorator: Apply browser themes
•    Executive Assistant: Organize online activities

For more information see our press release, FAQ, and David Rolnitzky’s, Mozilla’s add-ons program manager, blog post.

Editor’s note: Mozilla released a security and stability update for Firefox 2.x and 3.x users today. Check out the Mozilla Developer News announcement reposted below for more details.

As part of Mozilla Corporation’s ongoing stability and security update process, Firefox 3.0.4 and Firefox 2.0.0.18 are now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux as free downloads:

• Firefox 3.0.4 is available at http://getfirefox.com/
• Firefox 2.0.0.18 is available at http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/all-older.html

We strongly recommend that all Firefox users upgrade to this latest release. If you already have Firefox 3 or Firefox 2, you will receive an automated update notification within 24 to 48 hours. This update can also be applied manually by selecting “Check for Updates…” from the Help menu.

For a list of changes and more information, please review the Firefox 3.0.4 Release Notes and the Firefox 2.0.0.18 Release Notes.

Note: All Firefox 2.0.0.x users are encouraged to upgrade to Firefox 3.0.4 by downloading it from http://getfirefox.com/.

Four years ago today, Mozilla announced the release of Firefox 1.0. and delivered a better Web experience to millions of users.   Top features included pop-up blocking, fraud protection, integrated search and tabbed browsing. What made you decide to give Firefox a try?  And what were your favorite features in Firefox 1.0?  2.0?  3.0?  If you’re interested in what’s coming next for Firefox, you can download and help test Firefox 3.1 beta 1.

Happy birthday Firefox!  Here’s to many more years of a healthy, open, participatory Web!

Editor’s note: Mozilla released Firefox 3.1 beta 1 on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 2:42 pm PT. Check out the Mozilla Developer News announcement reposted below for more details.

Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 is now available for download. This milestone is focused on testing the core functionality provided by many new features and changes to the platform scheduled for Firefox 3.1. Ongoing planning for Firefox 3.1 can be followed at the Firefox 3.1 Planning Center, as well as in mozilla.dev.planning and on irc.mozilla.org in #shiretoko.

New features and changes in this milestone that require feedback include:

• Web standards improvements in the Gecko layout engine
• Added support for CSS 2.1 and CSS 3 properties
• A new tab-switching shortcut that shows previews of the tab you’re switching to
• Improved control over the Smart Location Bar using special characters to restrict your search
• Support for new web technologies such as the <video> and <audio> elements, the W3C Geolocation API, JavaScript query selectors, web worker threads, SVG transforms and offline applications.

More information about new web developer features are available in the Web Tech blog post.

Testers can download Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 builds for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux in 36 different languages. Developers should also read the Firefox 3.1 for Developers article on the Mozilla Developer Center.

Note: Please do not link directly to the download site. Instead we strongly encourage you to link to this Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 milestone announcement so that everyone will know what this milestone is, what they should expect, and who should be downloading to participate in testing at this stage of development.