Firefox 5 hits beta as Mozilla ramps up scheduling

by Steven Mostyn - May 23 2011, 14:51

With Mozilla Corporation widely expected to release the next version of its Web browsing platform by the end of June, the renowned open-source specialist has this week offered up its initial Firefox 5 beta.

Available to the public as of Friday, May 20, the first-pass beta consists of the ‘Aurora’ tweaks, enhancements and alterations recently made to the gradually evolving browser by the Firefox development team.

If you’re a Mozilla fan looking to shift to Firefox 5 as quickly as possible, some of the more significant changes you can look forward to via the beta release include support for CSS animation, and also the introduction of a “channel switcher”, which enables users to quickly shift Firefox 5 between Aurora, Beta and Release.

Although Mozilla has said the new browser’s user interface (UI) aesthetics will remain unchanged from those experienced in Firefox 4, the beta addresses more than 1,000 operational issues connected to established stability wobbles.

In something of a departure from its usual process of pushing new features through regular upgrades (much as the likes of Microsoft and Apple do with their browsers), Mozilla has announced it will be introducing future features as and when they’re completed.

This is part and parcel of a new, speedier development and release schedule, which should see Mozilla matching Google in pushing out brand new browser platforms every six weeks or so.

Ambitious indeed, especially considering that, if Mozilla’s developers and engineers hit their targets, we could well have moved from Firefox 4 to Firefox 9 before the close of 2011.

Interested in putting Firefox 5 through its paces? If so, simply click this direct link to select it for Windows, Mac or Linux.

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