Firefox 13 leaks ahead of release, plays catch-up to other browsers
Welcome to the 2010s, Firefox.
The latest version of Mozilla’s Web browser, Firefox 13, leaked onto the Internet a day ahead of its official release, and is available for download to anyone.
But unlike previous versions of Firefox that trailblazed new ways to surf the Web, this version is more about bringing Firefox up to par with its peers. It’s not a bad browser, but it’s nothing special either.
The official version will become available from Mozilla on Tuesday, but the early version, which is available here, appears to be the full, real thing.
The latest Firefox rendition, which has been available in Beta form for some time, brings a couple of new features with it to make the browser more helpful as well as faster.
The most notable changes will be visible to users on the browser’s default home page and its new tab page.
The default home page has been redesigned to include more than the Firefox logo and Google search bar. It now also includes thumbnail shortcuts to your downloads, bookmarks, history and other pages.
The new tab page is no longer a white, blank waste of real estate, but rather, it shows you your nine most visited websites, which as WebProNews notes, is nothing we haven’t seen before but something Firefox was definitely missing. And for those users who do like the blank page, there’s a button on the top right corner that brings it back.
Another addition to Firefox is a feature called Tabs on Demand, which is great for users who like to leave millions of tabs open. Tabs on Demand works when a user reloads a previous session that had numerous open tabs.
But rather than open each of them up simultaneously, inevitably making your computer crash or drag, Tabs on Demand only opens each tab as you get around to using it.
And there’s also Reset Firefox. This feature works when Firefox stops working by migrating your bookmarks, passwords, cookies and other data to a new profile while resetting everything else to default.
It’s a near-nuke option for when everything else fails to fix the problem.
So check out the latest version of Firefox or wait for Tuesday and get it officially from its makers. It’s nice and fresh, but it’s not a standout as Firefox once was.
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