With the release of Google Chrome 2 just out the door, Google has started work on Chrome 3, with the latest developer build being version 3.0.182.2.
The latest development build fixes a few bugs, as well as adding new features. A full list of changes can be found in the release notes.
Users wanting to test out this release can change their browser to the developer channel.
With Firefox 3.5 nearing completion, it has been revealed that many of the icons is Firefox 3.5 are being refreshed and updated.
Across all 4 platforms, around 25 icons are being tweaked or are entirely new, such as the geolocation icons.
The new icons are available now in the latest nightly builds, but will be included in any Release Candidates and the final release of 3.5
The latest development snapshot of Opera 10 contains a new skin for the browser, which appears to have its base from the Google Chrome skin.
Along with the new release, the Opera team have noticed that reaching version 10 has become a problem, with some high profile sites detecting the user string as version 1. To solve this Opera have temporarily changed the user agent string to read “Opera/9.80 (X11; Linux i686; U; en) Presto/2.2.15 Version/10.00”.
A full list of changes and download links can be found in Opera Desktop Team blog.
Google has just bumped Chrome up a version, with the latest release now bring 2.0.172.28.
The new release is now 30% faster than the previous release according to Google.
Chrome 2.0 also adds new features, including full screen mode, form autofill, and the ability to remove thumbnails from the New Tab page.
The release is available to new users from the Chrome website, and existing users will be upgraded automatically.
Mozilla Labs have released a new project called Jetpack. The project is a “newly formed experiment in using open Web technologies to enhance the browser, with the goal of allowing anyone who can build a Web site to participate in making the Web a better place to work, communicate and play” says Mozilla.
The aim is to allow web developers to design add-ons for Firefox using just HTML, JavaScript and CSS.
A download for Firefox is available along with more information, documentation, and videos from the Jetpack website.
Microsoft has released Internet Explorer 8 Multilingual User Interface (MUI) packs for Windows XP SP3, and Windows Server 2003 SP2.
The packs are available in a wide range of languages, including Arabic, Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Hong Kong), French, German, Italian, Japanese and many more.
The packs can be downloaded using the links below:
It looks like Firefox 3.5 is set to get a new logo, after Mozilla set out to update Firefox’s logo in a bid to reflect the changes in the upcoming browser. The current logo has been the same since Firefox 1.5.
“In a marketplace that is focused on products that are newer, faster, lighter and shinier, design work is inherently perishable. Part of this is larger trends and fashion (for a period of time cars had fins), and part of this is simply ongoing visual change as an indication of overall progress” explained Alex Faaborg, a Firefox User Experience team member.
The final design is still not decided on, but Faaborg has been posting different renderings daily on his blog.
Mozilla Labs has started a design challenge seeking to encourage innovation and experimentation in user interface design for the Web. The aim is to reinvent tabs, as many users today will often have 10-20 tabs open at anyone time.
“The browser is more of an operating system than a data display application; we use it to manage the web as a shared hard drive” says the Mozilla website. “If you have more than seven or eight tabs open they become pretty much useless. And tabs don’t work well if you use them with heterogeneous information. They’re a good solution to keep the screen tidy for the moment.”
Users are able to enter the design challenge by submitting mock-ups of what they think could be possible solutions. Entries need to be in by June 21st 2009, with the winner being announced July 8th 2009.
Full details can be found on the Mozilla Labs Design Challenge website.
After weeks of delays associated with the most recent two Firefox 3.5 beta’s, Mozilla is now on track to deliver Firefox 3.5 release candidate (RC) 1 in June.
“We’re setting an aggressive code freeze target of next Wednesday, May 20th for Firefox 3.5 RC” said Firefox Director Mike Beltzner. This puts “the RC release somewhere in the first week of June.”
Currently, there are still outstanding code blocking bugs stopping Firefox 3.5 from hitting RC status. Provided they are all completed in time, we may even see a final release of Firefox 3.5 sometime in late June or early July.
Firefox 3.5 Beta 4 can be downloaded in the mean time from the Firefox beta website.
Mozilla has today released Fennec Alpha 1 for Windows Mobile. Until now, to use the new mobile browser you needed either a Nokia N800/N810 or an HTC Touch Pro.
This new release worked with Windows Mobile 6 devices and includes new memory management technology (the same used in Firefox), a user interface designed with CSS, and support for add-ons.
A full list of known bugs, changes since pre-alpha builds, and installation instructions can be found in the release notes.