Nightly releases of Firefox 4 now include Aero Glass for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users, with the feature still a work in progress.
“The feature was available first in early April but pulled back soon after to iron some important bugs” noted Mozilla Links Percy Cabello.
The above screenshot also showcases the ability to hide the menu bar, and move the tab bar above the location bar.
Keen users can test the new interface by downloading a copy of the latest Firefox nightly.
Mozilla Developer Rob Cambell has revealed that Firefox 4 is recieving a new DOM inspector, similar to what is found in other browsers, after it was removed from Firefox 3.
Currently, Firefox web developers use the Firebug add-on to achieve the same effect. Cambell has stated Mozilla is not out to “kill” the Firebug add-on, but to merely suplement it.
“Now every browser ships with a set of development tools. We didn’t feel that [the original] DOM Inspector was the right tool to include in the browser” wrote Cambell.
Early Firefox 4 builds that include the new, unfinished DOM inspector are available for download.
Google has announced a new format for the HTML5 video war, called WebM and using the VP8 codec.
The new video format is royalty free and designed specifically for use on the web. The WebM project is sponsored by Google, Mozilla, Opera, AMD, Nvidia and Oracle amongst others and is aiming to become the standard way we view video on the web in years to come.
All major browser have announced support for the format, except for Apple.
“In its HTML5 support, IE9 will support playback of H.264 video as well as VP8 video when the user has installed a VP8 codec on Windows” commented Internet Explorer General Manager Dean Hachamovitch.
“Video will finally become a first-class citizen of the Web. This is a big deal, and the day will be remembered in the history of the Web” wrote Håkon Wium Lie, CTO, Opera Software. Opera also have preview builds of the browser available which support the WebM video format.
Mozilla was also quick to follow, with preview builds of Firefox that also include support for WebM. Chrome builds should follow in the coming week.
Apple has been very quiet on the matter, not stating whether it will support the format in it’s Safari browser, and whether this format could make an appearance on iPhones, iPads and iPod touches.
This is a great day for open web standards.
Microsoft Australia has launched its own campaign against Internet Explorer 6, declaring the browser as “off” and urging lingering users to upgrade to Internet Explorer 8.
“You wouldn’t drink 9 year old milk, so why use a 9-year-old browser” asks Microsoft.
“When Internet Explorer 6 was launched in 2001, it offered cutting–edge security – for the time. Since then, the Internet has evolved and the security features of Internet Explorer 6 have become outdated. With the latest state–of–the–art security features, Internet Explorer 8 is designed to cope with today’s modern cyber crime” says Microsoft’s introduction.
The campaign is aimed at existing IE6 users, which still make up 17.58% of the web browsers world-wide according to Market Share by Net Applications.
Microsoft Australia’s campaign can be seen here, along with some very interesting fraud facts.
The Chromium team has sure been working hard, with Google Chrome 6.0.401.1 hitting the Dev Channel for Windows, Mac and Linux users.
This means Chrome 5 is now feature complete, and will continue to make its way from the Beta Channel to the stable release.
Not much has changed so far, with a list of changes available in the Google Chrome Releases blog. There is however one known issue with this build; hitting enter in some form fields does not submit the form. This bug is expected to be fixed in the next Dev Channel update.
Current Chrome Dev Channel users will automatically receive the new update, while new ‘daring’ users can get details on how to get this latest build from the Chromium website.
Internet Explorer 9 Project Manager Sharon Newman has revealed in depth the upcoming browsers support for CSS3 selectors.
“CSS3 Selectors enable complex styling of webpages using simpler CSS and less script than previously possible” wrote Newman.
“Our goal is to enable new selectors in your webpages in a way that lets the same markup work across browsers […] IE9 now passes 100% of test cases on css3.info, 100% of the W3C CSS3 Selectors Test Suite, and Acid3 tests 34 through 37 and 39 through 44” continued Newman.
Interested users can test out a developer preview of Internet Explorer 9 by downloading it from the test drive site.
A full list of CSS3 selectors supported by Internet Explorer 9 can be found after the break.
Hulu developers have come out describing HTML5 as not ready to deliver video content, and that Adobe’s Flash still reigns supreme.
“When it comes to technology, our only guiding principle is to best serve the needs of all of our key customers: our viewers, our content partners who license programs to us, our advertisers, and each other. We continue to monitor developments on HTML5, but as of now it doesn’t yet meet all of our customers’ needs. Our player doesn’t just simply stream video, it must also secure the content, handle reporting for our advertisers, render the video using a high performance codec to ensure premium visual quality, communicate back with the server to determine how long to buffer and what bitrate to stream, and dozens of other things that aren’t necessarily visible to the end user. Not all video sites have these needs, but for our business these are all important and often contractual requirements” wrote Eugene Wei, VP of Product at Hulu.
With Apple putting all its eggs in the HTML5 basket, it seems others aren’t so sure. Adobe’s concerns appear valid, and today launched its We Love Choice campaign.
“At Adobe, we believe that the open flow of creativity, ideas, and information should be limited only by the imagination. Innovation thrives when people are free to choose the technologies that enable them to openly express themselves and access information where and when they want. Everyone loses when technological barriers impede the exchange of ideas” the campaign says.
It’s clear the HTML5 vs Flash debate is far from over.
Opera Mobile 10 has made it to the Maemo platform, with Opera releasing the first preview releases for the Nokia N900 and N800/N810 devices.
The release marks the return of the Opera browser to the Maemo platform, which hasn’t been supported since Nokia included it’s own internal browser with devices back in 2008.
“The preview build contains the same features available in Opera Mobile 10 for Symbian and Windows Mobile smartphones. These include fast and economical browsing with Opera Turbo, bookmark and Speed Dial sync with other Opera products, and of course multiple tabs” wrote Opera’s Fredrik Öhrn.
A full list of features can be read in the Opera Mobile 10 features list, while a download can be found by browsing to this URL on your Maemo device.
More releases of the browser are expected during the coming months before we see a final release.
Mozilla has given a presentation discussing Firefox.Next, now officially known as Firefox 4, which bypasses the often talked about Firefox 3.7 version number.
New features set to make an appearance in the browser include:
Currently, a Firefox 4 Beta is expected in June next month, with a possible final release planned for November, or Janurary if development slips past the November time-frame.
The full 50 minute presentation can be downloaded or watched online.
Details have emerged of a new high risk vulnerability discovered in Apple’s Safari web browser.
The exploit could allow a malicious user to execute arbitrary code on a remote system and is rated highly critical by Secunia.
“The vulnerability is caused due to an error in the handling of parent windows and can result in a function call using an invalid pointer. This can be exploited to execute arbitrary code when a user e.g. visits a specially crafted web page and closes opened pop-up windows” says the Secunia security advisory.
The vulnerability affects both Mac OS X and Windows versions of the browser. Apple is yet to release an update to close the flaw.