Firefox Features
Enjoy a Better Web
Experience
There’s a lot to do on the Web, and Firefox 2
is full of helpful features to make your time online more
productive.
Improved Tabbed
Browsing
We love tabs as
much as you do, so Firefox 2 will open new web pages in tabs
by default. Each of those tabs has its own close button, but
don’t worry - if you accidentally close a tab, just go to the
History menu to bring it back from the list of “Recently
Closed Tabs.” You’ll never be crunched for space anymore,
either. When you have too many tabs open to comfortably fit in
a single window, scroll arrows will appear on either side, and
a button on the right side will always show you an
easy-to-read list of all your open tabs.
Spell Checking
Sometimes you’re in
a rush, and can’t remember if it’s “i” before “e” or the other
way around. Firefox 2 has built-in spell checking to keep you
from making any mistakes in your blog posts and Web-based
email, so you can worry about more important
things.
Search Suggestions
Some of the search
engines in Firefox 2 can read your mind, and actually suggest
search terms for what you’re looking for. Just start typing
into the Search bar, and a drop down list of suggestions will
appear. (Works for Google, Yahoo! and Answers.com.)
Session Restore
Losing your place
while you’re doing things on the Web is a pain. Now, with
Session Restore, if Firefox has to restart or closes when it
comes back you’ll pick up exactly where you left off. The
windows and tabs you were using, the text you typed into
forms, and the in-progress downloads you had running will all
be restored. You can even set Firefox 2 to always restore your
previous session instead of loading a home page, so you’ll
never lose your place again.
Web Feeds (RSS)
What do news
headlines, indie rock podcasts, and pictures of kittens have
in common? They’re all things that you can subscribe to with
Web feeds. Firefox 2 gives you full control over Web feeds,
showing you a preview and letting you choose how you want to
subscribe. You can use a Firefox Live Bookmark, or a feed
reader that you’ve installed on your computer, or through a
Web service such as My Yahoo!, Bloglines or Google
Reader.
Live Titles
Keep an eye on that
auction or the status of a delivery using the new Live Titles
feature in Firefox 2. Compact enough to fit as a bookmark
label, Live Titles are regularly updated summaries of the most
important information on a Web page. As the information on the
page gets updated, so does your Live Title. Try one out in
Firefox 2 by bookmarking www.woot.com.
Integrated Search
Firefox helps you
find whatever it is that you’re looking for. The Search bar
comes pre-loaded with search engines for Google, Yahoo!,
Amazon, eBay, Answers.com, and Creative Commons. Wherever you
are on the Web, you can enter a search term in the Search bar
and receive immediate answers from the search engine you’ve
chosen. You can select a new search engine from the Search bar
menu at any time, and add search engines from hundreds of your
favorite Web sites.
Live Bookmarks
Firefox Live
Bookmarks let you view Web feeds such as news and blog
headlines in the bookmarks toolbar or menu. With one glance,
quickly review the latest headlines from your favorite sites
and click to go directly to the articles that interest
you.
Pop-up Blocker
Firefox keeps you
in control of the Web pages you’re viewing, blocking annoying
pop-ups. Firefox’s pop-up blocker notifies you when pop-ups
are blocked via the information bar or icon on the lower right
of the screen.
Streamlined Interface
>> Firefox
2.0 Download
The user interface in Firefox 2 has been
updated to improve usability without altering the familiarity
of the browsing experience.
Accessibility
Firefox delivers a
better browsing experience for everyone - including those who
are visually impaired. Firefox includes support for DHTML
accessibility. Web developers can create pages that reduce the
amount of tabbing required to navigate a document to minimize
keystrokes for those with mobility disabilities. Firefox also
includes support for Microsoft Active Accessibility,
Microsoft’s accessibility API standard for Windows. This
support allows Firefox to work with screen readers such as GW
Micro’s Window-Eyes and Freedom Scientific’s JAWS. Firefox 2
(Windows version) meets US federal government requirements
that software be easily accessible to users with physical
impairments.
Stay Secure on the Web
The Web is a great
place, but sometimes you’ll encounter bad people. Firefox
keeps you safe from spyware, hackers, scammers and spammers,
using the power of a vigilant and passionate community to
protect you 24/7.
Phishing Protection
Phishing Protection
takes Firefox’s security to a new level, helping to safeguard
your financial information and protect you from identity
theft. When you encounter a Web site that is a suspected
forgery (known as a “phishing” site) Firefox will warn you and
offer to take you to a search page so you can find the real
Web site you were looking for.
Open Source, More
Secure
At the heart of
Firefox is an open source development process driven by
thousands of passionate, experienced developers and security
experts spread all over the world. Our openness and active
community of experts helps to ensure our products are more
secure and updated quickly, while also enabling us to take
advantage of the best third party security scanning and
evaluation tools to further bolster overall
security.
Automated Update
Firefox’s update
system always checks to see if you’re running the latest
version, and notifies you when a security update is available.
These security updates are small (usually 200KB - 700KB),
giving you only what you need and making the security update
quick to download and install. The automated update system
provides updates for Firefox on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux
in over 40 different languages.
Protection from
Spyware
Firefox will not
allow a Web site to download, install, or run programs on your
computer without your explicit agreement. Period. You will be
notified whenever downloading or installing software, and
Firefox will always tell you what’s happening so that you can
stay in control of your computer.
Clear Private Data
Firefox offers the
ability to clear all your private Web browsing data with just
one click with the “Clear Private Data” tool. You can be
confident that when you clear your private data in Firefox
it’s gone - whether you are using your own computer or one at
the library.
Personalize Your
Browser
Choose from
thousands of useful Add-ons that enhance Firefox. It’s easy to
personalize Firefox 2 to make it your own.
An
Add-on for Everyone
You can choose from over 1,000
add-ons at the Firefox Add-ons Web site. A Firefox add-on can
help you comparison shop, share bookmarks with your friends,
see the weather in a corner of your browser, write to your
weblog, get news, listen to music - all from inside the
browser you already love. You can even change the appearance
of your browser - from buttons to colors and fonts - so that
it matches your own personal style.
Add-ons Manager for Extensions and
Themes
The new Add-ons
Manager improves the user interface for managing extensions
and themes, making it even easier for you to customize Firefox
2. Install, uninstall, enable and disable your add-ons in a
single place.
Search Engine Manager
You can now quickly
add, remove and re-order your search engines in the Search
bar. Firefox 2 will also detect when a Web site has a search
engine that can be installed, and will install it for you with
a single click in the drop-down menu.
(source: mozilla.org)
>> Firefox
2.0 Download
