FireFox 5 planned release for June
Yup, only a few weeks after FireFox 4 was released, plans have been announced to release the next version FF5 around June 29, 2011. And it won't stop there, with version 6 and possibly 7 to be released by year's end.
As reported in Conceivably Tech
Quote:
Details about the next version of Firefox are slowly emerging. The browser will receive significant UI revisions and feature updates that will make Firefox more social and adopt several features that are already working well in Google’s Chrome browser.
There are 9 features that FF developers are working on now (although some of them may not make the cut and may be moved to version 6 or 7):
1. Tab multi-select to let users select multiple tabs to close or move them
2. A new tab page
3. Add-ons will get standardized toolbar support
4. A file upload indicator
5. The Home button will be replace by a Home app tab. This appears to be an evolving feature and Mozilla is exploring ways how to get rid of the home button, while not damaging the usability of the browser.
6. In-browser preview: Firefox will also get an integrated PDF viewer (like Chrome) and will extend this capability to more popular file formats, including MP3.
7. Taskbar web apps: Tabs will get their own context menus that can be configured by website owners. Websites will act much more like traditional apps and core features as well as navigation items will be accessible via the site tab.
8. Identity management: to keep you signed in to websites via an integrated identity manager and may even support multiple sign-ons at the same time.
9. New sharing features: there will be a new paper plane logo in the URL bar that provides access to your social media accounts, to let you “share” websites directly from your URL bar.
Some interesting changes, especially when it comes to further integrating social networking aspects. This is a good reminder that social networking is becoming more and more a part of any user's experience, so we have to adapt to this and get social too!
