Mozilla: Firefox 18 Beta Released For Windows, Mac, And Linux

Mozilla’s Firefox 18 beta is now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux users. The company announced the new release on Monday and posted the download via Mozilla.org/Firefox/Beta

The biggest change to the new browser is the use of the JavaScript JIT compiler called IonMonkey, a product that speeds up JavaScript calls for browsing purposes.

IonMonkey will be most helpful during those times when users are attempting to access web apps, play games, or view other pages that feature heavy amounts of JavaScript.

IonMonkey is capable of emitting fast native code translations of JavaScript functions on the ARM, 32-bit, and 64-bit platforms, a vast improvement over past compilers.

Also included in Mozilla’s Firefox 18 is a built-in PDF viewer.

Mozilla has also added Retina Display support for Firefox users operating on the Mac OS X platform.

Here is the The full Firefox 18 beta changelog is as follows:

• NEW: Support for Retina Display on OS X 10.7 and up.
• NEW: Preliminary support for WebRTC.
• NEW: Built-in PDF viewer.
• CHANGED: Experience better image quality with our new HTML scaling algorithm.
• CHANGED: Performance improvements around tab switching.
• DEVELOPER: CSS3 Flexbox implemented.
• DEVELOPER: Support for new DOM property window.devicePixelRatio.
• DEVELOPER: Support for @supports added.
• DEVELOPER: Improvement in startup time through smart handling of signed extension certificates.
• HTML5: Support for W3C touch events impemented, taking the place of MozTouch events.
• FIXED: Disable insecure content loading on HTTPS pages (62178).
• FIXED: Improved responsiveness for users on proxies (769764).

Mozilla Firefox 17 officially launched on November 21, and Firefox 18 is set for a release in the second week of January, barring any major bug finds.