Mozilla debuted Firefox 3.6 on Thursday, introducing significant under-the-hood changes that make it faster and help it render content better, as well as adding a few visual tweaks.
Available for Windows, Mac and Linux, the most apparent changes in Firefox 3.6 are improvements made to the TraceMonkey JavaScript rendering engine, making it about 20 percent faster than when it debuted in Firefox 3.5, according to Mozilla.
Although this makes it more competitive with Google Chrome, but not faster, there is more to Firefox 3.6 than speed.
The update sees Firefox maintain its reputation as the most customisable browser around, introducing default support for the next generation of Themes, called Personas. Users will no longer have to download the Personas add-on to get its on-the-fly skinning power.
However, Windows 7 interface support, including tab previews using the Ctrl+Tab hot key, jump lists, and multiple tab previews in Aero Peek will have to wait for another revision. Currently, these can only be activated by changing settings in about:config.
For more on this story, see Mozilla forges ahead with Firefox 3.6 on CNET Download.com.
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"Firefox 3.6 has been downloaded 6,361,179 times since January 21, 2010" - http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/stats/