A new version of the popular Mozilla Firefox browser is out. Version 55 features a new Permissions UI for WebExtensions, Adobe Flash plugin restrictions out of the box, a new Performance page in options and more.
Starting with version 55, every time you install or update a WebExtension add-on, it will show the list of required permissions for the add-on. All available permissions are listed here, so you can quickly learn about them.
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Firefox 55 brings the click-to-play mode enabled by default for the Adobe Flash plugin.
Finally, there is a new Performance section in Preferences on the general tab. Here is how it looks in my system:
Developers have described it as follows.
To give you the fastest and most reliable experience, Firefox automatically uses settings that work best with your computer. You can always change these settings in your Firefox Options by unchecking the box next to Use recommended performance settings and changing the following:
Use hardware acceleration when available: This allows Firefox to use your graphics card (if available) instead of your computer’s main software to display graphics-heavy applications, like videos or web games. This frees up resources on your computer so it can run other applications, like Firefox, faster.
Set maximum content processes: Firefox can run each tab separately so each one performs better. However, having too many tabs can slow down your computer, and consequently, Firefox. The recommended maximum is four, but you can set up to seven.
The browser comes with a new screenshot button which activates the built-in Firefox Screenshots feature. By default, it is disabled, but you can enable it in about:config. See the following screenshots:
Firefox Screenshots is a new system add-on. It allows you to capture a screenshot of the opened web page and quickly share it with your friends. The screenshot can be uploaded online and shared over Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. We have reviewed this feature in detail here: Firefox Is Getting The Screenshots Feature.
The server-side software of Firefox Screenshots is open source. Interested users can install it on their own hardware.
Besides these changes, there are lots of security issues which were resolved and tons of improvements were added to developer tools.
You can learn about all the smaller changes in the full change log at the official announcement page.
If you already have Firefox installed, you can press the Alt key on the keyboard to show the menu and select Help - About. This will make Firefox check for updates and download the new version. Otherwise the browser can be downloaded from Mozilla's server using the following link:
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Very interesting new features!
Firefox was my favorite browser since version 0.8.
Firefox is getting worse and worse.
I changed to Iron, much better and faster than firefox!
thank you