What’s New In Firefox 31?

The latest offering of Firefox from Mozilla, features some major enhancements, new features, and the regular bug fixes, and stability and performance improvements for both desktop and mobile OS platforms. This time Mozilla has also focused on various developer-related functionality improvements.

So, what’s new in Firefox 31?

For the desktop user, Mozilla Firefox 31 come with an exclusive search field on the new tab page.  This allows you to initiate new searches without navigating to the search bar at the top of the screen.  This standalone search field will enable you to initiate a quick web search and save time on navigating to the default search bar.

Another key enhancement in this version, is the ‘Malware detection and Block’ mechanism.  The function is switched on by default whenever you download files. You can also choose to turn-off the in-browser safety feature as well.  To switch off ‘Malware Block’ navigate to Preferences > Security >”Block reported attack sites”.

Some will be glad to know that if you are a Windows desktop user, you will be able to run multimedia files with .ogg and .pdf extensions from within the browser, if no default application is chosen to open these files.

The new parental control features within Firefox 31, is evident by the Prefer:Safe http header.  The browser will transmit the Prefer:Safe header to the visited website. This mechanism will usually result in a higher degree of safety.  It works by operating together with websites, which are designed to recognise functionality restrictions.

Good news if you are a developer too. After installing Firefox 31 you can now get access to new tools, like the “Add-on Debugger” that allows you to run the JavaScript debugger in an add-on context.  You also get Mozilla’s new ‘Canvas Debugger‘, which debugs frames rendered on a Canvas element. This new tool should be useful for both animation creators and game developers.

On the mobile side of things, if you are an Android user, then the new Firefox 31 comes with the option to re-order existing panels in browser home screen. You should also be able to refresh synced tabs anytime.  Also, the latest version of Firefox for Android incorporates CSS3 variables within HTML5.

If you are interested, you can look at the full list of changes in the release notes.  Firefox 31 is available now to download from FileHippo.com.

[Image via sourcedigit]

SOURCE: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/mozilla-firefox-31-now-officially-available-download-whats-new-1457859