Firefox 18 beta launches, faster JavaScript and Retina support

Mozilla may be suffering a bit lately thanks to the growth of the Chrome web browser, but they are still a popular choice for many computer users. They have also begun updating the browser at a much faster pace in order to keep pace with the competition. Those frequent updates don’t always result in cool new features, but the release today of the version 18 beta does bring some welcome new features.

Whenever a company updates their software I always tend to go first to the changelog so I can find out exactly what I am looking for. In this case I was surprised to find a couple of nice updates.

The first was a major inprovement to JavaScript by implementing the much anticipated IonMonkey engine. This should improve the display of web apps, games, and other JavaScript-heavy sites and services. The second was new support for Apple’s Retina displays. Beyond these two important changes, there are several other things that are notable.

Changelog

• 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).

If you are already using the beta version of Firefox then you should receive this update automatically. If not, then head over to the Mozilla Beta Channel to make the switch. The final version will be released in January.