Whirlpool

Firefox 2.0 "Bon Echo" Alpha 2 has been released. This is the latest testing release of what will eventually become Firefox 2.0.

Standard nasty warning: Do not use this unless you like testing buggy, broken code. Themes and extensions will break. You have been warned.

What's New
* Links default to opening in new tabs, not new windows
* Close buttons now appear on every tab, and the close behaviour is slightly different
* Inline spell checking in text boxes
* Automatic restoration of your browsing session if there is a crash
* Search suggestions now appear in the search box autocomplete for Google and Yahoo!
* New search plugin manager for removing and re-ordering search engines
* Improved support for previewing and subscribing to web feeds
* New microsummaries feature for bookmarks
* New Add-Ons manager improves the user interface for managing extensions and themes
* Updates to the extension system to provide enhanced security and to allow for easier localization of extensions
* New search service that supports Sherlock and OpenSearch engines
* Support for SVG text using svg:textPath

Suggested Reading
Bon Echo Alpha 2 Start Page
Release Notes
Discussion at MozillaZine
MozillaZine Article

Download
Microsoft Windows
MacOS X (Universal)
Linux

(Yes, I'm a couple of days late, but nobody else noticed either...)

The list of the new stuff that they are adding is actually kind of useful.
The default into tabs is great!! and i'm sure that the other features will enhance the experience a lot.
I'm just about to try the IE7 beta (i'm a diehard firefox user, but new is shiny:p) so the 'Bon Echo' alpha will be interesting.

Hendikins writes...

Search suggestions now appear in the search box autocomplete for Google and Yahoo!

this recording of searches is why i left ie.

Inline spell checking in text boxes

interesting, i wonder if it will make it less stable?

sounds good, as long as u can pick and choose the new features, that's what i believe firefox is about

sir_hc writes...
this recording of searches is why i left ie.

It isn't recording your searches, but suggesting search terms based on what you type. Much like the search box on a certain torrent site.

I believe that it's called predictive typing. My work also uses it for our eCommerce site.

sir_hc writes...

this recording of searches is why i left ie.

In the case of Google searches, it is probably using Google Suggest. If that is the case, you just replace the searchplugin with the one from 1.5.

(I haven't taken this build for a spin)

Hendikins writes...

Standard nasty warning: Do not use this unless you like testing buggy, broken code. Themes and extensions will break. You have been warned.

LOL sounds like Firefox 1.5.0.3

Thanks mate ;)

Nevermind, fixed everything up. :)

anyone know how to disable session manager ?

Theres a guy named boba who compiles firefox with special build options that arent usually compiled for like sse/sse2. ie Pentium3/AthlonXP & Pentium 4/Athlon 64 and these are really quick indeed. Using Firefox 2 with these optimisiations on a p4 1.8 with 512mb sdram and these builds really rock.

Here's his stash of illicit booty :p

boba.fatal-ecstasy.net/index.php

Firefox 2.0 "Bon Echo" Alpha 3 is blindingly fast in SUSE linux, may give it a try in Windoze as well.

Found a good extension called "Nightly Tester Tools" which allowed me to run all my usual Firefox 1.5 extension without any compatibility probs, so far at least.
You can give it a spin here:
users.blueprintit.co.uk/...ildid/index.html

Please continue the discussion in the new thread: forum-replies.cfm?t=529853