The next major update to Firefox, code named "Australis", has now graduated out of the Nightly testing channel and into the latest Aurora build. The new version, Firefox 29.0a2, is now available to download.
As we have reported before, the changes that will be made to Firefox via Australis will include a new user interface. In a post on the Mozilla blog, the company said:
Tabs have a new fluid and streamlined shape and non-active tabs blend into the background to make it faster for you to find and focus on the tab you want. A new menu contains the most popular features including copy, paste, zoom, as well as add-ons all in one spot with easy to identify visual icons.
As you can see from the image above, the UI looks very similar to the one employed by Google"s Chrome browser. The Australis version of Firefox also allows for faster menu, tab bar and tool bar customization by just dragging the buttons and icons around.
In addition to the UI and customization changes, the new build on Aurora adds Firefox Accounts to the browser. It allows users to sign into a single account to bring their bookmarks, history, and any open tabs to any Firefox supported devices, including the mobile version of the browser and smartphones running FirefoxOS.
Mozilla has had a very busy week for news. It also launched the touch-based version of Firefox for Windows 8 to its beta channel this week and introduced plans for an Android Launcher that will be released in the near future.
Source: Mozilla