Rapid-release idea spreads to Firefox 5 beta

Mozilla released a beta version of Firefox yesterday, its first on a new quick-release plan intended to bring features to browser users and Web developers sooner.
Firefox 5 beta's big new feature is support for CSS animations, which let Web developers add some pizzazz to actions such as making dialog boxes pop up or switching among photos. Also in the new versio

n is canvas, JavaScript, memory, and networking, according to the release notes and bug-fix list.
That may not sound like a dramatic overhaul for a whole new version number, and indeed it isn't. Mozilla is following in Google's Chrome footsteps with a faster release cycle that means new versions arrive more rapidly but the differences from their predecessors are less dramatic. It also means a major change in version number doesn't mean a major overhaul has taken place.
Mozilla has three main versions of Firefox now: the release version for mainstream users, the beta version with new features under testing, and the most raw, Aurora, a version to introduce those new features. Those three versions correspond to Chrome's stable, beta, and dev releases. There's also a nightly Firefox build for those who want to try whatever patches have arrived in the last 24 hours, but it's most likely to be unstable.
The new process means that whatever is done on a particular schedule can ship in the new version--a more calendar-focused process than feature-focused process. One goal of the approach is to reduce the penalty of missing a train, because with a rapid release cycle, another train should come to the station soon.

(Credit: Mozilla)

"The shift to a rapid release development cycle delivers cutting edge Firefox features, performance enhancements, security updates and stability improvements to users faster," Mozilla said in its blog post announcing the Firefox 5 beta. "After five weeks of testing on the Firefox Aurora channel, the next version of Firefox is ready for the beta channel."
Another feature in the new beta is the ability to switch among the various versions of Firefox by clicking "change" in the "About Firefox" dialog box.
Also arriving yesterday was a new beta of Firefox 4 for mobile devices, a version that adds support for a do-not-track technology Mozilla hopes Web sites will embrace to aid those who don't want their personal behavior or data recorded.
Mozilla also is experimenting with another idea that's all the rage, a minimalist user interface frame. Firefox 4 did away with some items, such as its menu bar, but an experiment called LessChrome HD does away with just about everything except tabs. (Chrome in this case refers to the user interface items, not Google's rival browser.) With LessChrome HD, user interface elements such as the address bar pop up when the mouse hovers in the appropriate location.
Chrome, which has long embodied the minimal-UI ethos, has a similar option called compact navigation under way that makes the address bar part of the tab, too, so that a few more precious pixels of Web page are visible. This cnav option is only available on Windows right now and isn't enabled by default.
With Web applications, it's important to show as much as possible--especially since those apps can come with their own user interfaces, such as navigation and menu bars. It's not yet clear yet just how much of the browser interface should be hidden, though; there's still plenty to do with a browser beyond clicking its tabs, and hiding the address bar by default would doubtless cause another round of griping from those who didn't like their menu bars and status bars disappearing, either.

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Firefox hack for super speed browsing!

There are many people out there complaining about the Firefox RAM Memory Bug. Lets get it straight. It’s not a bug. It’s part of the cache feature. This ‘feature’ is how the pages are cached in a tabbed environment.

To improve performance when navigating (studies show that 39% of all page navigations are renavigations to pages visited less than 10 pages ago, usually using the back button), Firefox implements a Back-Forward cache that retains the rendered document for the last five session history entries for each tab.

This is a lot of data. If you have a lot of tabs, Firefox’s RAM memory usage can climb dramatically. It’s a trade-off. What you get out of it is faster performance as you navigate the web.

Now a lot of us have found the ’secrets’ on how to manipulate settings in “about:config” to drop the memory usage as long as possible and to increase the speed at which Firefox loads sites. Read on to find out how to do this.

Remember: Firefox (download it here) is the best internet browser available (in my opinion), and these tweaks below will make it even greater and faster. So enjoy!

Reduce the amount of RAM Firefox uses for it’s cache feature

Here’s how to do it:
1. Type “about:config” (no quotes) in the adress bar in the browser.
2. Find “browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewer”
3. Set it’s value to “0“;(Zero)

Increase the Speed in Which Firefox loads pages

1. Type “about:config” into the address bar and hit Enter.
(Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. When you enable pipeliningit will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.)

2. Alter the entries as follows:
Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true”
Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true”
Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to some number like 10.

This means it will make 10 requests at once.

3. Lastly, right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0“;.(Zero)

This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives. If you’re using a broadband connection you’ll load pages faster now.
Optionally (for even faster web browsing) here are some more options for your about:config (you might have to create some of these entries by Right Click –> New– > Interger or String

network.dns.disableIPv6: set “false”
“content.notify.backoffcount”: set “5“; (Five)
“plugin.expose_full_path”: set “true”.
“ui.submenuDelay”: set “0; (zero)

Reduce RAM usage to 10mb when Firefox is minimized:

This little hack will drop Firefox’s RAM usage down to 10 Mb when minimized:

1. Open Firefox and go to the Address Bar. Type in about:config and then press Enter.
2. Right Click in the page and select New -> Boolean.
3. In the box that pops up enter “config.trim_on_minimize”. Press Enter.
4. Now select True and then press Enter.
5. Restart Firefox.

These simple tweaks will make your web browsing with Mozilla Firefox 2-3 times faster and easier. And I think they are fairly easy to apply. Enjoy!

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10 Productive Ways to use YouTube beyond the regular stuff !

We watch YouTube almost every day. I mean, even if we didn’t want to there’d be some instances where we need to log in. I’m a bit apprehensive about using YouTube especially at work because most of the times, the things that pop up are NSFW. However, I’m a big fan of YouTube and these tools make sure that we don’t end up in the YouTube loop, but make things a little more useful, effective and fun for all of us.

1. Download Audio from any YouTube videos the easy way

So you like that new Lady Gaga song and the video is out on YouTube, but you want it as a ringtone for your mobile, and you don’t want to go through the messy process of using a video editing program to rip off the music. What do you do ? Use this website, copy paste the URL of the video and let it rip off the music in mp3 format for you. Download it to your cellphone and you’re done. Easy as that.

2. Share particular parts of any YouTube video

Sometimes, we’re just interested only in a certain part of a video. Like 12-26th second of a 5 minute vide and while sharing the whole video is what most of us do, the person you’re sharing with might not watch the entire video or he might miss the part you want him to see. So what do you do ? Use Tubechop to select the particular time in the video, slice it up and share the URL is gives with your friends. When your friend clicks on the URL, they see only the selected part in that YouTube video.

3.  Add extra controls to YouTube videos other than the default buttons

If you’re a power YouTube user, you always wanted those extra controls like beyond the play and pause button. This Greasemonkey script will grant your wish. Its got a series of additional buttons for that seamless power user experience.

4. Get sing-along lyrics on any YouTube music video

This is a nifty utility for singers and music enthusiasts. What it does is, while your favourite music videos are being played on YouTube, it displays a small window next to it, that will search a database of lyrics and popup the right lyrics for that particular song, so you can sing along. Cool huh ? Download

5. Bookmark, Organize and Save YouTube Videos for later viewing

This is a standalone program for you to save, bookmark and share YouTube videos, much like a personal collection. You can search for videos, save them, bookmark them all from the application and open up for later viewing.

6. How not to show the “Related Videos” pane while watching a video

Many of us would’ve encountered the bad experience of other inappropriate videos popping up in the related videos section while watching an interesting video with our friends on YouTube. There is a simple trick that will keep the related videos from popping up.
In the URL of the original video, just add ‘&rel=0? to the end part and you’re done. Or if the parameter is at ‘&rel=1?, change it to ‘&rel=0?.

7. Play YouTube videos inside the browser, without clutter and in a playlist

Some people like to use YouTube like winamp sometimes, like while at work listening to a list of songs, side by side. And having your YouTube site open can be a bit annoying, especially when your boss is looking over your shoulders. But there is a solution. Grab this Firefox extension and it lets you add a little sidebar to the browser, where you can queue up an entire list of YouTube videos that will keep playing within the sidebar. Nice !

8. Watch YouTube videos on a slower Internet connection, without breaks

If you’re on a slower internet connection, then watching YouTube videos can be a pain. Frustration and more frustration. In fact, YouTube realizes that this could be a problem, and have alternate methods for you. YouTube has a Feather tool that lets you watch YouTube videos on slower connections. It doesn’t include those items that eat up bandwidth and make YouTube videos slower.

9. Upload more than one video in bulk to YouTube

So if you’re the type who have a lot of uploading to do on YouTube, things can get a bit out of hand. There is a lot of waiting to do for one video before you can do the next upload. So batch uploading is the only way out. And is there a tool that lets you do it ? Yes of course – YouTube Universal Uploader.

10.  Create ringtones from YouTube videos in one easy steps

Creating ringtones from YouTube videos never was so easy. All you got to do is copy paste the YouTube video URL, mark the portion where the song appears (or the whole video) and click create. The ringtone can be downloaded in various mobile audio formats. Check it out


  

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