Firefox 3.5 is a pretty substantial update to the popular open-source browser, and it's just around the corner. See what features, fixes, and clever new tools are worth getting excited about in the next big release.
UPDATE: A previous version of this list had Taskfox, an integrated version of Ubiquity, included as a Firefox 3.5 feature. It's still in the experimental phase, in fact, as readers pointed out, and we regret the confusion (and false optimism!). This new list includes an additional item, and the rankings have been shifted slightly.
10. Undo closed window
If you accidentally close a tab you'd meant to keep open, Firefox 3, at least through extensions like Tab Mix Plus, can bring it back. Update: To clarify, Firefox can resurrect closed tabs without Tab Mix Plus (just hit Ctrl+Shift+T, for example); the extension simply adds more fine-grained control. If you accidentally kill a separate window full of tabs, though, you've been pretty much out of luck. Firefox 3.5 implements a restore feature for both tabs and windows from the History menu, which would (hopefully) also restore any text you've typed into them.
9. Forget this site
Tools like Private Browsing Modes and history wipers are good for what they do, but sometimes it would be great to have just one site wiped off your history—either because it's hogging your quick address bar results, or because you'd rather your coworker be unaware of your workday LOLcat browsing. Firefox 3.5's history browser offers a convenient "Forget this site" option, erasing your browser's memory of particular domains. It doesn't cover subdomains, and your network traffic and Flash memory would still hold some details, but it's a handy tweak however you cut it.
8. Tab tearing
Google Chrome (Update: And Safari, as our readers note) somewhat stole the thunder out from under this feature, but it's still a nice one: Grab a tab and drag it out a bit to create a new browser window from it. Drag windows into tabs again, and open any tab in a new window from the right-click menu, if clicking and dragging isn't your style.
7. Keyword AwesomeBar filters
Firefox 3's AwesomeBar/address bar offers a speedy list of suggestions to complete whatever you're typing. That's great, but that list comes from your page history, bookmarks, and tags, and can be matched by URL or name, leaving some results almost uselessly cluttered. This gets fixed with special character filters in the next Firefox. Restrict a search by typing "life *" for just your bookmarks with the words "life" in them, or just your tagged "lh" items with "lh +". Anything that really makes getting back to importantly web destinations quickly is a welcome upgrade.
6. Smarter session restore
What good is it to bring back all the tabs you just lost to a crash if the tab that brought everything down comes back too? Firefox's developers took a cue from the users and turned the session restore feature into more of a crash recovery tool, allowing users to select which tabs should come back. If you don't know who's the culprit, here's a hint: It's probably the one with Flash on it.
5. Private browsing mode
The snarky types (i.e. my editor) can call it "Porn Mode," but this feature, already in a number of competing browsers, has uses beyond the prurient. Beyond obvious situations, like gift buying and sensitive research, logging onto a friend's browser for a quick email check or bill pay is made a lot more secure if you can get to the private mode. Likewise, anonymizing some of your searches and cookie collection on your own machine isn't a bad idea, and a private mode can do that too. You don't need it all the time, but you might be glad it's available.
4. Color profiles that pop
Different cameras, monitors, and capture devices grab and set colors in different ways. On the web, most colors look the same, though, because they're filtered and optimized for quick viewing in every browser. Firefox 3.5 introduces dynamic color profiles for each picture, meaning that whatever the graphic designer or photographer saw when they were doing their work, you'll see it on their web page.
3. TraceMonkey JavaScript engine
Months ago, Mozilla said its still-in-development JavaScript engine, TraceMonkey, was "20 to 40 times" faster than the SpiderMonkey engine installed in Firefox 3. That hasn't shown up in our speed tests, which themselves rely on a Mozilla-assembled testing suite, but JavaScript testing suites are often like drag races—they don't really tell you what a browser runs like in a real daily sense, just pure timings. Even if TraceMonkey is ultimately outpaced by Chrome and/or Safari, its innovations push the whole browser market forward and give us all a bit less load time to complain about.
2. Geo-location
If you type post office into a maps site, you probably don't want the headquarters of the U.S. Post Office, or post office listings from two towns over. Integrated geo-location, powered by Google's Wi-Fi triangulation and simple IP address information, looks to know roughly where you are and help you when you're looking for something local. You can disable it if you'd like, but, realistically, signing on from any IP address reveals a bit about where you are anyways. If a good number of sites pick it up, geo-location could bring to the browser what a lot of people are already enjoying on their phone.
1. Video superpowers with HTML 5
If you're viewing a page coded in HTML 5 with video in an open-source format like Ogg Vorbis or Theora, Firefox 3.5 treats that video like it's just part of the page, not a separate little island of Flash content. That means instant commenting on videos. It could also mean offering links from inside a tutorial video that offer more details on what's being shown—soldering tips on an iPhone repair guide would be keen. In general, it's just a promising step forward into a seamless melding of video and text on a future web.
Many thanks to the Mozilla Links blog, which covers Firefox news and updates like a glove.
Now that we've thrown out the 10 features that are getting us jazzed for a final 3.5 release, let's hear what you're most looking forward to, and what remains unrequited among your Firefox desires, in the comments.