Firefox 2.0 Alpha 2 released

[Vox Populi Vox Dei]

Firefox 2.0 Alpha 2 has finally been released a little bit past the expected release date of May 9. Mozilla was able to get a lot of new features slammed into this build and there are still more to come. One big feature that was not put into this build was the phishing filter. This is now expected to be in the Alpha 3 build that should be released on May 25. After that time Firefox 2.0 should probably be feature complete and they will continue to work on bugs and perfect their browser with the beta builds.
Here is a list of notable changes in Alpha 2 since the previous build:

* Links default to opening in new tabs, not new windows
* Close buttons now appear on every tab, and the close behavior 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

Download FF 2.0 Alpha 2 here

 

[Darth Garth]

Sadly they ditched "Places" (replacement for the bookmarks system with a Google backend for storing and tagging your bookmarks ala deli.cio.us ) from 2.0 because it was not ready yet..

I don't think this qualifies as a 2.0 release perhaps as a 1.6 version.

 

[jarr]

Close buttons now appear on every tab, and the close behavior is slightly different

i hope there's an option to keep it the way it is at the moment
i've kinda gotten used to the one close button on the right hand side

think i'll wait for the beta release to come out, though...

 

[vaco]

i hope there's an option to keep it the way it is at the moment
i've kinda gotten used to the one close button on the right hand side

Have to go with you on that one. Lately however I've been using the middle mouse button (wheel) to close tabs. Just click on the tab you want to close. Seems like the inverse of opening links in a new tab when you click on it with the middle button.

 

[LabAnimal]

mmm... looks good, works fine, but all the plugins and skins don't work - won't work - not compatable. Back to the old firefox for now

 

[adsl3g]

Lately however I've been using the middle mouse button (wheel) to close tabs. Just click on the tab you want to close. Seems like the inverse of opening links in a new tab when you click on it with the middle button.

Thanks for that.... is it documented? (RTFM?)

 

[jarr]

yeah, thanks vaco, i've forgotten about that one!
don't remember where i heard/read about it, though, might have been right here on the forum

 

[MadAtter]

mmm so far so good. i like the new tab closing system. hasn't taken long for a few themes and plugins to come out

 

[nic777]

The funny thing is that I have most of these features already by installing the extension Tab Mix Plus

Regarding places and del.icio.us, you can use foxylicious extension to do the same thing, can't you?

 

[AntiThesis]

Sounds pretty wicked I'll install it and fiddle with it and see what I think