Firefox is adding a JavaScript debugger to its web developer toolbox, that is, the ability to pause and play JavaScript code execution, and watch variables, a critical feature for programmers.

Important pieces of the debugger have been landing to Firefox code since Firefox 8, but a few weeks ago user interface pieces have made their way as well, making it usable for the first time. As Panoagiotis Astithas warns in a related post, it is not quite ready for general usage, but it works and here’s a video where you can see it in action: (more…)

A few years ago Mozilla chose to focus on version 7 of the ARM platform instruction set (ARMv7), as it was the only one that provided the necessary performance to deliver a good Firefox experience, and much less crashing prone.

Fast forward, and as Ted Mielczarek, Mozilla build expert, explains, Mozilla has both now: a stronger mobile team, and a more complete picture. It turns out that about 60% of Android phones in use right now are ARMv6-based, which means 60% of Android phones can’t get Firefox. So it makes perfect sense to invest in having Firefox serve such a large mobile audience.

The ARMv6 instruction set is implemented by the ARM11 microprocessor family, running on a long list of well known, if lower end or a generation behind phones including the Samsung Galaxy Mini, Galaxy Ace, Amazon Kindle 2, HTC Touch, Diamond, LG Optimus One, S, Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, X2, and a very long etcetera. Check Wikipedia’s entry for ARM11 for a more complete list.

Ted doesn’t mention it, but I am guessing the decision to have Firefox use native Android widgets, as opposed to Mozilla’s own XUL-based ones, is also helping to ease processor requirements.

Work is under way, and while there’s a lot of ironing to do, Firefox is running on ARMv6. The picture from Ted’s Twitter feed shows Firefox running in an HTC phone.

In this scenery, and just like on Windows, Firefox would become more backward compatible than the OS maker. Chrome for Android beta is at this point only supported on Ice Cream Sandwich, Android’s latest version. (By the way, Chrome also has a crazy country-based restriction!).

If you are interested in the subject check Ted’s nice and detailed post.

Mozilla has released Firefox 10.0.2, as a quick update to the recent major update. According to Mozilla Security Blog, a vulnerability was discovered in libpng, the official reference PNG library used by Firefox, Thunderbird, and plenty of other software titles, which could allow a maliciously crafted image to run arbitrary code in a user’s machine.

If you have already received the update ensure to restart as soon as possible to have the change in place. If not, in the Firefox button, select About Firefox in the Help menu to check and update if necessary.

For those times you know there is a tab making noises that won’t let you peacefully listen a track or a movie (thanks Flash and programmers), comes Muter, a Firefox extension developed by Yuan Xulei (袁徐磊), that adds a button to the Add-on bar that you can click to make Firefox quiet.

Unfortunately it doesn’t let you know what tab is playing, it mutes the whole application, so it is really a shortcut to, on Windows, the Sound Mixer and muting Firefox there. Still, a good help for those who hasn’t opted to make Flash an invite-only guest with Flashblock.

Muter will let you customize the hotkey (Ctrl + Alt + M by default), the icon, and the button placement.

Get Muter from Mozilla Add-ons.

Mozilla has published the Firefox roadmap for 2012, stating what major new features and changes are to be expected this year.

It turns out the list is pretty long which hints on a very important year for Firefox development and users.

The user interface is due to some pretty enhancements under the new Australis theme revision across all officially supported platforms (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Android). As you can see in the screenshot below, the result is a cleaner interface and very similar in all platforms. (more…)