Mozilla will be releasing monthly alpha versions of the Firefox 3 browser, followed by a planned first beta at the end of July, according to an updated release calendar.
Looking through the list of planned features for version 3, a few juicy-sounding ones catch my eye.
Bookmarks are called 'Places,' and are getting upgrades like:
* Provide platform support to enable syncing of Places datamodel objects to a remote server (built-in bookmark syncing, like with Foxmarks?)
* Provide backup and restore functionality for bookmarks
Then there are plenty of updates for handling add-ons and downloads:
* Install Add-on without requiring a browser restart (would be darn nice, but it's listed as being at risk of being dropped, sadly)
* Integrate download manager with third-party virus scanners and malware protection
For the Gecko engine that renders sites:
* Add UI elements for enabling offline app usage (paired with the explosion of nifty Web 2.0/Ajax sites that mimic desktop apps, this could be a great thing.)
* Print layout improvements
* Save web pages as PDF documents
* Offline web browsing (also listed at risk)
Passwords:
* Only let the user save the password after they know the login has succeeded (would be great to not get prompted to save fat-fingered passwords)
* Generate hashed passwords for increased security (ref: pwdhash) (one of the single best things they could add for everyday security, I'd say. Get it now with Stanford's Pwdhash for FF and IE)
Security:
* Better UI indication of encryption, identity, previous interaction/knowledge of site and security/privacy context (they have their work cut out for them here, I have yet to see any security indicators that people don't just learn to gloss over)
* Blacklisting of malicious websites (presumably an expansion of the anti-phishing blacklist)
Tabs:
* Improve user control over undo close tab and session history (I'd love to be able to choose which closed tab gets restored)
There are of course plenty of other planned changes, but these are the ones that caught my eye. There's another list of changes at squarefree.com.
If you're the adventurous software-testing type, Firefox 3 Alpha 3 is currently available for download.
