Mozilla releases Firefox 14, full screen support for Macs available

Early last month, Mozilla had officially released Firefox 13, which was a significant upgrade and following up on that build, Mozilla have recently announced the availability of Firefox 14. Though the upgrade may not be as noteworthy as that of Firefox 13, Mozilla has added a many new features in this latest upgrade, with priority given to security.

As per a blog post, Mozilla states, “Firefox has new features that make browsing more secure and Web applications like games more powerful.” It states that it Firefox automatically secures Google searches to protect a user’s data from potentially prying eyes such as network administrators, when using public or shared Wi-Fi networks. Google is currently the only search engine that allows Firefox to make a user’s searches private, but Mozilla is looking forward to supporting additional search engines with this feature in the future.

Firefox 14 released

The brand also goes on to state that Firefox makes it easier to see a website’s verified identity by changing the way that a user displays the icon to the left of the URL. They add, “For developers, Firefox now supports Pointer Lock API to allow applications, including first-person games to better control the mouse. Firefox now supports native full screen mode on OS X Lion 10.7 for a better experience with videos and Web games like Mozilla’s BrowserQuest.”

Commenting on the latest version of Firefox, a report by The Inquirer states, “It cited its own HTML5 Browserquest game as an example of improved performance. With HTML5 expected to become the markup language of choice for web-based games developers, it seems a very good time for Firefox to support it. Since Mozilla has put Firefox on its six-week rapid release schedule the organisation has come in for vocal criticism, with some people within Mozilla's developer community questioning whether the move has resulted in users flocking to Chrome. Although Mozilla has produced an extended support release of Firefox, the problems Mozilla has had getting users to download and install the standard version suggest that only the most informed users will move to the long-term release.”

To download the latest version of Firefox, click the link here.

If you are in the dark about what Firefox 13 was about, here is a quick insight: Firefox 13 made it faster and easier to get where one wants to go on the Web with a redesigned Home Page and New Tab experience. The Home Page now includes icons at the bottom of the page to give one easy access to bookmarks, history, settings, add-ons, downloads and sync preferences with one-click shortcuts. When one opens a new tab, they will see thumbnails of their most recently and frequently visited sites. One can customize the New Tab page by adding or removing thumbnails based on where they go the most.

Mozilla stated that it now supports SPDY by default to make browsing more secure. They explain by stating, “SPDY is a protocol designed as a successor to HTTP that reduces the amount of time it takes for websites to load. You will notice faster page load times on sites that support SPDY networking, like Google and Twitter.”