Firefox Turns 50, but Don't Expect a Heaping of New Features

The latest version of Mozilla’s Firefox browser for the desktop and Android is available for all web surfers, bringing the platform up to version 50. The update for desktop customers adds a few new features and fixes several others, such as the addition of built-in emojis for operating systems that do not include a native emoji font (Linux, Windows 8 and lower). There are also a few changes on the developer side as well that are listed separately here.

For starters, Firefox 50 for the desktop provides updated keyboard shortcuts. Users can now set a preference to have the CTRL+TAB combo cycle through tabs in the order that they were viewed. Users can also now type CTRL+ALT+R on Windows to view a web page in reader mode (Command+ALT+R on Mac).

As for other new features, Firefox 50 provides an option to limit a search using the Find tool down to just whole words only. This release also increases the availability of WebGL for users running Firefox on Windows 7 or newer, bringing the overall number of those customers up to 98 percent. The browser even now provides download protection for a long list of executable files too for Windows, Mac, and Linux customers.

Here is a small list of the other new features:

Support for the Guarani language (locale)
Better performance for software development kit extensions and extensions that rely on the SDK module loader
Support for WebM EME on Windows and Mac that opens the door to more sites that provide streaming video without browser plugins

As for Mozilla’s list of fixes for the desktop version, the only one highlighted is a correction to the way dashed and dotted borders with rounded corners were previously rendered. Other than that, Mozilla provides a list of security fixes here, such as “arbitrary target directory for result files of update process” and “incorrect argument length checking in JavaScript.”

On the Android side of things, Firefox 50 does not offer much in changes and new features. For the latter, the Firefox team added support for HTTP Live Streaming video through a player overlay. As for what is changed, the user interface was simplified by cramming together the Recent Tabs and the History panels.

To download the latest version of Firefox as a fresh install, head here. Otherwise, Firefox users on the desktop can manually update the browser by clicking on the menu button, clicking on the “?” Help Menu button at the bottom of the list, and then clicking on “About Firefox.” The browser should automatically update and request a software restart thereafter.