First public Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 builds now downloadable

Though official word has yet to come from Mozilla on the subject, a public version of Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 was posted to the organization's servers, and BetaNews has confirmed its authenticity.

One user interface change we noticed almost immediately was a big green "+" button on the right side of the tabs bar, that enables the user to open a new tab. What we are not noticing -- at least not yet -- is any clear indication of Private Browsing mode, a feature that is slated for the final version 3.1 and continues to be the topic of much discussion among Mozilla's community of developers.

A Mozilla spokesperson told BetaNews this afternoon that the organization does not have a specific time for the public announcement of version 3.1 Beta 1. However, if history is any indication, Mozilla typically makes a public proclamation within 48 hours of the installation file's appearance on the organization's servers.

It's been a busy day, so our tests with Beta 1 have only just begun. However, we did have time to check out Beta 1's performance with the Acid3 standards compliance test. Here, Firefox posted its highest rendering score in a very long time: 89%. By comparison, a quick check of Firefox version 3.0.3 showed a score of only 71%.

BetaNews | First public Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 builds now downloadable