Mozilla releases Firefox 6

published 17 August 2011

Mozilla has made Firefox 6 available on both desktop and mobile, with a host of new features and security updates.

One significant addition is the Web Developer menu, designed to provide "easy access to tools that help developers build and debug websites directly in the browser."

"Developers will enjoy the new Scratchpad tool, which makes it simple to quickly enter, execute, test and refine JavaScript snippets in Firefox without needing to work in a one-line console," Mozilla said in a blog post.

"The Web Console is improved with an auto-complete feature and the ability to customise the console's location to save developers time."

Mozilla has made some API updates too, including the addition of the Window.matchMedia API, created to help developers "optimise their website or Web app across different devices and platforms."

Seven security updates were announced, five of which were ranked as critical.

One of those related to a number of memory corruption issues. "We presume that with enough effort at least some of these could be exploited to run arbitrary code," Mozilla said.

The release comes as part of a Mozilla commitment to delivering updates to its browser every six weeks.

To get the update, all users need to do is click on "check for update" under the "About Firefox" menu or wait for the prompt from Mozilla when uploading Firefox.

In other browser news, yesterday NSS Labs released a report indicating Internet Explorer was preventing more socially engineered malware attacks than any of its competitors.

The Microsoft browser scored a 96 per cent mean block rate, far ahead of Chrome in second place on 13.2 per cent.

Tom Brewster is currently an associate editor at Forbes and an award-winning journalist who covers cyber security, surveillance, and privacy. Starting his career at ITPro as a staff writer and working up to a senior staff writer role, Tom has been covering the tech industry for more than ten years and is considered one of the leading journalists in his specialism.

He is a proud alum of the University of Sheffield where he secured an undergraduate degree in English Literature before undertaking a certification from General Assembly in web development.