Get Your Hands On Firefox 4 First Beta

Mozilla has just released the first beta for Firefox 4 and things are looking good. The latest version offers improved security, faster render times, and support for Google’s open video standard, WebM. Visually, the first thing Windows 7 and Vista users will notice is the new Firefox button.

If you want the old menu layout, just click on “alt” or click on the Firefox button -> Customize. Users of older versions of Windows will see the old menu layout by default.

Another thing testers will notice right away, is the placement of the tabs on top.

The tabs can be brought back to their old spot with ease if you decide you like the old placement better.

Talking about tabs, you can switch to your open tabs through the awesome bar as well.

Firefox 4 supports CSS3 and HTML5 in case you were wondering. The added crash protection prevents the whole browser from crashing when a problem is encountered with Flash, Silverlight, or Quicktime plugins. You’ll only need to reload the page.

Only a Windows version of the Firefox 4 beta is available for now but Mozilla has said that Mac and Linux versions are coming soon. For those interested in keeping up with the latest developments, head over to the dev blog.

Keep in mind that this is first beta and that a lot of features haven’t been added yet. This is the time when the developers want your feedback.