Mozilla announced a few days ago the official release of the new version of Firefox 144, accompanied by updates for Extended Support versions 140.4.0 and 115.29.0. The new version introduces a completely redesigned profile management system, visual improvements to the interface, and a number of enhancements to security, performance, and compatibility with modern web technologies.
With the release of this new version, Mozilla has closed 24 vulnerabilities, 16 of which are related to memory issues, such as buffer overflows or use-after-free. These vulnerabilities could allow remote execution of malicious code if a specially crafted web page is opened.
Main new features of Firefox 144
In this new version of Firefox 144, one of the most notable new features is the activation of a new profile management system which is now available to all Users. Each profile can be configured independently, maintaining its own history, bookmarks, extensions, and preferences within its own subdirectory (~/.mozilla/firefox/).
This new system It is managed directly from the main menu The browser's built-in options include naming, icons, and color schemes for each profile. Unlike the old "Profile Manager" accessible via the command line (Firefox –ProfileManager), the new system offers a modern graphical interface, although the two methods operate independently and don't share settings.
Firefox 144 introduces a much requested feature: Now it is possible Keep the active tab visible even when collapsing a tab group, making it easier to work with just one tab without expanding the entire group. Additionally, the option to move tabs to collapsed groups by dragging them with the mouse has been added, without having to expand them.
Another practical improvement comes to the Picture-in-Picture mode. The Users can close the floating window video without interrupting playback, simply by pressing Shift + Esc or holding down the Shift key while clicking “Close”.
More secure encryption and new tools with artificial intelligence
The security of password manager It also received improvements in Firefox 144, and that is now uses AES-256-CBC to locally encrypt stored credentials, replacing the older, less robust 3DES-CBC.
In the field of searches, Mozilla has integrated Google Lens directly intoin the context menu of images, allowing you to search for similar objects, copy text, or translate it. This feature is available only if the user has Google as their primary search engine.
In addition, the browser adds cCompatibility with the Perplexity search engine, a tool powered by artificial intelligence which allows you to ask questions in natural language from the address bar. Users can set it as their default search engine or use it occasionally.
On Windows systems, Firefox now opens external links within the active window of the current virtual desktop, avoiding annoying jumps between desktops.
Advances for web developers and new APIs
Firefox 144 also features improvements and new developer tools:
- The inspector tools now allow direct access to custom CSS properties within var() functions, in addition to distinguishing between native and custom events.
- The Element.moveBefore() API is added, making it easier to move elements in the DOM tree without resetting their state, and MathML support is expanded with the new math-shift: compact property, which improves the display of superscripts.
- The PerformanceEventTiming API, meanwhile, adds the InteractionID attribute, which allows multiple events (such as screen taps or clicks) to be associated with a single user action, improving the accuracy of performance measurement.
- It adopts the HTML command and commandfor attributes, which simplify the creation of interactive menus without the need for JavaScript, and adds support for the View Transitions API, which allows you to create smooth transitions between pages or DOM states.
WebRender, WebGPU and more multimedia support
And motor WebRender can now apply dithering to CSS gradients (linear-gradient, radial-gradient, conic-gradient) when rendering with hardware acceleration.
La WebGPU API adds GPUDevice.importExternalTexture method, which allows you to import textures from HTML video elements or VideoFrame.
Firefox also improves support for WebRTC, adding the resizeMode parameter in getUserMedia() to allow cropping and scaling of captured video, and the ability to transfer RTCDataChannel objects between threads using WebWorker.
The ScreenOrientation API has been updated with lock() and unlock() methods to control screen orientation on Android devices and Windows tablets.
What's new for Android and security fixes
In its mobile version, Firefox for Android includes an automatic translation indicator, which reports whether a page has been fully translated. The browser is now available for download from Huawei's AppGallery, although its minimum requirements have increased: Android 8 or higher is now required.
Interested in knowing more about it, you can consult the release notes in the following link
How to install Firefox on Linux?
If you are already a Firefox user, you should know that you can easily update to the latest version accessing the configuration menu. Those with automatic updates enabled need not worry as they will receive the new version without manual intervention.
Alternatively, if you prefer not to wait for the automatic update, you can do it manually by going to Menu > Help > About Firefox. This will open a window showing the installed version and, if the feature is enabled, it will check for available updates.
For Ubuntu, Linux Mint and other derivatives users from Ubuntu, too It is possible to update Firefox through the official PPATo do this, open a terminal and enter the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-security/ppa -y sudo apt-get update sudo apt install firefox
Another available installation option is via Flatpak. To use this method, you need to have Flatpak support on your system. Once enabled, you can install Firefox by running the following command in the terminal:
flatpak install flathub org.mozilla.firefox
As for those who already have the browser installed, it is enough to execute the following command to not only update Firefox, but also all its applications that are in Flatpak format:
flatpack update
In the case of those who prefer the use of Snap, the installation of the browser can be done by typing the following command:
sudo snap install firefox
And to update the applications that we have installed in Snap format, just type the following in the terminal:
sudo snap refresh