Originally published at: http://www.sitepoint.com/whats-new-firefox-35/
Here we are again. Firefox 35 was released on January 13, 2015. Few users will notice any differences but there are some exciting new features for web developers lurking under the hood of the unusually large 46MB update (on Windows). If you haven’t upgraded, select Help > About Firefox from the menu or head over to firefox.com.
CSS3 filter Property
The filter property allows you to apply Photoshop-like filters on images or any element in the DOM. The effects include:
blur(radius) — applies a Gaussian blur
brightness(percent) — changes the brightness. 100% is unchanged, over 100% makes the element brighter and under 100% makes it darker (0% is complete black).
contrast(percent) — changes the contrast. 100% is unchanged, over 100% gives less contrast and under 100% gives more contrast (0% is complete black).
grayscale(percent) — converts a color image to grayscale. 0% is unchanged and 100% is full grayscale.
sepia(percent) — converts a color image to sepia. 0% is unchanged and 100% is full sepia.
drop-shadow(offsetx, offsety, blur, spread, color) — similar to the standard box-shadow effect except the shadow will apply to non-rectangular images with an alpha mask applied.
hue-rotate(angle) — changes the colors by the number of degrees around the color circle.
saturate(percent) — saturates the colors. 100% is unchanged.
invert(percent) — inverts the colors. 0% is unchanged and 100% creates a full negative image.
opacity(percent) — identical to the CSS opacity property although some browsers will provide hardware acceleration for improved performance.
url(file.svg#target) — specifies an SVG filter
Any number of effects can be applied in the same declaration, e.g.
All browsers other than Internet Explorer now support filters so I’m expecting to see an exponential increase in usage — especially when combined with animations. For more information and examples, refer to the MDN filter reference. Continue reading this article on SitePoint
Nice write up. I’ve always been a fan of Firefox but recently I switch Chrome to my default browser. It seems to execute Javascript faster.
However, I still use Firefox for web development as I find the dev tools in Firebug to be better than those in Chrome. Also, many of the errors I encounter in Chrome never show up in Firefox.
If Mozilla can increase the speed of Javascript execution I would switch back to Firefox exclusively.
As much of a pain in the a55 it is to develop for IE, I’ve found that it’s generally a little quicker to code for IE, then make adjustments for FF/Chrome, instead of the other way 'round. Much less hack-ish code, esp if you use IE7 or IE8.
There are some new awesome features are available in firefox dev tools. such as full page screenshot is good feature i don’t if chrome allow us to take full page or visible page screenshot without extensions.
If you’ve switched to Chrome as your primary browser, what would make you consider using Firefox?
Payment!
I felt like a real traitor moving to Chrome several years ago, but I prefer the native dev tools in Chrome—which I find much nicer than Firebug’s. I still don’t find the native tools as good in Firefox, but once they rival Chrome’s, I’d be open to switching back.
You’re probably right. If any browser is going to throw problems, it’s IE. To be fair, it’s not always a problem as such. IE can be stricter about security and standards than the other browsers.
If you get something working in IE, the chances are that it’ll work in Firefox and Chrome. Now if only I could bring myself to do it!..
I still find Chrome’s tools a little disorientating but perhaps that’s because of my many years with Firebug? Interestingly, the next version of Firebug will be an extension to Firefox’s native tools.
It’s probably just your familiarity, as I now find the opposite—the Chrome tools feel natural, supple and easy to use, while Firebug’s seem rather clunky and lack some of what I love in Chrome. Glad to hear that ::before and ::after appear in the DOM, though. I love that about Chrome.
IE is also real quick to switch into quirks mode or IE7 compatibility mode, which really annoys me. I don’t like using the meta tag to force standards mode.
I’m sorry to say this but Firefox is on a path of becoming extinct… As soon as I saw the “Please donate” button on default landing page… I knew it’s just matter of time. Once popular linux distributor use Chrome instead of Firefox…then it’s pretty much RIP. Of course I can be wrong but this is my prediction.
In theory, Firefox can’t die because it’s open source. You’ve always been able to donate to Mozilla and they’ve always been immensely profitable thanks to search engine sponsorship deals.
I’m not convinced Linux distros switching browsers would make much difference to the overall market share. Also, Firefox’s true open source roots make it more attractive for the OS than the (mostly) Google-controlled Chromium browser.
