Firefox 6 available now, for FTP downloaders

Just as with last month's Firefox 5 release, Firefox 6 is available early, for those not willing to wait. All you need to do is go to the appropriate FTP site (Windows, Mac, Linux) and have at it.

There is, of course, a small chance that Mozilla will update the software again between now and Tuesday, when it is officially scheduled to release, but the odds are that what's on the FTP site now is what will be there on Tuesday.

Mozilla changed to smaller, frequent releases after Firefox 4, beginning with 5. While most of the changes to 6 are under-the-hood, in addition, Mozilla has added a new permissions tool, accessed by typing "about:permissions" in the browser's address bar. The tool will give end users a chance to set site-specific permissions for cookies, location-sharing, saved passwords, pop-ups, images, and more.

Meanwhile, the under-the-hood changes will increase Firefox's speed, with startup time decreasing for those with a lot of tabs and groups. One small, but cool usability change coming to Firefox 6 will be Firefox 6's display domain names in the browser's address bar. Domain names will be tinted with a small highlight, making it easier for users to tell what site domain they are visiting with just a quick glance.

Most importantly for end users, Firefox 6 is supposed to be 20 percent faster than Firefox 5. That, of course, remains to be seen, and Chrome, IE, and Opera would call it "arguable."


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