14 DAY TRIAL // Mozilla's upcoming Firefox 70 web browser release is now available to download from the official website for all supported platforms, including GNU/Linux, macOS, and Windows.
Judging by the version number, you would think that Firefox 70 is a massive update to the open-source and cross-platform web browser built by Mozilla, but it's not really a major release. However, it does bring some a fresh new look for its icon, new welcome screen, and an extended dark mode for the built-in pages.
So the first thing you'll notice after installing Firefox 70, which you can download right now for GNU/Linux, macOS, and Windows systems, it's the new Firefox icon that was unveiled by Mozilla a few months ago. In addition, you'll notice that all of Firefox's built-in pages now follows the system dark mode preference and a new welcome screen will help you setup Firefox faster.
Furthermore, it would appear that the Firefox Accounts toolbar menu has been updated and reorganized in this release to give users faster access to account features and services, and users can now jump directly to a button in the toolbar by typing the first, or first few, characters of another button's name when focused on a toolbar button.
Under the hood improvements
Most of the improvements in Firefox 70 are under the hood as Mozilla has enabled the baseline interpreter for JavaScript bytecode execution to improve the overall performance of the web browser. For macOS users, Firefox 70 brings a more efficient compositor, which vastly reduces power consumption.
Windows users get WebRender enabled by default for low resolution devices with integrated Intel graphics. For web developers, Firefox 70 brings an audit for keyboard accessibility and a color deficiency simulator for systems with WebRender enabled in the accessibility panel.
Two new CSS properties are supported to allow web developers control the position and size of text decoration lines, and a new multi-line editor mode helps them write snippets of code and iterate on them faster in the WebConsole. Other than that, the aliased theme properties have been removed from this release, which may affect some themes.
