Mozilla just released the next version, Firefox 5 Beta 2 with their new Firefox Rapid Releases channel. Download Firefox 5 Beta here.
Firefox 5 only comes with two additional features of note. The first, support for CSS animations, gives web developers the ability to add a little extra flair to their pages. This could include making text slide into place across the browser or having different elements of text magically appear as different parts of an animation hit, to name a few examples.
The second big feature found in Firefox 5 specifically relates to Mozilla’s rapid-release model. In this case, Mozilla’s added an option to allow users to more quickly switch between one of the three main development channels in the rapid-release cycle: Aurora, a version of the browser where most proposed features are introduced (and an iteration that’s much more stable than Mozilla’s nightly Firefox builds); Beta, a more stable test build of the browser for public consumption; and Release, the standard iteration of Firefox designed for all users to download.
Switching channels
- At the top of the Firefox window, click the Firefox button, go over to the Help menu and select About Firefox to open the About Firefox window. For Windows XP: At the top of the Firefox window, click the Help menu and select About Firefox.
- In the About Firefox window, click the Change link.
- Click the drop-down menu to select the Release, Beta or Aurora channel.
- Click Apply and Update to make the change and Firefox will download the latest updates for your chosen channel.
- When the updates are done downloading, click Apply Update and Firefox will restart.

