Mozilla has released Firefox 62. This version brings variable fonts, automatic dark theme on macOS Mojave, improved scrolling on Android, and more.
Firefox 62 for desktop brings support for Variable Fonts. Variable Fonts are an evolution of the OpenType font specification that enable many different variations of a typeface to be incorporated into a single file. Standard fonts usually require a separate font file for each variation, resulting in more HTTP requests, and more data being downloaded (around 20k per file). Variable Fonts contain additional data, enabling developers to access all variation contained in a given font file via CSS and a single @font-face reference.
Variables Fonts are supported for Edge 17+, Firefox 62+, Chrome 69+, Chrome for Android 69+, Safari 12+, and Safari for iOS 11.4+ browsers. It is important to notice that Linux needs the latest Linux Freetype version, and macOS prior to 10.13 does not support variable fonts.
(image taken from the developers.google.com)
This is how you can use variable fonts in a CSS file::
@font-face {
font-family: 'AmstelvarAlpha';
src: url('../fonts/AmstelvarAlpha-VF.ttf');
font-weight: normal;
font-style: normal;
}
Another new feature, exclusive to macOS, is that Firefox will now automatically enable the dark theme when macOS Mojave is in dark mode.
Firefox 62 for desktop brings a series of new features, changes, and removals for web developers, such as:
- Shape Path editor, a tool to help developers see and edit shapes, is now available by default.
- A new mode has been added to the Page Inspector, 3-Pane mode, which allows developers to see simultaneously HTML pane, CSS Rules, as well as other CSS features such as Computed styles view, Animations view, and Fonts view.
- Now on Grid inspector in Firefox, DevTools is available to edit grids present on a page, debug layout issues, etc. See CSS Grid Inspector: Examine grid layouts.
- A close button has been added to the split console toolbar.
- The Network Monitor's Cookies tab now shows the cookie samesite attribute (bug 1452715).
- Responsive design mode now works inside container tabs (bug 1306975).
- The Developer Toolbar/GCLI has been removed from Firefox.
- The WebAssembly.Global() constructor is now supported, along with global variables in WebAssembly (bug 1464656).
- The Array.prototype.flat() and Array.prototype.flatMap() methods are now enabled by default (bug 1435813).
- The import.meta property has been implemented to expose context-specific metadata to a JavaScript module (bug 1427610).
- The experimental Speech Synthesis API (Text-to-Speech), which allows developers to incorporate voice data into web apps is now enabled by default on Firefox for Android (bug 1463496).
- The "media.autoplay.enabled" preference now controls automatic playback of both audio and video media, instead of just video media (bug 1413098).
Firefox 62 also brings a series new features, changes, and removals for add-on developers:
- Addition of the webRequest.getSecurityInfo() API to get detailed information about the TLS connection associated with a particular request (bug 1322748).
- Addition of the browserSettings.newTabPosition to customize where new tabs open (bug 1344749).
- windowTypes has been deprecated in windows.get(), windows.getCurrent(), and windows.getLastFocused() (bug 1419132).
- New tab_background_separator property of the theme manifest key enables extensions to change the color of the tab separator (bug 1459455).
- Support for unpacked sideloaded extensions has been removed (bug 1385057).
Other new features, bug fixes and changes not related specifically for developers are:
- A preference that allows users to distrust certificates issued by Symantec, removing all trust for Symantec-issued certificates in Firefox 63. To use this preference, go to about:config in the address bar and set the preference "security.pki.distrust_ca_policy" to 2. It is related to a series of questionable website authentication certificates issued by Symantec Corporation's PKI
- FreeBSD support for WebAuthn (Bug 1468349)
- Improved graphics rendering for Windows users without accelerated hardware using Parallel-Off-Main-Thread Painting (Bug 1454980)
- Support for CSS Shapes, allowing for richer web page layouts. This goes hand-in-hand with a brand-new Shape Path Editor in the CSS inspector
- Adobe Flash applets now run in a more secure mode using process sandboxing on macOS
- A change to how WebRTC handles screen sharing: when screen-sharing a window, the window will be brought to the front (Bug 1450658)
The complete list of features, bug fixes and changes in Firefox 62 can be found in the release notes. Furthermore, there is a site compatibility guide for Firefox 62.
Firefox for iOS has received some tab improvements, allowing users to search, switch and manage tabs. Now it is possible to manage tab settings in a single view. Furthermore, users will be able to search their open tabs and seamlessly switch between normal and private browsing.
Another new feature available on Firefox for iOS is that now users can easily change the theme from dark to light, manually or automatically: to do so click on "Settings > Display > Light or Dark", or automatically turn it on by using the Automatic switch.
Firefox for Android has received a series of security fixes, and some performance improvements, including:
- Improved scrolling performance
- Faster page load times over WiFi connections by loading from the network cache if disk cache is slow
- "Product and feature tips" toggle in Notifications settings, allowing for more control over which notifications are shown
- WebRTC video sessions between Firefox for Android and Safari browsers work again
Users who already have Firefox installed should be able to upgrade it automatically; new users can download Firefox 62 for desktop on firefox.com. Both android and iOS users can download from Google Play and Apple's App Store.