Firefox 1.5 - new features

Two million downloads within 36 hours of its launch - Firefox 1.5 has well and truly arrived. Literally thousands of volunteers contributed to the new version of this most popular open-source browser. Over ¾ million people took part in testing it.

It takes the total number of Firefox downloads to well over 100 million since Mozilla first introduced Version 1. And with plans for more frequent releases (Firefox 2 is expected mid-2006) it is fast gaining ground on the traditional alternatives. In January this year it reached 10% of worldwide browser usage. In Europe this rises beyond 20%. Firefox 1.5 protects your privacy, blocks viruses, spyware and popup ads and delivers web pages faster than IE. Below, we take a look at some of the new features that have made the latest version so popular.

Accessibility - Users can navigate with keystrokes instead of mouse clicks. There's far less tabbing to navigate documents. It can also be used with technology that reads web content aloud.

Customisation - Developers have already created more than 700 third-party extensions for Firefox, including 'IE View' - which lets you load pages in IE with a single right-click - very helpful for incompatible pages, or cross-browser testing.

Performance - Intelligent caching speeds up navigation between previously viewed webpages. A next-generation rendering and layout engine helps display complex webpages more accurately.

Security - An automatic update system alerts you to the latest security and functionality updates. Also you can now clear all private information, such as history and form entries, using a new CPD (Clear Private Data) tool.

Usability - Firefox is renowned for its tabbed browsing, enabling you to open multiple webpages in a single browser window and move easily between them. Version 1.5 also lets you drag and drop open tabs to reorder them.

A built-in search bar is preloaded with links to Google, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, and more - the most popular search engines in a single 'click'.