Although it is increasingly complicated between Chrome and Edge, Mozilla continues to hold on to the podium of the most used browsers with Firefox. This browser is committed to remaining a truly open source program and taking much better care of the security and privacy of users. Like other browsers, Mozilla releases a new version of it every few weeks, adding new functions and features and fixing all kinds of bugs and errors. Thus, continuing with its evolution, today we all received the new Firefox 88 .
What’s new in Firefox 88
One of the novelties that we find in this new version of the browser is that, from now on, the Window.name value is only available for the web that has created said window. In this way, other websites will not be able to know the name of other windows or tabs, avoiding knowing the pages that the user visits. A nice privacy enhancement that Firefox users can now enjoy.
Another interesting novelty is that the FTP protocol is disabled by default in this version. Firefox 88 and 89 (beta) users will be able to activate the use of this protocol from about: config, but, by default, it will no longer work.
Taking screenshots of a website is now easier than ever. The new Firefox 88 brings an option that will allow us to take a screenshot by right-clicking on any page.
Other important changes that we find in the browser are:
- New grace period for the access window to the micro and the browser camera, being visible for up to 50 seconds.
- Screen readers will no longer read content that is hidden on any website.
- Support for print margins.
- The PDF reader now supports embedded JavaScript content (what could go wrong?).
- Zooming in Linux is much smoother.
- New ShowHomeButton policy.
Unfortunately, Mozilla hasn’t had time to release the new Proton interface with this version. Therefore, it will be the next update, Firefox 89, who releases the new browser interface.
Also note that both Firefox 88 and version 78.10 ESR have fixed various security flaws. However, Mozilla will not release information about them for a few days, for security reasons.
Download or update
The new version of the browser is now available to all users. If we want to update, we can do it in two different ways. The first one is by downloading the new version from the Mozilla website , which will allow us to update the browser. And the second is using the program’s own updater, which we find in Menu> Help> About Firefox , which will be in charge of searching, downloading and installing the new versions of the browser.
In addition to Firefox 88, the Beta and Nightly versions have been updated to versions 89 and 90 respectively, starting to pave the way for future browser updates. And one of the most interesting changes that we will find in these future versions, specifically from 90, is that Firefox will stop supporting the FTP protocol (not even optional), a very old and insecure protocol that its rivals have already stopped supporting in 2019. It is also important to note that Firefox 89 will release new browsing protocols: QUIC and HTTP / 3.