Mozilla Firefox is catching up to Apple's use of Retina Display with a new beta browser.
Known as Firefox 18, the browser features a new JavaScript engine and supports the higher resolution that Apple has been inputting to their latest devices. The beta browser supports Apple operating systems OS X 10.7 and up.
The new JavaScript even has a nickname, the "IonMonkey."
The nickname continues the trend on "Monkey" names including the predeccessors TraceMonkey and JaegerMonkey.
The IonMonkey in Firefox 18 is not new as it has been in development and confirmed back on Sept. 12 by Mozilla.
At the time, Mozilla stated, "IonMonkey is a huge step forward for our JavaScript performance and our compiler architecture. But also, it's been a highly focused, year-long project on behalf of the IonMonkey team, and we're super excited to see it land."
However, the beta version has not solved a few problems. According to Mozilla, the following issues are still categorized as "unresolved:"
- If you try to start Firefox using a locked profile, it will crash;
- For some users, scrolling in the main GMail window will be slower than usual;
- Windows: The use of Microsoft's System Restore functionality shortly after updating Firefox may prevent future updates;
- Starting Firefox with -private flag incorrectly claims you are not in Private Browsing mode (however this is categorized as "resolved" in version 19).
Firefox 18 is set to formally launch on Jan. 3, 2013.
To install the beta version of Firefox 18, click here.
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