Mozilla Firefox 31 Now Officially Available for Download: What's New?

Mozilla's latest web browser, Firefox 31, has now been released, and is available for download officially. Firefox 31 is available for both desktop and mobile users throughout the world.

Users can check out Mozilla's official website and Google Play to download the web browser for free.

Both the desktop and mobile versions of Firefox 31 incorporate multiple enhancements and new features, along with the regular stability or performance improvements and bug fixes.

With its Firefox 31, Mozilla also focuses on various developer-related functionality improvements.

What's New in Firefox 31?

For desktop users, Mozilla Firefox 31 brings an exclusive search field on the new tab page, which allows users to initiate new searches without having to navigate to the search bar at the top of the screen.

The standalone search field should enable users to initiate quick web searches, and thereby save time on having to navigate to the default search bar at the top and then having to key in a particular query.

Another major enhancement in Mozilla's latest web browser is the 'Malware detection and Block' mechanism, which is implemented by default whenever users download files. However, users can also choose to turn-off the in-browser safety mechanism.

To switch off 'Malware Block' (after installing Firefox 31), navigate to Preferences > Security >"Block reported attack sites".

Also, Windows desktop users will be able to run multimedia files with .ogg and .pdf extensions from within the browser, if no application is chosen to open these files, by default. .

Mozilla also seems to have given a thought about the parental control within its Firefox 31, which is evident by the Prefer:Safe http header the said feature within the OS.

Firefox transmits the Prefer:Safe header to every website that users visit. This mechanism usually results in a comparatively higher degree of safety by working in tandem with websites that are designed to recognise and honour functionality restrictions.

Developers installing Firefox 31 get new tools such as the "Add-on Debugger" that lets them run the JavaScript debugger in an add-on context.

Developers also get Mozilla's new 'Canvas Debugger' that provides for debugging frames rendered on a Canvas element. 'Canvas Debugger' should serve as a useful tool for animation creators and game developers.

For Android (mobile) users, Firefox 31 is incorporated with the option to re-order existing panels in browser homescreen. Android user should also be able to refresh synced tabs at any point in time.

Firefox 31 for Android also incorporates CSS3 variables within HTML5.

Along with the above enhancements, Firefox 31 provides various other performance/stability improvements which can be viewed by clicking here.

All in all, Firefox 31 comes with a major overhaul, unlike its predecessor, the Firefox 30 that had only minor updates.