No earth-shaking changes, but Mozilla’s minor Firefox upgrades could add up

Firefox 11 packs multiple new features
The latest incarnation of Mozilla’s Firefox browser introduces a host of evolutionary upgrades, though it’s relatively light on truly groundbreaking improvements. Nevertheless, there are some key features in Firefox 11 that could help it retake the number two spot in the market from Google Chrome.

Syncing up
Firefox has long advertised its wide variety of available add-ons. Now, the browser’s new Sync feature allows an increasingly mobile user base to synchronize these added features across both the desktop and smartphone versions of the product.

Chrome browser import
In one of several new features apparently aimed at undercutting Chrome’s perceived advantages, Firefox 11 provides users with the option of importing cookies, bookmarks and history data from the Google browser.

Getting SPDY
Google’s web transport protocol, known as SPDY, can now be used in Firefox 11. While it’s not enabled by default, the system can offer dramatically increased browsing performance.

HTML5
Mozilla has improved support for the new web content standard in Firefox 11, updating its media controls for HTML5 video, supporting the outerHTML property on HTML elements and incorporating a new HTML5 parser for source syntax highlighting.

Under the hood
Additional tools for web developers are also a part of Firefox 11. The “Tilt” 3D visualization add-on and a free-form style sheet editor provide new possibilities.

HTML parsing support for XML requests
The addition of the option to parse HTML information using the XMLhttpRequest offers new flexibility for web application designers.

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