Less than a month after the previous 134 release, Mozilla released a new version of its widely used open-source browser, Firefox v135, now available for download.
This new version includes adjustments to tab-closing behavior on macOS and Linux, enhanced certificate transparency enforcement, and several under-the-hood changes aimed at thwarting malicious manipulations of the browser’s history. Here they are in more detail.
Firefox 135: New Features
MacOS and Linux users can close only the current tab now instead of terminating the entire session when using the Quit keyboard shortcut on a window with multiple open tabs. On the security side, Mozilla has implemented new safeguards to stop sites from overwhelming your Back history by repeatedly spamming visits over a short time.
For those using Firefox on Android, there is now an easy way to help Mozilla track down and fix crashes. By opting into the new “Automatically submit crash reports” data collection setting, users can seamlessly share crash details, accelerating the process of discovering and resolving bugs.
Moreover, Firefox 135 now enforces certificate transparency for desktop platforms. In simpler terms, web servers must prove that their security certificates are publicly disclosed and verifiable before Firefox trusts them.
This feature affects servers using certificates issued by a certificate authority in Mozilla’s Root CA Program and strengthens protection against unauthorized or fraudulent certificates.
Changes and Improvements
The previously named “Copy Without Site Tracking” menu item has been renamed to “Copy Clean Link.” Although the name has changed, the feature retains its purpose of stripping known tracking parameters from URLs. Furthermore, this option can now be used on plain text links, making it more versatile.
It’s worth noting also that Linux binaries are now distributed in the XZ format, replacing the older BZ2 format.
When it comes to quality-of-life improvements, here’s something everyone will appreciate. Sometimes, some websites either function as redirects or misuse the history API to generate excessive history entries. And let me tell you, this can be a real pain when you’re trying to use the back or forward buttons.
Fortunately, Firefox 135 addresses this by skipping over unwanted entries without direct user interaction, leading to a more coherent browsing history.
Developer and Web Platform Updates
Developers can now benefit from fractional coordinate values in PointerEvent attributes rather than just integers. This change allows for higher precision when CSS transitions or zooming are involved, enhancing user interactions in web applications.
On top of that, the behavior of mouseenter, mouseleave, pointerenter, and pointerleave events has been refined for improved compliance with web standards. This update ensures more predictable event handling when the last mouseover or pointerover event target is removed from the page.
Download Firefox 135
Those eager to get it can download the latest version directly from Mozilla’s server. Windows and macOS users can expect an over-the-air update within the next day. Users on rolling release Linux distros should look for the new Firefox 135 as an update in their repos over the next few days.
