Mozilla adds multi-touch to Firefox 4 beta

Mozilla has released the latest beta of Firefox 4, highlighting new functionality including multi-touch support for Windows 7 devices.

Firefox development director Mike Beltzner said in a blog post that the beta is available in 30 languages, and that developers will be able to create innovative uses for the multi-touch capability.

"Multi-touch support for Windows 7 enables people to interact with web content with their hands naturally. Developers can use multi-touch capabilities to leverage touch-enabled devices, and provide an intuitive and fun browsing experience," he said.

Mozilla has produced a video of the multi-touch features in action, while more information on the function can be found in a blog post by Mozilla developer Felipe Gomes.

The company has also claimed that changes to the C++ representation of JavaScript allow Firefox to execute heavy, numeric code more efficiently.

"This sort of code is used to produce smooth, streamlined graphics in modern web applications," wrote Beltzner.

Further details about JavaScript value representation can be found in a blog post by Mozilla platform engineer Rob Sayre.

Beltzner also revealed that 500,000 Firefox 4 testers are submitting almost 3,500 items of feedback every day, but that the firm is concerned that the type of user is not sufficiently representative.

"We discovered that our beta users are primarily men who use the web between two and six hours each day, mostly for entertainment and communication," he said.

"This does not come as a surprise to us, but it also is not a great representation of internet users."