Mozilla releases Firefox 10 with 3D support and built-in developer tools

Mozilla has released version 10 of its Firefox browser with built-in developer tools, a new application programming interface (API) for full-screen applications, and enhanced support for 3D graphics via the WebGL standard.

Firefox 10 is available to download now for Windows, Mac and Linux, while the mobile release for Android devices has also been updated to version 10.

The new version appears to focus chiefly around features for developers, although early reports suggest it also offers a boost in performance.

Among the new capabilities is full support for the Mozilla Full-Screen API, which enables web sites and web applications to make use of the entire display area.

Along with the Gamepad and Mouse Lock APIs, this enables developers to build gaming and entertainment experiences that rival those available on a console, Mozilla claimed.

In a similar vein, Firefox 10 adds anti-aliasing for the WebGL 3D graphics library, while 3D transforms are now fully supported for CSS3, which lets developers animate and transform two dimensional elements into 3D using HTML5 code.

Developers can also use new tools to examine a page's structure and layout, and make changes on the fly.

Page Inspector lets users visually select a page element, and it displays the tag, ID and classes associated with it, similar to the existing Firebug tool.

Style Inspector makes it easier to alter styles, enabling developers to view or change values to web site CSS properties from within Firefox.

Meanwhile, Mozilla has now changed the way Firefox handles add-ons. From this release, Firefox defaults to the assumption that existing add-ons will be compatible when a new version of the browser is installed.

According to Mozilla, add-ons that have compatibility up to Firefox 4 or higher should automatically work in Firefox 10 and all future releases.

But this excludes add-ons that are not extensions (themes, dictionaries, language packs) and add-ons with binary components, which must be recompiled for every version of Firefox.