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If there’s one lesson browser developers should take from Google Chrome, it’s that good ideas grow better and faster when exposed to constant scrutiny. Thereupon, Mozilla’s new beta (and cutting edge aurora) development channels are open for business.

With Firefox Aurora and Beta Channels, Mozilla’s showing old dogs can learn new tricks. Thereupon, Firefox 5 beta (release notes) is available and the company has already iterated two releases since the program began on Friday:

• Added support for CSS animations
• Added support for switching Firefox development channels
• The Do-Not-Track header preference has been moved to increase discoverability
• Improved canvas, JavaScript, memory, and networking performance
• Improved standards support for HTML5, XHR, MathML, SMIL, and canvas
• Improved spell checking for some locales

Whereas Mozilla states there’s improved HTML5 support in Firefox 5 beta, a quick check with the HTML5 Test shows that it scores 259, which is exactly the same as Firefox 4.0.1. However, Mozilla may have added features not included in the test suite or, just as likely, improved actual HTML5 performance, which is something the benchmark take into account.

Old reliable

Although Google Chrome is faster, I’ve gone back to using Firefox in recent weeks because the extensions I use just work better. The latest Firefox 4 release, as well as the Aurora and Beta Channel programs, have me feeling good again about Mozilla’s mainstream browser.

Get your copy of Firefox 5 beta 2 here (28.4MB).

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