What's New in SeaMonkey 2.1 Beta 1

This document outlines a few of the new features implemented in SeaMonkey 2.1 Beta 1, important bugfixes and any new problems. See the SeaMonkey Trunk Tracker for a more comprehensive list of fixes. Please note that these changes are relative to SeaMonkey 2.0.9.

New Features and Fixes

Major Changes
  • OpenSearch plugins are now supported and the default for web search. (bug 410613)
  • Data Manager now unifies cookie, permission, password, and form data management. (bug 569341)
  • Plugins now run in their own processes and don't take down the browser any more if they crash. (bug 545716)
  • The context menu of the location bar now has a "Paste and Go" option. (bug 599833)
  • The location bar now features a fast bookmarking button. (bug 589601)
  • SeaMonkey now builds most of the application into a single library ("libxul"). (bug 394502)
  • JavaScript is faster than ever with the new JägerMonkey engine.
  • Direct2D Hardware Acceleration is now on by default for Windows 7 users, hardware accelerated layers are available on all platforms with know-to-work video drivers.
  • XUL in web pages is not allowed any more. (bug 546857)
  • The proposed Audio Data API is available.
  • The HSTS security protocol is available
  • Absolute length units in CSS are not physical, but relative to CSS pixels now (on the basis of 96dpi). (bug 537890).
  • The bookmarks system has been reworked to use the Places framework shared with Firefox (bug 498596), which will allow enabling Bookmarks with the Sync add-on (bug 585845).
  • Several methods of the Firefox TabBrowser API (bug 558614, bug 558673, bug 579845) were implemented in SeaMonkey, which will allow to enable Tabs with the Sync add-on (bug 567583).
  • The tab bar received a visual refresh. (bug 579732)
  • Gopher support has been removed. (bug 572389)
  • Web developers can animate content using CSS Transitions.
  • SeaMonkey now defaults to tabbed browsing instead of opening new windows. (bug 505311)
  • Address book toolbars can now be customized. (bug 575956)
  • Find in Page now works with a toolbar instead of a modal window. (bug 97023)
  • The browser can now be themed with Personas (lightweight themes). (bug 563261)
  • The upcoming Gecko release has been renamed from 1.9.3 to 2.0. (bug 570022)
  • The User-Agent (UA) string now exposes less information. (bug 572668: Crypto token, bug 572656: UI language, bug 581783: "Windows;")
  • SeaMonkey now supports the HTML5 video "buffered" property.
  • XPCOM registration has been changed. (bug 568691)
  • Archiving can now keep the folder structure intact (no configuration UI yet). (bug 573392)
  • The W3C Indexed Database API is now available to websites. (bug 553412)
  • New Add-ons manager. (Bug 561600)
  • Drag URL/file to/from SeaMonkey's Download Manager. (copy/move to desktop/folder) (Bug 192728)
  • Save multiple messages as individual files in directory. (Bug 555972)
  • Make Search, Folder Location and Views widgets for MailNews customizable toolbars. (Bug 521927)
  • WebM video is now supported for HTML5 <video> tag. (Bug 566245)
  • View source is now consistently taken from the platform and appearing in a SeaMonkey look and feel across all invocations. (Bug 411754)
  • Loading the URL about:memory now shows how much memory is used by different parts of SeaMonkey.
  • SeaMonkey now supports a lot of the same tabbrowser API as Firefox. (Bug 467867)
  • Search and Go buttons widgets for Browser are now customizable. (Bug 529647)
  • The feed preview UI and the Helper Applications preferences can now detect the system's default feed reader and use it. (Bug 471346)
  • HTML5 Websockets are now available to website authors. (Bug 472529)
  • WOFF format for website fonts (bug 507970).
  • Resizeable text areas in web forms (bug 442228).
  • Fullscreen video (bug 453063).
  • JIT tracing for x86_64 (bug 489146).
  • async places history expiration.
  • Expiration and frecency-ordered form field autocomplete.
  • Improved js-ctypes support.
  • Better performance on startup and shutdown.
  • SVG attributes which are mapped to CSS properties can now be animated using SMIL (bug 534028). Support for SMIL Animation in SVG.
  • Core Animation rendering model for plugins on Mac OS X has been implemented. Plugins which also support this rendering model can now draw faster and more efficiently.
  • Support for new CSS attributes such as gradients, background sizing, and pointer events.
  • Support for new DOM and HTML5 specifications including the Drag & Drop API and the File API, which allow for more interactive web pages. (bug 500328, bug 457800, bug 356295, bug 523771, bug 503943, bug 396392, and more)
  • Protection from out-of-date plugins
  • CSS :visited selectors have been changed to block ways that websites can quickly check a user's browsing history.
  • The SSL security system has been changed to fix a renegotiation flaw.
  • Support for CSS Transitions.
  • Support for WebGL, for Direct2D acceleration on Windows (all disabled by default).
  • A new HTML5 parser.
  • New Troubleshooting Information page (about:support, bug 545110).
  • Notification bars for MailNews return receipts (MDN, bug 539066)
  • Support for libnotify-based Desktop Notifications on Linux (e.g. mail alerts, finished downloads)
  • Support for using system proxy settings on Windows (bug 485764).
Browser
  • SeaMonkey should support "OpenSearch" (Bug 410613)
  • navigatorOverlay.xul still has a reference to BrowserSearchInternet (Tools > Search the Web doesn't work) (Bug 601466)
  • [SeaMonkey 2.1] mochitest-plain-1: it seems test_bug457672.html "leaks the world" (Bug 557120)
  • [SeaMonkey 2.1, mochitest-browser-chrome] browser_522545.js | sessionstore got correct userTypedValue - Got example.org, expected mozilla.org (Bug 589618)
  • Port duplicateTabIn introduced in bug 448546 (Bug 595483)
  • Convert suite/ files for content XUL being killed (Bug 590725)
  • test_docload.xul reports "JavaScript error: chrome://navigator/content/tabbrowser.xml, line 919: nsIInterfaceRequestor is not defined" (Bug 591550)
MailNews
  • "Move to Trash" now marks as read (Bug 465116)
  • Implement getBrowser() in MailNews windows (Bug 588895)
  • Warning: assignment to undeclared variable index (in msgHdrViewOverlay.js) (Bug 595738)
  • "Check online presence (AOL)" should be removed from address book tools menu (Bug 594081)
  • Move abCardViewOverlay.xul from mailnews/ to suite/ (Bug 599726)
General
  • Alt+Home Keyboard Shortcut Broken; Key Event Modifier navigator.xul (Bug 587398)
  • port bug 581076 | add missing pref to browser-prefs.js (Bug 594425)
  • Package nsInputListAutoComplete.js (Bug 595381)
  • [seamonkey] mochi-browser failures due to indexedDB issues: browser_permissionsPromptAllow.js and others (Bug 600364)
  • Placeholder (emptytext) styling on Modern broken by bug 547224 (Bug 551545)
  • nsILeakDetector leftovers in the c-c tree (Bug 597403)
  • Support signed updates in SeaMonkey (Bug 593135)
  • Port bug 433860 and bug 570321 spell check context menu tests and bug 585841 - Right click, 'copy link location' no longer works to SM (Bug 593575)
  • Port to SeaMonkey changes to test_contextmenu.html from bug 558072 Allow getting of popup position and size from popupshowing event (Bug 593884)
  • Unsorted Bookmarks entry in menu of Bookmarks button in Personal Toolbar has no special icon (Bug 586056)
  • Update SeaMonkey to newer AUS URL scheme (Bug 557583)
  • Implement a Data Manager unifying cookie, permission, password, and form data management (Bug 569341)
  • Persona doesn't apply to sidebar (Bug 581382)
  • Address Neil's post-landing comments on places bookmarks (Bug 585601)
  • [SeaMonkey 2.1, mochitest-browser-chrome] Double id='addBookmarkKb' detected in navigator.xul (Bug 589592)
  • Provide a fast bookmarking button in the urlbar (Bug 589601)
  • SeaMonkey 2.1b1pre French and Russian builds are missing (Bug 590635)
  • Move Bookmarks dialog broken (Bug 590714)
  • Remove .extra UA pref, possibly add UI for .compatMode.firefox (Bug 591327)
  • Add YASM to Windows slaves, upgrade Linux/Mac slaves to YASM 1.1 (Bug 594468)
  • Add SeaMonkey 2.1b2pre and 2.1b2 to AMO (Bug 602630)
  • GUI needed to toggle browser.tabs.insertRelatedAfterCurrent (Bug 588122)
  • After doorhangers land cant type in textbox (Bug 602150)
  • [SeaMonkey] Replace "emptytext" in abCardOverlay with "placeholder" (Bug 590932)
  • Make drop down menus for back and forward buttons middle/Ctrl-clickable (Bug 529240)
  • Port Bug 562649 set and correctly handle userTypedValue when loading external URIs. (Bug 586340)
  • Change -moz-border-radius* properties to css3-background names in suite/ (Bug 594988)
  • Port front end of Bug 594261 |Factor out geolocation prompt into something that can be reused|. (Bug 595442)
  • Change "-moz-box-shadow" to "box-shadow" in suite/ (Bug 595630)
  • Add alive ping counter to the blocklist url (Bug 598977)
  • Correct typo and adjust spacing for new Firefox compatibility UI in the HTTP preference pane (Bug 597051)
  • Remove nsILeakDetector leftovers in SeaMonkey (Bug 597694)
  • Some css rules in existing css files doesn't apply anymore (bookmarks-ptf gone, structure have changed) (Bug 586415)
  • No icons in alltabs menuitems (Bug 593944)
  • [SeaMonkey 2.1, mochitest-browser-chrome] Lots of mozapps/extensions/test/ failures (Bug 589659)
  • port ui parts of bug 561636 to support invalidformsubmit (Bug 599745)
  • [SeaMonkey] mochitest-5: numerous failures in test_contextmenu.html media related. (Bug 593655)
  • Privacy options are not cleared on closing SeaMonkey and instead cleared when SeaMonkey is reopened (Bug 588651)
  • [SeaMonkey 2.1, mochitest-chrome] Exception in test_pm.xul (Bug 589627)
  • xpcshell: test_clearHistory_shutdown.js fails due to "ReferenceError: TOPIC_GLOBAL_SHUTDOWN is not defined", after bug 580892 (Bug 595633)
  • Package dom_notification.xpt (Bug 595273)
  • Error: formatURL: Couldn't find value for key: SIDEBAR_VERSION (Bug 595394)
Windows
  • SeaMonkey part of |Bug 495115 - Implement Strict-Transport-Security| to prevent overrides on certError.xhtml (Bug 590825)
  • Windows nightly L10n repacks failing for SeaMonkey in creating installer (Bug 591091)
  • [SeaMonkey 2.1, mochitest-browser-chrome] TEST-UNEXPECTED-FAIL | chrome://mochikit/content/browser/suite/common/tests/browser/browser_346337.js and browser_466937.js (Bug 594687)
Linux
  • [SeaMonkey, Linux] mochitest-browser-chrome: intermittent ".../suite/browser/test/browser_bug462289.js | tab key to tab activeElement - Got [object HTMLInputElement], expected [object XULElement]" (Bug 491624)
  • Port bug 506175 to SM and fix an intermittent orange on linux for download manager tests (Bug 592438)
  • Port changes from toolkit's browser_354894.js to SeaMonkey's browser_bug515006.js (Bug 592560)
  • browser_pluginnotification.js time out (Bug 592846)
  • Install patched gcc 4.5.1 on Linux slaves and enable it for trunk builds (Bug 599530)
  • Middle-clicking to stop autoscroll may activate contentLoadURL (deactivate,clipboard,paste) (Bug 534248)
  • [Non-static SeaMonkey] "Warning: package error or possible missing or unnecessary file: bin/libgfxpsshar.so (package-manifest, 54)." (Bug 586822)
  • [SeaMonkey 2.1] TEST-UNEXPECTED-FAIL | chrome://mochikit/content/browser/content/html/document/test/browser_bug592641.js (Bug 596237)
  • [SeaMonkey 2.1, mochitest-plain-4, Linux] test_invalidate_during_plugin_paint.html crashing (Bug 585438)
Mac OS X
  • Add-ons manager doesn't open if all windows are closed (Bug 586360)
  • Bookmark Manager doesn't open if all windows are closed (Bug 586363)
  • Mac universal builds now marked as "mac64" when they are PPC/i386 actually (Bug 600223)
  • Remove all updates on SeaMonkey 2.1* for PPC (Bug 601919)
  • Mac release repackaging breaks with release file names (Bug 602907)
  • TEST-UNEXPECTED-FAIL | chrome://mochikit/content/browser/suite/common/dataman/tests/browser_dataman_basics.js | Test timed out (Bug 600229)
  • Mac builds broken by default architecture switch in gecko (Bug 599796)
  • [Non-static SeaMonkey] "Warning: package error or possible missing or unnecessary file: SeaMonkeyDebug.app/Contents/MacOS/components/libaccessibility.dylib (package-manifest, 63)." (Bug 586854)
  • [Mac default] hover:active style rules applies on disabled linkToolbar items (Bug 582372)
  • New places ui lacks mac css and certain icons doesn't blend in with existing (Bug 586026)
  • unsortedBookmarks.png ought to have equal amount of transparency at top/bottom (Bug 593838)
  • bookmarks-chevron doesn't display in mac classic (Bug 594127)
  • Need to switch border-radius: 100% to 10000px (Bug 595378)
  • [Mac default] move some style rules in mailWindow1.css (Bug 595724)
  • Need to rename 'menu_HelpUpdatesSeparator' to 'updateSeparator' (Bug 596758)
  • Update Help for the new location of the 'Check for Updates' menuitem (Bug 597172)
  • Fix some reminding/missed issues regarding personas and sidebar (Bug 599621)
  • [SeaMonkey] OSX, Perma-Orange in test_GCrace.html (Bug 600378)
  • Mac universal build fails unifying architectures after IPC/OOPP landing (Bug 598916)
Compiling
  • remove nsAboutAbout.js (Bug 538419)
  • Use out-of-process-plugins (OOPP) framework in SeaMonkey (Bug 545716)
  • Fix issues brought up by package-compare (Bug 589637)
  • Remove reporter from SeaMonkey (Bug 590102)
  • Add new Addon Repository prefs (Bug 591037)
  • Clean up SeaMonkey packaging files post libxul switch (Bug 598644)
  • Port |Bug 384179 - crash on startup| to SeaMonkey (Bug 534689)
  • Package message wakeup service (Bug 594430)
  • Full update for nightly builds doesn't work, removes xul.dll (Bug 599605)
  • --enable-tests on all our Builders by default (Bug 545172)
  • xpcshell: new test_componentsRegistered.js fails (Bug 595620)