SeaMonkey 2.1 Alpha 3 contains the following major changes relative to SeaMonkey 2.1 Alpha 2:

• The browser can now be themed with Personas (lightweight themes).
• The bookmarks system has been reworked to use the Places framework shared with Firefox.
• SeaMonkey now defaults to tabbed browsing instead of opening new windows.
• More compatibility with Firefox' tabbrowser API.
• The tab bar received a visual refresh.
• Address book toolbars can now be customized.
• Find in Page now works with a toolbar instead of a modal window.
• Gopher support has been removed.
• Web developers can animate content using CSS Transitions.
• XPCOM registration has been changed.
• The W3C Indexed Database API is now available to websites.

The changes page lists an overview of new features and fixes relative to our last stable release, SeaMonkey 2.0.6.

The SeaMonkey project provides official versions of SeaMonkey 2.1 Alpha 3 for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X in US English and experimental language packs for a small variety of other languages. Community volunteers are also contributing builds for other platforms. You can download SeaMonkey 2.1 Alpha 3 here.

Before installing, make sure your computer meets the system requirements. SeaMonkey 2.1 Alpha 3 will offer to migrate your data from SeaMonkey 1.x or Mozilla 1.x at the first start after installation. You can find more details about installation, profile data and uninstallation in our install and uninstall document.

Extensions installed under SeaMonkey 1.x are not migrated to SeaMonkey 2, and may not be compatible for reinstalling in this version due to major changes in our architecture. Please report any issues to the maintainer of the extension. Extensions and Themes for SeaMonkey 2.1 Alpha 3 can be installed from the SeaMonkey Add-Ons website or the "Get Add-Ons" section in the Add-Ons manager.

This list covers some of the known problems with SeaMonkey 2.1 Alpha 3. Please read this before reporting any new bugs.

• This version may not run on PPC Mac computers. (Bug 564737)
  It's currently unclear if 2.1 will be able to support PPC or not.
• Messages composed in HTML mode add an extra space in the beginning when sent in plain text. (Bug 564737)
  Workaround: Compose plain-text messages in plain-text mode.

• Some anti-virus software keeps detecting our installers as containing a "Trojan" or "Downloader". This is a false positive and is some wrong detection mechanism in the anti-virus software. The code in question is actually from 7-Zip and decompresses the installer so that its contents can run and install SeaMonkey. That technology is widely used and probably can be used to compress bad as well as good software, but the 7-Zip code itself is perfectly safe. Mozilla scans all our files routinely when putting them on the FTP server and we assure you that our installers are as clean as the official Firefox downloads that are scanned by the same mechanisms.
• Poorly designed or incompatible extensions can cause problems with SeaMonkey, including make it crash, slow down page display, etc. If you encounter strange problems relating to parts of SeaMonkey no longer working, the browser not starting, windows with strange or distorted appearance, degraded performance, etc, you may be suffering from Extension or Theme trouble. Restart SeaMonkey in Safe Mode. On Windows, start using the "Safe Mode" shortcut created in your Start menu or by running seamonkey.exe -safe-mode. On Linux, start with ./seamonkey -safe-mode and on Mac OS X, run:

  cd /Applications/SeaMonkey.app/Contents/MacOS/
./seamonkey-bin -safe-mode

  When started in Safe Mode all extensions are disabled and the Default theme is used. Disable the Extension/Theme that is causing trouble and then start normally.
• If you uninstall an extension that is installed with your user profile (i.e. you installed it from a Web page) and then wish to install it for all user profiles using the -install-global-extension command line flag, you must restart SeaMonkey once to cleanse the profile extensions datasource of traces of that extension before installing with the switch. If you do not do this you may end up with a jammed entry in the Extensions list and will be unable to install the extension globally.
• If you encounter strange problems relating to bookmarks, downloads, window placement, toolbars, history, or other settings, it is recommended that you try creating a new profile and attempting to reproduce the problem before filing bugs. Create a new profile by running SeaMonkey with the -P command line argument, choose the "Manage Profiles" button and then choose "Create Profile...". Migrate your settings files (Bookmarks, Saved Passwords, etc) over one by one, checking each time to see if the problems resurface. If you do find a particular profile data file is causing a problem, file a bug and attach the file.

What can I do to help?

We need help from developers and the testing community to provide as much feedback as possible to make SeaMonkey even better. Please read these notes and the bug filing instructions before reporting any bugs to Bugzilla. You can also give us your feedback through this feedback form.

Why haven't you responded to the mail I sent you?

Use the newsgroup. The SeaMonkey team reads it regularly, and your email may have gotten lost.

Where can I get extensions and themes (add-ons)?

Extensions and Themes can be downloaded from SeaMonkey Add-ons.

Who makes SeaMonkey?

Lots of people. See Help->About SeaMonkey, contributors for a list of some of the people who have contributed to Mozilla and SeaMonkey.

Where's the SeaMonkey 2.1 Alpha 3 source code?

A tarball of the SeaMonkey 2.1 Alpha 3 source code is available at the download page. The latest development code can be obtained from the source repository. SeaMonkey-specific source is in the "suite" directory. Please follow the build instructions.

The following resources contain useful information about SeaMonkey 2.1 Alpha 3:

• SeaMonkey Documentation & Help
• MozillaZine Knowledge Base
• "New for 2.1" wiki page
• For extension developers