Considering how competition in the browser market is heating up, I was trying to look around what Mozilla Firefox 4 was going to offer even if there is almost a year for it to be released. I came across some information on the Mozzila Wiki site and was quite impressed with the peek into the future.

Changes with Firefox 4 that you can expect.

• The search bar and the address will be merged. This is a great idea and will make the browser very uncluttered.
• Stop/ Go/ Refresh all will be merged into one button. I have always wondered on the need for a ‘Go’ button but making the same button switch from ‘Go’, ‘Stop’ and ‘Refresh’ seems very handy. They are being merged together on the right side of the browser where the address bar will end.
• Bookmarks Tab will be hidden by default. There will be an option to make it appear if needed.
• There will be a new Apps Tab. This tab will allow a person to create Apps of the website they are visiting. This will be useful for anyone who wants to keep a particular website open. You can simply drag and pin the website to the left and it will be saved in an App Tab.
• Profile functionality will allow many profiles with their individual passwords and bookmarks to be used. I think this will remove the need for having different profiles with the OS on the same computer especially if it is being used only for browsing.
• Home Tab will now give access to Favourite Bookmarks, Stats and History time line.
• There will me no Status Bar.

Firefox4 is not going to be available any time this year. Some reports are that it will release in Oct 2010!

That’s a long time from now but looking at all the changes I think it might be worth the wait.

Link: Firefox Wiki