Mozilla today released Firefox 3.6, an update to its popular, open source Web browser. The latest version of Firefox introduces new features, supports new Web standards, and access to free add-ons that allow users to customize their browser to their liking.

Firefox 3.6 is more than 20 percent faster than Firefox 3.5 and includes extensive under the hood work to improve performance for everyday Web tasks such as email, uploading photos, social networking, and more, according to Mozilla. It also delivers new features like customizable browser themes called Personas, a Plugin updater, improved JavaScript performance, and enhancements to familiar favorites like the Awesome Bar for a more personal Web experience.

What?s new in Firefox 3.6:

- Personas: Personalize the look of your Firefox by selecting new themes called Personas in a single click and without a restart

- Plugin Updater: To keep you safe from potential security vulnerabilities, Firefox will now detect out of date plugins

- Stability improvements: Firefox 3.6 significantly decreased crashes caused by third party software

- Form Complete: When filling out an online form, Firefox suggests information for fields based on your common answers in similar field

- Performance: Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness, and startup time. JavaScript is executed 20% faster compared to Firefox v3.5.

- Open Video and Audio: With implementation of HTML 5 audio and video support, now video can be displayed full screen and supports poster frames

What?s New Under the Hood for Developers

- Support for the latest HTML5 specification, including the File API for local file handling
- Font Support: In addition to OpenType and TrueType fonts, 3.6 now supports the new Web Open Font Format (WOFF)
- CSS gradients: Supports linear and radial CSS gradients which allow for a smoother transition between colors - Device orientation: Firefox 3.6 exposes the orientation of the laptop or device to Web pages

Firefox 3.6 is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux in more than 70 languages. It is available for download at http://www.firefox.com.