Firefox for Windows 8 Touch Beta released with touch-friendly features

Mozilla has finally released Firefox for Windows 8 Touch in beta mode, which it had first released into its Nightly channel in February 2013. The version is meant to provide users with a touch-friendly browser UI, and is now available to download and test.

The Firefox for Windows 8 Touch Beta, created for Microsoft's Windows 8 Modern UI, features a new tile-based start screen along with a one-tap access to top-websites, bookmarks and history. The users can also continue using the Firefox Awesome bar, which is nothing but the search-cum-navigation bar which also autocompletes based on history, bookmarks and search data.

Other touch-based gesture features like pinch-to-zoom and one touch swipe transitions also come with the Firefox for Windows 8 Touch Beta. One of the key features the beta browser supports is the ability to let users choose if they "want to view an app full-screen, or 'snapped' to a narrow region of the screen (typically to the left of the screen like a sidebar), or if you'd like your app to 'fill' the remaining screen area not already occupied by an app in 'snapped' state."

The browser also features 'Visual Navigation' with big-sized tiles right on the start screen itself for the user's ease along with the auto-complete feature for quick operation. The official Firefox for Windows 8 Touch Beta page also mentions that users should keep it as their default browser before testing the version.

Mozilla is also touting 'Windows Share integration', where users can share web pages or content easily to installed social networks.

The Firefox for Windows 8 Touch Beta can be downloaded from here.

Mozilla, the parent non-profit, recently introduced its Firefox version 27 for Android, Linux, Mac and Windows with support for Web 2.0 social bookmarking tool Delicious and the Indian music service Saavn.