We didn't have a chance to work on this release, but we're really looking forward to a whole bunch of the new features. There's a great rundown on Mozilla Links' A Deeper Look at Firefox 3 (even if they did call our work "washed out" :), which is well worth the read if your browser blood runs red. Some of our favourites:

• The Proto native theme for Mac OS will finally give Firefox a truly platform native feel on our favourite operating system
• A number of changes to the toolbar and tabstrip which make a lot of sense from the perspective of optimizing the browser experience (the Go button is gone! Let the rejoicing begin!)
• Places, which will bring some sanity to our extensive bookmarks collections
• Blocking JavaScript from resizing windows without permission (and various other nefarious message control tactics — take that marketeers!)
• Our good friend Madhava's awesome work on the Add Ons manager which brings browsing and installation of Add Ons right into the browser chrome. It's about time!
• Our other good friend Johnathan's equally awesome work around security, site verification, and anti-phishing measures, summed up in Larry the Security Guy.

Interface Changes

At first glance the freshened up interface was just wonderful to me. All the palettes have been cleverly compacted into small movable icons which, once you get the knack of them, allow for amazing expansion of your screen real-estate. This is very handy when you are working on the limited dimensions of a notebook. Kudos to the interface designers - if they utilize this front-end for the full CS3 suite, we all will be working happier!

The initial load times are about the same as the CS2 load time on my Intel mac, which means slow, but the similarities stop there. Once inside I am easily zooming and moving around my large files like I am once again working on a desktop rig. Progress bars zip by and wait times are easily cut in half for functions like image loading or running any of the math intensive filters. Layers are flipped and moved about in real-time and gone are the wait times for the layers palette to catch up to what you have been doing.

The only problem I noted was that the type tool seems to crash the beta once in a while, usually when I am flying a little too fast and getting snappy with the mouse. Doing due diligence I checked the forums and found that Adobe has identified this problem and will hopefully correct for the final release.

It would seem that Adobe, for all the griping I have been doing for the last year, is aiming to really please us for our patience. The learning curve is slight and the differences are amazing. With the purchase of Macromedia in the last few years, maybe some of that user driven intelligence has also crossed over, and now Adobe is truly listening to us, and our wants and needs.

New Features

“Zoomify” is a new way to export your larger graphics to the web. Effectively creating a flash file that loads an image and allows you to zoom and move about the pixel eating behemoth with quick load times and high detail. Zoomify is a great way to present your larger print projects to clients over the web without the need for any downsizing of the image, allowing clients to see the full detail of the ad or zoom out to take in your breathtaking layouts. For those of us familiar with working on print, this could be a very beneficial tool to speed things up with your more far off clients.

“Auto Alignment Layers” can remove or add elements from a series of photos you choose to overlay, without having to airbrush for hours to get your desired result. So if you had a few shots of your friends all taken from a similar angle, where in one of your friends wasn't looking at the camera, or not smiling you can use this tool to select the parts of each image you want. Then you can piece them together in almost flawless fashion adding or subtracting to add the smile. For any of us who have tried to paste someone’s face into another photo before, this is a great timesaver, and the final results will look as good as your old-school 4 hours of airbrushing.

"Smart Filters" creates another layer for you to go back and re-edit your filters, so there is no more backing up a spare layer in case you mess up. You can go in and re-adjust the filters after the fact, just like you would a new layer. Clever.

The "Quick Selection" tool allows you to “paint” your selections in realtime by simply holding down the shift key. If the four lattés you gulped down in the morning cause you to accidentally shift out too far past your selection, you simply hold down the option key and gently ease the selection back. The difference between this and the old magic wand is that this tool actually “learns” where you are trying to go. It isn’t just based on just the colours you go over either: it just selects where and how you want it, and feels like magic! You can control the quick select brush size as well, allowing getting in close for much more detailed selection work. Once you have finished selecting what you want, a new refine edge tool allows you to contract or expand, add feathering or tighten up the final selection. For whipping up a fast mockup, or photo montage this tool is going to give you some new found speed.

Speculation for Adobe’s full CS3 Suite release is on or around May 1, 2007.