Hot on the heels of the launch of Firefox 22 two days ago, Mozilla has announced the release of the Firefox 23 beta version, a preview version that has been scheduled to ship in around six months. The prior version has gained many fresh features, which include a new Share button and the introductory of the Social API to all web developers, while the latter has gained a long slide of slight add-ons. Also, Mozilla has revealed their new logo as well.

Let us take a look at the Firefox 23 beta version for Linux, Windows, and Mac. There is no doubt that the major addition to this update is the new sharing functionality that the company is publicizing.

The Firefox 23 beta will have a new social API panel and share button. In short, developers can enable users to share their news/content with their family and friends in a single click.

In aggregation with this, social API is now available for developers who want to incorporate their websites or apps into Firefox’s browser. This feature was first made available to Firefox 21 back in November 2012, introduced Facebook integration in December 2012 and it was extended to support more providers with Firefox 21 last month.

In short, the Social API allows you to keep up with the newest social events without having to switch amongst, or open, new tabs.

Mozilla says it built the feature “to enable social services and providers to integrate directly into Firefox to make users browsing experience more social, customizable and personal” – now that any developer can participate, the floodgates have been opened.

The next one is the mixed content blocker, which stops non-protected (HTTP) content on a website from being read or reformed by assailants by hindering the non-secure content from being conceded. In case you are speculating, mixed content arises when a webpage comprising a mixture of both secure (HTTPS) and non-secure (HTTP) content is distributed over a protected data channel to the web browser. Here is how it looks in action.

Last but not the least, finally developers can now make use of a network monitor which breaks down every individual component and highlights how much time it will take to load all the components individually.

Check out the release notes below to know what all changes have been introduced in Firefox 23 beta.

NEW: Support for new scrollbar style in Mac OS X 10.7 and newer.
NEW: Mixed content blocking enabled to protects users from man-in-the-middle attacks and eavesdroppers on HTTPS pages (learn more).
CHANGED: Improved about:memory’s functional UI.
CHANGED: Enabled DXVA2 on Windows Vista+ to accelerate H.264 video decoding.
CHANGED: Updated Firefox Logo.
CHANGED: “Load images automatically”, “Enable JavaScript”, and Always show the tab bar” checkboxes removed from preferences.
CHANGED: Simplified interface for notifications of plugin installation.
CHANGED: Users can now switch to a new search provider across the entire browser.
CHANGED: CSP policies using the standard syntax and semantics will now be enforced.
DEVELOPER: Implemented a global browser console.
DEVELOPER: Social share functionality.
DEVELOPER: HTML5 form control implemented.
DEVELOPER: Write more accessible pages on touch interfaces with new ARIA role for key buttons.
DEVELOPER: Added unprefixed requestAnimationFrame.
DEVELOPER: New feature in toolbox: Nework Monitor.
DEVELOPER: Dropped blink effect from text-decoration: blink; and completely removed element.

Firefox Beta 23 for Android

Firefox 23 beta for Android appears to be a very big feature unveiling. It is perhaps not as important as the desktop version, but it still packed with some useful new additions.

NEW: Dynamic toolbar hides navigation bar when scrolling down page content.
NEW: Basic support for subscribing to feeds (RSS/Atom) with long-tap in address bar.
NEW: Add pages to reading list on devices incapable of accessing Reader Mode.
NEW: Preliminary implementation of Firefox Health Report for Android (see FAQ).
NEW: Added a setting to let users display URLs in the title bar instead of page titles.
NEW: Users can now specify a default search engine.
NEW: Implemented switch-to-tab.
NEW: Added hu and tr to Android multi-locale builds.
NEW: Added Serif/Sans Serif font toggle to Reader Mode.
NEW: Long press Reader Mode icon to add article to Reading List (try it!).
CHANGED: Awesomescreen remembers user entered search terms.
CHANGED: CSP policies using the standard syntax and semantics will now be enforced.
DEVELOPER: Write more accessible pages on touch interfaces with new ARIA role for key buttons.
DEVELOPER: Added unprefixed requestAnimationFrame.
DEVELOPER: HTML5 input type form control implemented.
DEVELOPER: Dropped blink effect from text-decoration: blink; and completely removed element.

Mozilla is planning to release Firefox 23 in August this year. So stay tuned for more updates.