View source for Firefox 2

{{short description|2006 web browser}}
{{infobox software
| name = Mozilla Firefox 2
| logo                   = [[File:Mozilla Firefox wordmark.svg|182px|Mozilla Firefox wordmark]]
| screenshot             = [[File:Wikipedia Main Page in Firefox 2.0.0.12.png|300px]]
| caption                = Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.12 running on [[Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu]] displaying [[Wikipedia]]
| developer              = [[Mozilla Corporation]], [[Mozilla Foundation]]
| released               = {{Start date and age|2006|10|24}}
| latest release version = 2.0.0.20 {{small|({{Start date and age|2008|12|18}})}}
| programming language   = [[C++]], [[XUL]], [[XBL]], [[JavaScript]]
| operating system       = [[Microsoft Windows]], [[Mac OS X]], [[Linux]], [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]], [[OS/2]]
| engine                 = [[Gecko (layout engine)|Gecko]]
| platform               = [[Cross-platform]]
| size                   = 5.5 MB &ndash; 16.5 MB
| language               = 60 languages
| discontinued           = yes
| genre                  = [[Web browser]], [[FTP client]], [[gopher client]]
| license                = [[Mozilla Public License|MPL]]/[[GNU General Public License|GPL]]/[[GNU Lesser General Public License|LGPL]]/[http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/legal/eula/ Mozilla EULA] (for binary redistribution)
| website                = {{URL|https://www.firefox.com/}}
}}
{{Firefox TOC}}
'''Mozilla Firefox 2''' is a version of [[Firefox]], a [[web browser]] released on October 24, 2006 by the [[Mozilla Corporation]].

Firefox 2 uses version 1.8 of the [[Gecko (software)|Gecko]] layout engine for displaying [[web page]]s. The release contained many new features not found in [[History of Firefox#Version 1.5|Firefox 1.5]], including improved support for [[Scalable Vector Graphics]] (SVG) and [[JavaScript]] 1.7, as well as [[user interface]] changes.

On March 22, 2006, the first [[Software release cycle#Alpha|alpha version]] of Firefox 2 (Bon Echo Alpha 1) was released. It featured Gecko 1.8.1 for the first time. Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.20 is the final version to support [[Windows NT 4.0]], [[Windows 98]] and [[Windows Me]],<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/2.0.0.20/system-requirements/ | title = Firefox 2 System Requirements | access-date = 2011-09-11 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121010150001/http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/2.0.0.20/system-requirements/ | archive-date = 2012-10-10 }}</ref> although it can run on [[Windows 95]] and [[Windows NT 3.51]] using tweaks. [[Mac OS X Leopard|Mac OS X 10.5]] support was added October 18, 2007 with version 2.0.0.8.

Firefox 2.0 featured updates to [[Features of Firefox#Tabbed browsing|tabbed browsing]] environment, the [[Add-on (Mozilla)|extensions manager]], the [[Graphical user interface|GUI]], and the find, search, and software update engines; a new session restore feature; inline [[Spell checker|spell checking]]; and an [[Anti-phishing software|anti-phishing]] feature which was implemented by [[Google]] as an extension,<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/safebrowsing | title = Google Safe Browsing for Firefox | access-date = 2007-02-05 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = https://wiki.mozilla.org/index.php?title=Phishing_Protection:_Design_Documentation&oldid=46996#Background | title = Phishing Protection Design Documentation - Background | access-date = 2007-01-24 | author = Mozilla.org wiki contributors | publisher = Mozilla.org wiki}}</ref> and later merged into the program itself.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/2.0/releasenotes/ |title=Mozilla Firefox 2 Release Notes | publisher=Mozilla Corporation |access-date=2006-12-19}}</ref>

Mozilla ended support for Firefox 2 on December 18, 2008.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://developer.mozilla.org/devnews/index.php/2008/12/18/firefox-20020-now-available-for-download/ |title=Firefox 2.0.0.20 now available for download | publisher=Mozilla Corporation |access-date=2009-01-08}}</ref>

==Overview of changes==
* Links default to open in a new [[Tab (interface)|tab]]. 
* Close button on every tab. 
* Inline spell checking for [[text box]]es. 
* Session restoration after a browser crash.
* [[Search suggest drop-down list|Search suggestion]] for [[Google Search|Google]] and [[Yahoo! Search|Yahoo!]].
* New [[search plugin]] manager and add-on manager.
* [[Web feed]] previewing. 
* [[Bookmark (digital)|Bookmark]] microsummaries. 
* Updates to the extension system. 
* Support for [[Sherlock (software)|Sherlock]] and [[OpenSearch (specification)|OpenSearch]]. 
* Support for SVG text using svg:textPath.
* Built-in anti-phishing protection. 
* Search suggestions appear with search history in the search box for Google and Yahoo!.
* Support for client-side session and [[persistent storage]].
* Improved feed support.
* A new [[Nullsoft Scriptable Install System|NSIS]]-based installer.
* JavaScript 1.7. 
* Enhanced security and localization support for extensions.
* New Winstripe theme refresh: 
**New navigation icons
**[[Address bar|URL bar]] refresh (New Go button attached to the URL bar)
**Search bar refresh Tab bar refresh
**Alltabs button (used to view a popup list of all tabs open)

==Market adoption & usage of Firefox 2==
{{Main|Market adoption of Mozilla Firefox}}
{{See also|Usage share of web browsers}}
{{Firefox usage share}}

As one article noted after the release of Firefox 2.0 in October 2006, ''"[[Internet Explorer 6|IE6]] had the lion's share of the browser market with 77.22%. [[Internet Explorer 7]] had climbed to 3.18%, while Firefox 2.0 was at 0.69%."''<ref name="softpedia:slaughtering-ie6" />

A [[Softpedia]] article, however, noted in July 2007 that ''"Firefox 2.0 has been also expanding its share constantly in spite of IE7. From just 0.69% in October 2006, Firefox 2.0 is now accounting for 11.07% of the market. Mozilla has even sacrificed version 1.5 of its open source browser for Firefox 2.0. With support cut at the end of June, Firefox 1.5 dropped to just 2.85%."''<ref name="softpedia:slaughtering-ie6">{{cite news |url=http://news.softpedia.com/news/IE7-and-Firefox-2-0-Are-Slaughtering-Internet-Explorer-6-77994.shtml |title=IE7 and Firefox 2.0 Are Slaughtering Internet Explorer 6 - Out with the old, in with the new
|author=Marius Nestor |publisher=Softpedia |date=5 February 2008 |access-date=2008-03-31}}</ref><ref name="softpedia1">{{cite web |url=http://news.softpedia.com/news/IE6-vs-IE7-vs-Firefox-2-0-vs-Firefox-1-5-vs-Safari-3-0-vs-Opera-9-58851.shtml |title=IE6 vs. IE7 vs. Firefox 2.0 vs. Firefox 1.5 vs. Safari 3.0 vs. Opera 9 In browser market share deathmatch |date=2007-07-02 |access-date=2008-02-20 |publisher=Softpedia}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=2&qpmr=40&qpdt=1&qpct=3&qptimeframe=M&qpsp=108 |title=Browser Versions Market Share |access-date=2008-02-19 |publisher=NetApplications.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Browser War: FF2 pulls ahead of IE7 in Europe |url=http://www.xitimonitor.com/en-us/browsers-barometer/ie7-and-firefox-2-july-2007/index-1-2-3-103.html |publisher=XiTi Monitor |date=2007-07-18 |access-date=2008-03-18}}</ref>

Firefox 2 began to lose notable market share to [[Firefox 3.0|Firefox 3]]. Within 24 hours after its release, Firefox 3 usage rose from under 1% to over 3% according to [[Net Applications]] in that time period.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=31 | title=Firefox 3.0 Usage Share (EDT) | publisher=Net Applications | date=2008-06-19 | access-date=2008-06-19}}</ref> Firefox 2 market share consistently dropped, eventually being surpassed by Firefox 3 in 2008 and [[Firefox 3.5]] in 2009 in the general browser market as the Firefox version with the greatest share, and by early 2009 had dropped under 3 percent.<ref>{{cite web |title=Top Browser Share Trend |url=http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=2 |publisher=NetApplications.com |date=February 2009 |access-date=2009-03-18}}</ref>

==Release compatibility==
{| class ="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan="2"|[[Operating system]]
! Compatibility
|-
| colspan="2"|[[Linux kernel]] 2.2.14 and newer<br/>(with some libraries)
| {{Ya|text=2.0.0.20}}
|-
| rowspan="4"|[[Apple Corp|Apple]] <br>[[Mac OS X]]
| [[Mac OS X v10.1|v10.1 Puma]]
|{{Na}}
|-
| [[Mac OS X v10.2|v10.2 Jaguar]]-[[Mac OS X v10.3|10.3 Panther]]
| {{Ya|text=2.0.0.20}}
|-
| [[Mac OS X v10.4|v10.4 Tiger]] 
| {{Ya|text=2.0.0.20}}
|-
| [[Mac OS X v10.5|v10.5 Leopard]]
| {{Ya|text=2.0.0.8–2.0.0.20}}
|-
| colspan="2"|[[OS/2]] and [[eComStation]]
| {{Ya|text=2.0.0.20}}
|-
| rowspan="3"|[[Microsoft]] <br>[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
| [[Windows NT 3.51|NT 3.51]]/[[Windows 95|95]]
| {{Na}}
|-
| [[Windows NT 4.0|NT 4.0]]/[[Windows 98|98]]/[[Windows Me|Me]]
| {{Ya|text=2.0.0.20}}
|-
| [[Windows 2000|2000]]/[[Windows XP|XP]]/[[Windows Vista|Vista]]/<br/>[[Windows Server 2003|2003]]/[[Windows Home Server|Home Server]]/[[Windows Server 2008|2008]]
| {{Ya|text=2.0.0.20}}
|}

==End of Life==
[[File:Acid3 ff20013 score53.png|thumb|left|alt=Screenshot of the test shows a broken layout.|Firefox 2.0.0.13 scores 53/100 in the [[Acid3]] test (dated 3 April 2008). In comparison, [[Internet Explorer 8]], released on 19 March 2009, fails the Acid3 test with a score of 20/100.]]
Firefox 2.x was [[End-of-life (product)#Computing|end-of-lifed]] in December, 2008.<ref>[https://developer.mozilla.org/devnews/index.php/2008/07/01/firefox-20015-security-and-stability-update-now-available-for-download/ Firefox 2.0.0.15 security and stability update now available for download] developer.mozilla.org</ref> With roughly 26 months of support, only [[Firefox 3.6]] was supported longer. The Gecko 1.8.1 browser core continued to receive patches for projects such as [[Camino (web browser)|Camino]], [[K-Meleon]], and [[SeaMonkey]], even after official Firefox releases had ceased.

By 2011, the 1.8.1 core had become obsolete, as major websites dropped support for it<ref>{{cite web |last=Miraglia |first=Eric |title=Graded Browser Support Update: Q3 2009 |publisher=YUI blog |date=2009-07-02 |url=http://www.yuiblog.com/blog/2009/07/02/gbs-update-20090702/ |access-date=2012-09-02 |archive-date=2012-08-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803084121/http://yuiblog.com/blog/2009/07/02/gbs-update-20090702/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> by employing newer technologies for presentation and complex scripting.<ref>{{cite web |title=Modern browsers for modern applications |work=Official Google Enterprise Blog |publisher=[[Blogger (service)|Blogger]] |date=2010-01-29 |url=http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/01/modern-browsers-for-modern-applications.html |access-date=2012-09-02}} Firefox 3.0 or newer listed.</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Keizer |first=Gregg |title=Google joins the 'kill-IE6' campaign |publisher=[[Computerworld]] |date=2010-01-31 |url=http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9150138/Google_joins_the_kill_IE6_campaign |access-date=2012-09-02 |quote=We're going to begin phasing out our support, starting with Google Docs and Google Sites.}}</ref> The latter can be resource-intensive with the older core, and users stuck with it should use [[NoScript]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Direct download |work=get it! |publisher=noscript.net |year=2012 |url=http://noscript.net/getit#direct |access-date=2012-09-02}} The latest legacy NoScript version for Firefox 2.0 and SeaMonkey 1.1 is 1.10</ref> to avoid problems with [[Scripting language|scripts]] that take too long to process (at the cost of losing some or all site features beyond basic functionality).

Services with large user bases have relegated browsers with the Gecko 1.8.1 rendering engine to using lightweight or [[Mobile Web|mobile versions]] of their sites, alongside recommendations to upgrade the browser; while others only recommend to upgrade.

Nevertheless, there is still a very large number of websites that are freely usable and navigable with Firefox 2.0 or equivalents, alone because many of them must still support other older browsers, like Internet Explorer 6 or IE7.
{{clear|left}}

==Release history==
{{Main|History of Firefox}}

==See also==
* [[Firefox early version history]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
*[http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ Mozilla Firefox homepage] for [[End-user (computer science)|end-users]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120301134039/http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/ Mozilla Firefox project page] for developers
*[http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/legal/eula/ Mozilla EULA]

{{Mozilla projects}}
{{Gopher clients}}
{{Timeline of web browsers |2000s}}
{{web browsers|desktop}}

[[Category:Firefox|2]]
[[Category:2006 software]]
[[Category:Free software programmed in C++]]
[[Category:Gopher clients]]
[[Category:History of web browsers]]
[[Category:Linux web browsers]]
[[Category:MacOS web browsers]]
[[Category:POSIX web browsers]]
[[Category:Unix Internet software]]
[[Category:Windows web browsers]]
[[Category:Software that uses XUL]]