Deb Richardson, author of the about:mozilla newsletter, has done it again!  She has already graced the Mozilla Blog with wonderful explanations of Firefox 3′s AwesomeBar, and the new and improved bookmarking system.  And now she has a created a comprehensive guide to all the cool new features in Firefox 3.

Check it out and remember to download Firefox 3 when it’s available on June 17th to be a part of our world record attempt!

Editor’s note: Mozilla announced Firefox 3 Release Candidate 3 on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 at 3 pm PST. See Mike Beltzner’s comprehensive post on Mozilla Developer News, crossposted below.

This third Firefox 3 Release Candidate is a public preview release intended for developer testing and community feedback. We recommend that you read the release notes and known issues before installing this release.

The third Firefox 3 Release Candidate is now available for download. It contains a single change for Mac OS X users only; there is no change for users running previous Firefox Release Candidate versions on Windows or Linux. Ongoing planning for Firefox 3 can be followed in the minutes of the Firefox 3 Planning Meetings, as well as in mozilla.dev.planning and on irc.mozilla.org in #granparadiso.

You can find out more about the new Features of Firefox 3 in the “What’s New” section of the release notes.

Testers can download the third Firefox 3 Release Candidate builds for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux in over 45 different languages. Developers should also read the Firefox 3 for Developers article on the Mozilla Developer Center.

Note: Please do not link directly to the download site. Instead we strongly encourage you to link to this Firefox 3 Release Candidate announcement so that everyone will know what this milestone is, what they should expect, and who should be downloading to participate in testing at this stage of development.

In an additional Mozilla Developer News post, Mike Beltzner also announces that we anticipate the general release of Firefox 3 to be on this coming Tuesday, June 17.

We broke the million mark for worldwide pledges to get Firefox 3 on Download Day thanks to all of your hard work!  Kudos to the Firefox community.  This is quite a feat.

It’s not too late to keep spreading the word.  Here are some easy ways to get involved:

• Plan or attend a Download Fest.
• Add our site badges to your blog, profile or website.
• Join one of our social networking groups.
• Follow us on Twitter.

Again, we’ll let you know the actual date for Download Day as soon as we can!

Editor’s note: Mozilla announced Firefox 3 Release Candidate 2 on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 4:25 pm PST.  See Mike Beltzner’s comprehensive post on Mozilla Developer News, crossposted below.

Please note: This second Firefox 3 Release Candidate is a public preview release intended for developer testing and community feedback. It includes new features as well as dramatic improvements to performance, memory usage and speed. We recommend that you read the release notes and known issues before installing this release.

The second Firefox 3 Release Candidate is now available for download. Ongoing planning for Firefox 3 can be followed at the Firefox 3 Planning Center, as well as in mozilla.dev.planning and on irc.mozilla.org in #granparadiso.

You can find out more about the new Features of Firefox 3 in the “What’s New” section of the release notes.

Testers can download the second Firefox 3 Release Candidate builds for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux in over 45 different languages. Developers should also read the Firefox 3 for Developers article on the Mozilla Developer Center.

Note: Please do not link directly to the download site. Instead we strongly encourage you to link to this Firefox 3 Release Candidate announcement so that everyone will know what this milestone is, what they should expect, and who should be downloading to participate in testing at this stage of development.

A huge thanks to everyone for pledging and helping spread the word!  We’ve exceeded 700,000 pledges to help set a Guinness World Record in less than a week!

Our dedicated community got to work quickly to support the effort from all corners of the globe.  Some highlights include:

• Over 16,000 people have joined the “Firefox World Record” Facebook group
• Abdul Azis of Indonesia created a Facebook application
• The team from Mozilla-Mexico created a “how-to” for registering a Firefox 3/Download Day party and is furiously spreading the word!
• Mattijs De Smedt of Belgium developed a WordPress plugin
• Ehsan Akhgari took upon himself to track pledges vs. region populations

I could go on and on about all the great work everyone is doing!  Please post a comment if you’ve heard of any other cool things people are up too.  We’d like to continue highlighting all the hard work.

Keep it up!

Mozilla’s wonderful, global community has a whole lot to celebrate, including the upcoming Firefox 3 launch and Download Day, our quest to set a Guinness World Record.  2008 also marks the 10-year anniversary of Mozilla!

If you want to get in on the action, go to Mozilla Party Central and register for an account to either host or attend a party.  The fun is already underway:

• Adam VanBerlo and team, just hosted our very first Firefox 3 party at the Traverse City FragFest in Michigan.
• The Mozillagumi, a community of Mozilla developers, localizers, testers and users just celebrated nine years of community support for Mozilla in Japan.

[Editor's note: Firefox-clad car and driver not included in party pack.]

Sign up now and let’s get this party started!  We can’t wait to see what you have in store!  Please comment if you plan to host a large one — we would love to help!