The first beta release of the next major Firefox update is now out. The beta release “is aimed at testers, extension/theme authors and Web developers.”

Mozilla says the final release of Firefox 1.5 is scheduled for later this year. Firefox 1.5 Beta 2 is scheduled for release on Oct. 5 and the first release candidate is expected on Oct. 28. If you want to try the new beta release and help provide developers user feedback, you can download the release at the Firefox project page.

Here are the browser’s new features as listed in the Mozilla site:

* Automated update to streamline product upgrades. Notification of an update is more prominent, and updates to Firefox may now be half a megabyte or smaller. Updating extensions has also improved.
* Faster browser navigation with improvements to back and forward button performance.
* Drag and drop reordering for browser tabs.
* Improvements to popup blocking.
* Clear Private Data feature provides an easy way to quickly remove personal data through a menu item or keyboard shortcut.
* Answers.com is added to the search engine list.
* Improvements to product usability including descriptive error pages, redesigned options menu, RSS discovery, and “Safe Mode” experience.
* Better accessibility support including DHTML accessibility.
* Report a broken Web site wizard to report Web sites that are not working in Firefox.
* Better support for Mac OS X (10.2 and greater) including profile migration from Safari and Mac Internet Explorer.
* New support for Web Standards including SVG, CSS 2 and CSS 3, and JavaScript 1.6.
* Many security enhancements.
List of notable bug fixes since Deer Park Alpha 2