Firefox 2 Arrives

Mozilla released Firefox 2 in October 2006. The browser added features that now feel ordinary, including session restore after a crash, built-in spell checking for web forms, improved tab handling, and stronger protection against phishing sites.

Firefox still used Mozilla’s Gecko rendering engine, and web developers in 2006 regularly had to test pages against several engines because Internet Explorer and Firefox did not always interpret HTML, CSS, or JavaScript in the same way. Firefox’s growing user base helped make standards compliance a competitive issue rather than a niche concern.

The release also mattered because Microsoft had allowed Internet Explorer development to slow after winning the earlier browser war. Firefox demonstrated that users were willing to switch browsers for speed, security, extensions, and better standards support. That competition helped restart rapid browser development before Chrome arrived two years later.