Mozilla is already offering a preview of the next-generation Firefox 5 for download and is planning on providing a stabilized version in about two weeks. Firefox 5 final is expected to arrive in the week of June 29.

Mozilla is following through with its accelerated release plan for Firefox. One of our eagle-eyed readers already noted before that the recently posted Firefox 4.2a1pre is not the already announced 4.0.x update, but represents the foundation of Firefox 5.0. Apparently, time constraints have forced Mozilla to use the version number 4.2a1pre and prevented the company from using “5.0a1pre”. Mozilla now refers to its new release plan officially as “Rapid Release“.

We are not aware of any changes (the roadmap has not been updated yet) in this version compared to Firefox 4.0, other than minor modifications to the JavaScript engine. Firefox 5 will feature a changed user interface, which will not surface until the final phase of the next and first stable development stage experimental. Mozilla’s new development process consists of four stages – central, experimental, beta and release. Each process takes about 6 weeks, which means that the new UI should be available sometime in the week of May 9.

Firefox’ new user interface will include desktop apps that will allow websites to take advantage of tab menus much like we are using a context menu for a regular application on our computers today. Mozilla is also expected to polish the search bar, update the account manager and the user add-on selection process. If you are interested in tracking Mozilla’s design work, you can check back on the areweprettyyet.com website. Use the URL arewepretty.com/5 URL.

However, it seems that Firefox 5 is still in the very, very early stages of its development and there isn’t even a Firefox 5 or Firefox 5 Features/Draft page yet. However, Mozilla still maintains a general Firefox features list that prioritizes features Mozilla may be working on.

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