Firefox 21 Launches With Social API Support For msnNOW, Mixi And Cliqz, Android App Gets New Fonts, HTML5 Improvements

Mozilla today launched the latest version of its Firefox browser for Mac, Windows and Linux, and the highlight of Firefox 21 is additional support for Mozilla’s Social API. This API allows social providers to integrate directly with Firefox and the organization it launched in cooperation with Facebook at the end of last year. Today, it is adding Cliqz, Mixi and msnNOW to the mix.

The new Social API integrations, Mozilla says, “help you stay connected to your social networks, no matter where you go on the Web.”

Once installed, users can access these integrations from buttons in the browser toolbar. Cliqz users, for example, will be able to see content recommendations right in the new social sidebar in Firefox, share links across their social networks and preview Twitter commentary, all without actually going to Cliqz. The integration with Japan’s Mixi and Microsoft’s msnNOW works in the same way. MSN-Screen-shot

The Social API, Mozilla writes, “has endless potential for integrating social networks, e-mail, finance, music, cloud possibilities, services, to-do lists, sports, news and other applications into your Firefox experience.” Now that it has landed in the Firefox stable, chances are we will see a number of additional integrations in the near future.

Also new in this version is preliminary support for the new Firefox Health Report.

Similar to what Microsoft is doing with Internet Explorer, Firefox will now also provide users with suggestions for how to improve the application’s startup time.

Firefox For Android

The Android version of Firefox was also bumped up to version 21 today and with it, the team has integrated support for two new open source fonts, Charis and Open Sans. The fonts will replace the three Android default fonts to enable “a more visually appealing and clear reading experience on the Web.” The difference is “subtle, but beautiful,” Mozilla says.

Additional features are the ability to save media files through a long tap and access to your recent browsing history through the back and forward buttons.

This new version for Android also includes some HTML5 improvements and the browser now scores 421 out of the 500 possible points on HTML5test.com (plus 14 bonus points).