Ok, so Firefox 3 final is out. You don't really care that much about its compatibility with every standard under the sun; you just want to know which new features are actually useful? Good, so do we. Here's our rundown of the stuff that makes the latest iteration of this cool Web browser worth your while.

By the way, if you're curious about how we're so fast on this one (apart from the fact that the final build is nearly identical to Firefox 3 RC3), it's easy: the final release of Firefox 3 has been up a couple of hours ahead of schedule. However, we chose not to report on it because it would spoil the world record breaking attempt, and because the folks at Mozilla kindly asked everyone not to do that back when Firefox 2 was released.

*Update: The final version of Firefox 3 was supposed to be available for almost an hour now, but Mozilla's servers are dying under the load of millions of eager users hammering their servers. Hopefully the issues will be resolved soon.

1. The Awesome Location Bar

We're not calling it awesome because it's really that awesome; it was actually called the Awesome Bar at some point during its development. It's important to understand how it works because it's one of the new Firefox 3 features you'll be forced to use, and, while it has advantages, it can also be a source of frustration.

It's not a new feature; it's just a change in how the autocomplete feature in the location bar (where you type the Web address) works. When you start typing something, it doesn't only give you the corresponding Web addresses which start with the same letters; it actually searches through your bookmarks and history and tries to present the most relevant results based on both frequency and recency of your visits. For example, when I start typing "mas" I'll get Mashable as the first couple of results, but I'll also get Mashable if I start "soc" because it matches the site title, "social networking news."

The location bar learns and adapts from your usage, which should in theory make it better over time. However, some users might get annoyed at this new feature; if you're accustomed to writing the first couple of characters of the domain name and want that exact domain name as the first result, you won't immediately (and, perhaps, never) like the location bar. Luckily, there's a Firefox add-on called Oldbar which tweaks the location bar to give you the functionality similar to the location bar in Firefox 2. Another tip which you may find useful will let you change the number of results for the autocomplete feature: type "about:config" and find the item named "browser.urlbar.maxRichResults." Doubleclick it and change the number of results to whatever number you like.

2. Quick & easy bookmarking

This is a cool one. See the star on the right in the location bar? Click it and the page you're currently on will get insta-bookmarked and thrown into the "Unsorted bookmarks" section. Click the star again, and you can edit the bookmark. While we're at it, we can mention tagging; as you can see, you can now add tags for each bookmark. The tags will work in the new location bar, so you can just type a tag and you'll instantly get the sites you've bookmarked with that particular tag.

Now, I know what you're thinking. What's the keyboard shortcut for this quick bookmarking feature, and how do you change the Unsorted Bookmarks folder's name into something else? The latter is easy; right click, properties, and you can change its name and description like any other bookmark folder. As for the former, well, I haven't been able to find a shortcut; having exhausted many sources of information and tried all the logical combinations, I've come to the conclusion that there is none. If you know otherwise, please let us know in the comments.

Bookmarking in general has been improved somewhat. Your Bookmarks Toolbar now contains a "Most Visited" folder, which can be useful in certain situations. Furthermore, the Bookmarks menu now contains both your recent bookmarks and all the recent tags you used. Finally, the "Places" folder available in your Bookmarks Toolbar is a handy tool for statistics junkies, as it shows you your recently starred, visited pages and tags and their various combinations.

3. Favicon info

Firefox 3 introduces the ability to click the favicon to get identity information for a Web site. Not even Mozilla's home page supplies this info, and we suspect no one else will, either. Not really that useful, is it? Well, it can be: if you click on "More Information," you'll get the security info for the site you're on. The useful option is "View Cookies", if you want to see which cookies this site is storing on your computer (and get rid of them). We'd like to see some more information on the dialogue that opens when you click on the favicon, though.

4. Download manager

Although it still looks awfully plain, and it still doesn't have everything we'd like it to have, Firefox's Download manager has been improved. Right click on any item, and you'll be able to open the actual file, open its containing folder, go to the download page, copy the download link, or remove it from the list. The unfinished downloads will have a tiny icon that lets you resume the download, regardless of when you started it.

5. Text selection and general in-page goodness

A couple of easily missed improvements to the way you can interact with the Web sites in Firefox are actually real time savers. Double click a word to select it; triple click to select a paragraph. If you need to select multiple batches of text, hold down Ctrl and select at will.

Changes have also been made to the way the zooming feature works. Hold down Ctrl and move the mousewheel (alternatively, press + or -). Firefox will zoom in or out the entire site; both text and images. Want to switch to the old, text-only way of zooming? Click on View in the menu and choose Zoom, then Zoom text only. Your preference will be remembered on a per-site basis.

Finally, there's been a tiny but useful change to the "Find" toolbar; select text inside a web page, then hit Ctrl+F, and the selected text will automatically be entered into the Find field.

6. Speed, performance and resource usage

There isn't much one can actually do about this, but knowing that Firefox 3 is faster, more stable, and doesn't hog all of your memory makes us feel warm around our hearts. Having tried the final version of Firefox 3, I can't say I've noticed a big change from RC3, but the improvements in relation to Firefox 2 - especially when it comes to stability - are definitely very noticeable.

Furthermore, your stuff - bookmarks, cookies, history and preferences - is now stored in a database, which means it (probably) won't get lost in case of browser or system crash.

7. Tiny interface tweaks

If you're jumping on the Firefox 3 bandwagon for the snazzy new look, you might be disappointed; visually, it really isn't all that different. However, spend some time with it and you'll notice certain small improvements that are making your life easier. A bigger "back" button is one of them; being able to stretch the location and the search bar by simply dragging the tiny space between them left or right is another.

The new version also integrates better with Windows, Mac and Linux, inheriting icons, buttons and other visual elements from the platform it's running on.

8. Security

When Firefox first came out, security wasn't an issue; by design, it was way more secure than Internet Explorer. With time, however, Firefox became more popular and it became a bigger target for hackers and malware spreaders, and security concerns have resurfaced.

Besides the already mentioned favicon security info box, the Firefox team have introduced many other security features. Most important are the malware and Web forgery protection; if a site is suspected of either, you'll have to click through a warning page such as this one or this one.

The new Firefox is also more wary of insecure add-ons, and it communicates with antivirus software better. Finally, if you're a parent (not the kind that asks their kid to set up Outlook for them), you'll be happy to know that Firefox now works with Vista's parental controls.

—-

So, there we go; I've sifted through the release notes, played with the latest version(s) for some time now, and found out that Firefox 3 indeed does have a lot to offer, although a lot of it is under the proverbial hood. Have a favorite feature I've missed? Please add it in the comments.

Mashable Prediction Center: Currently there is no world record for software downloads, but Mozilla is trying to create one. Will Mozilla be successful in making the record books?