Firefox 17 Aurora is a sneak peak at the next version of the Firefox web browser.

As of this writing, Firefox is currently on version 1, which didn't bring many dramatic changes to the browser. Firefox 17 Aurora follows Firefox 16 with minor updates to its interface and lots of back end enhancements for developers. The biggest though, though, is that Firefox 16 prepares the browser for its web apps store that will compete with the Chrome web store.

Notable changes that users will see in Firefox 17 Aurora are a tweaked 'new tab' page. Thumbnails of the most visited sites will still be there. Mozilla added easier access to bookmarks, history, settings, add-ons, downloads, and sync preferences to the new home page.

The Awesomebar also receives a much needed update which brings instant URL completion and selects the first result automatically instead of forcing the user to press the down arrow, then enter. Previous versions of Firefox required an add-on to do this so it's nice to see Firefox 17 Aurora have it built in.

All of this is preparation for a more stable beta release of Firefox 17 Aurora, which will be released on October 9th, 2012.

Overall, Firefox 17 Aurora is a stable test release for the upcoming version of Firefox which features preparations for its upcoming web apps store.