Good news, Firefox users: A new update to the browser allows websites to send you push notifications without having those websites open.
Instead of keeping your email, social media and other website tabs open to stay on top of updates and notifications, developers can now send you push messages through Firefox without taking up space at the top of your browser. This way, you can still stay up-to-date on everything without your computer getting bogged down running half-a-dozen websites in the background.
The good news is you don't need to worry about getting unwanted notifications; web developers need your permission to start sending updates. Click the green lock icon next to your Firefox address bar to manage push notification settings.
Out-of-tab push notifications are already incorporated on Macs through Safari Push Notifications and Apple Push Notifications Service. In addition, Google Chrome had a similar push notification system in place, so this is really just Firefox catching up to competitors.
Mozilla is offering the feature through the W3C Push API the company has helped establish on the web, which is a system of sending push messages to web apps.
Not every website will have push notifications for users immediately; some will still have to work on incorporating them into its designs. Developers interested in setting up push notifications for their websites can check out the details on Firefox's FAQ page.
Update 1/27 9:00 a.m.