Here is a quick screen grab of my own Firefox installation using the old Firefox 3 icons:

I do have to say, I don’t mind the change.  All of the design aspects from Firefox 3 that they decided to keep feel like they fit right in with Firefox 4.  I think I might actually use this theme for a while.

You can pick up the Firefox 3 theme for Firefox 4+ over at the Firefox Add-ons website.

I think that the theme creator describes the inspiration for this theme much better than I could do.   So I made a theme based on the humble spiral, and I wanted it to be colorful and fun, but also inherently functional and practical. There are certainly colorful and fun themes out there, and there are definitely practical themes out there, but never both. Why? Or more to the point, why not? As one more surprise to toss in there – there are several flavors of this theme to choose too.

Choose Your Favorite Theme Flavor!

Click on the thumbnail above to check out that theme’s page on the Firefox Add-ons site.  They are experimental themes, so you may have to login to Firefox’s site before you can download.  I am looking forwad to seeing more themes by this interesting designer.  Also, interested in hearing what you think about them too.

There are a few requirements, such as getting your own unique UUID, giving TwisterMc some credit, and coming up with something original – but those are easily done in exchange for the knowledge you will be receiving.

Some of the tutorials covered are:

- Packaging Firefox Themes
- Creating Your Themes’ Identity & Install Files
- Graphics Editing for Firefox Themes
- Custom Firefox Toolbar Buttons
- Customizing Toolbar Backgrounds
- Submitting Your Theme to Mozilla
- Customize Firefox’s Scrollbar
- Changing Fonts & Colors in Firefox Themes
- User Generated Q&A

Check it all out here:

• iPox Remix – Create Your Own Firefox Theme

Big thanks to TwisterMc for updating this for all of us to enjoy. Know of anymore theme resources or tutorials out there?

Whitehart – I never did use this theme until I was looking for a simple one for my Kubuntu install of Firefox on my laptop.  Haven’t looked back since!  Very sleek, light and simple.

Chromiefox – Now I am not usually a big fan of the knock-off themes, but I do have to say the Google Chrome interface is pretty nice.  Bring it to Firefox with this download.

Qute – An old one, but still a good one.  Qute is simple and unobtrusive with clear, colorful icons.

Aero Silver Fox – Silver counts as a light color, right?  Just like it’s cousin on our darkest popular themes list (Aero Fox) this theme deserves a spot too.

iFox Graphite – When coming up with this list, I made myself a promise before I started – only include one Mac-looking theme.  All Apple inspired themes are light, so here is the one I picked.

Full Flat – This may be the lightest and simplest theme out there for Firefox today.  Full Flat keeps it simple, but if you enjoy minimalistic and flat browsing, here you go.

hmmXP – Based on the hmmXP theme for Windows by Fugacious, hmmXP for Firefox 3 uses simple, flat and small icons, and does away with gradients and rounded corners.

Elementary Theme – Yes, elementary my dear Firefox fan boy.  This theme is the official theme for Firefox of the Elementary Project.  Simple, light and doesn’t get in the way.

iPox – There is no doubt that iPox is an easy on the eyes, white and blue theme for Firefox.  One of the best examples of creativity and originality by far.

Naver – If you can use green and make a simple theme, you are my new best friend.  A new theme on the block, Naver ads just a hint of color and then keeps the rest pretty simple.

Which theme from the light side is your favorite?  Why do we love or hate the lighter themes out there today?  Let me know what you think.  Also don’t forget to check out the darkest popular themes for Firefox too.

How to Backup Your Bookmarks Manually

From the Firefox menu bar go to Bookmarks >  Organize Bookmarks to bring up your bookmarks manager.  Now you want to click the top button that says Import and Backup.

Next, select Backup.  This will bring up a “Save As” box where you can save your bookmarks to any location.  Make sure you leave the bookmark as a .json file too.  Since Firefox 3, this is the type of file Firefox uses for backups.  If you wish to export your bookmarks as an HTML file, go to Import and Backup > Export HTML.  That will give you the more traditional .html backup.

Recover Firefox’s Internal Bookmark Backups

Did you know that Firefox has been backing up your bookmarks all along?  They are in your Firefox profile folder.  First thing you need to do is find your profile folder for Firefox.  Depending on your operating system this may be in a different location.  If you are unsure, be sure to check out this previous post: 

• Where is my Firefox Profile Folder?

Once you make it in there you should see a folder named “bookmarkbackups”.  Double-click that folder, and there you have some of your saved bookmarks that you thought you had lost waiting for you to restore them.  If you want more backups to be saved (default is 5) then check out this previous article on the simple about:config tweak you will need to do.

Backup Your Bookmarks with an Add-on

There are many extensions for Firefox that will help you backup too.  My personal favorite is Foxmarks, which comes with the additional feature of syncing them with another PC (another good backup technique in its own right).  Here are the best:

• FEBE – The perfect add-on for those backing up and don’t wish to rely on other services.
• Foxmarks – The greatest backup and syncing extension out there today.
• Delicious Bookmarks – Yes, syncing with services like Delicious is another great way to backup your bookmarks.

Now the question is how do you and when did you last backup your own Firefox bookmarks?

As said by the author of this awesome theme, a lot of love has been put into it, so that it looks great in any windows theme.  If you want to pick it up, you can grab it on the Firefox Add-ons site or visit the official hmmXP theme site to get the latest version.

I noticed the blog author was bragging about 4,000 downloads. Lets see if we can get him a few more thanks to FirefoxFacts.com.

The Gradient iCool theme is a dark theme based on Windows Media Player 11.  It is also the successor of Ozone Black x Blue.  To follow more information on it’s development, be sure to check out the official blog for it.  If you want to pick it up and use it yourself, get it at the Firefox Add-ons web site.

Best New Firefox Add-ons

• Pencil
• Tagmarks
• HandyTag

Best New Firefox Add-on (the Runners Up)

• Webchunks
• Badges on Favicons
• Devo
• Close ‘N Forget
• Callout
• Reasy

Best Updated Firefox Add-on

• Read it Later 
• TagSifter
• Bookmark Previews

Best Music Firefox Add-on

• Fire.fm

Big congratulations to all of these winners, runners up and everybody who entered.  I am sure the Mozilla judges had a hard time picking the best of the best.  Which is your favorite?

Firefox 2.0.0.x will be maintained with security and stability updates until mid-December, 2008. All users are strongly encouraged to upgrade to Firefox 3.

Out with the old and in with the new!  Just curious, for those who might be lagging behind, why are you still using Firefox 2?  For the Firefox 3 users, what is your favorite feature you think might win them over? 

(news via CyberNet)

Here are Digg’s official descriptions of these two new key features:

Notifications: No matter where you are on the web, you can discover popular Digg stories and stay up to date on what your friends are Digging, submitting and commenting. These notifications are fully customizable. Within your preferences you can track different categories and media types, and turn notifications on or off.

Digg Toolbar: Displays Digg counts & comments as you browse around the web. You can also Digg and submit stories directly from the toolbar, which is collapsible to save space. Note that the toolbar respects user privacy by passing only hashed URLs to Digg to check if they’ve already been submitted.

Overall I’d say it was a lot more unique than I was expecting, so if you spend a lot of your day going back and forth on Digg, this toolbar is for you.  You can download the new add-on on Digg.com.