Here are some quick links to the customizations you can make:

Change the Firefox Button Icon
http://userstyles.org/styles/51118/fxchrome-firox-button-icons?r=1311430549

Change the App Button Back to Normal
http://userstyles.org/styles/54955/change-the-app-button-back-to-normal?r=1318606186

New Tab Button with a Plus
http://userstyles.org/styles/55686/new-tab-button-with?r=1320316319

Change FXChrome Minimize/Maximize/Close(Windows XP)
http://userstyles.org/styles/55689/change-fxchrome-minimize-mazimize-close-winxp?r=1320317556

When you are done, your theme could look something like these –

Like it? Go grab FXChrome from the Firefox Add-ons website.  It is a really nice theme that allows you to keep it simple or snaz-it-up the way you see fit to do so.

To get started, make sure you have the Stylish extension installed for Firefox, and then head on over to the userstyles.org website.  You can choose from these four sizes when installing.

• 60px
• 80px
• 120px
• 150px

Once you select the minimum width you want your active tab to be (for reference, the default size is 100px) hit the button labeled, "Install with Stylish" and follow the on screen instructions.

Sometimes it is the little tweaks that are the most impressive.  You can pick up FF3+ Increase active tab minimum width from the userstyles.org website.

Want to bring the clean and classic look of the KDE graphical desktop environment to Firefox?  The Oxygen KDE theme for Firefox does it with style.  Giving you an alternative modern theme to browse the web in, this theme for Firefox is sure to become a favorite.

Not only is it simple, lightweight and easy on the eyes, but there are a lot of ways you can customize it if you have the Stylish extension installed too.

• Oxygen Color Scheme
• Obsidian Coast Color Scheme
• Honeycomb Color Scheme

There are also some browser tweaks you can bring into play with this theme, using the Stylish add-on for Firefox:

• Remove the shadow of back/forward buttons
• Remove the arrows of toolbar containers

Oxygen KDE is a very nice looking theme for the Firefox browser.  it is very subtle in its design, and does a nice job at making browsing using Firefox a lot more slick looking.  You can pickup the theme to use yourself over at the Firefox Add-ons web site.

All in all, 2009 was a great year for Firefox.  It grew by leaps and bounds, and continues to be the best alternative browser out there.  Firefox Facts did pretty well in it’s own right too – surpassing the 7,000+ RSS subscriber mark.  So with today being the last day of 2009, let us all sit back and revisit some of the best posts of the year.

Here are 10 of the most read stories, tips, tutorials and reviews I have posted here in 2009.  Hope you check out some classics you might have missed, or revisit a favorite post or two.

#10 – Love (or Disable) the New Tab Button in Firefox

Love it, or hate it – Firefox got one more addition to it’s browser that seems to have gotten a mixed reaction from the fans. The open new tab button rests at the end of your tab bar in Firefox 3.5 giving you an easier user interface to open a new tab.

• More Tab Fun – Move the Close Tab in Firefox

#9 – 10 Popular Web Designer Tools for Firefox

Thanks to Firefox and some of the great add-ons that have been developed for it, your browser is your best friend when it comes to web site design.  From CSS tools, to promoting your domain, here are 10 of the most popular web designer tools for Firefox.

• Top 10 Greatness – Top 10 Personas Backgrounds for Firefox

#8 – Add Another Bookmarks Toolbar to Firefox

Have more than a few bookmarks you want to keep handy on the bookmarks toolbar in Firefox but don’t have the room?  Multirow Bookmarks Toolbar, an extension for Firefox, will help you solve that issue by letting you add as many bookmark toolbars as you need.

• Popular Add-ons – Most Downloaded Bookmark Add-ons

#7 – Firefox Private Browsing Mode Help and FAQ

Want to increase your privacy on your PC?  With the release of Firefox 3.5, our favorite browser now has a Private Browsing mode.  Usually your browser remembers the web sites you have visited, your user names and passwords, your browsing history and more.  However, with this newest addition to the Firefox 3.5 feature list, you can now go incognito on the Internet.

• Firefox Tip – Easier Access to Private Browsing Mode

#6 – Convert YouTube Videos to MP3

The experimental add-on YouTube 2 MP3 will convert and download YouTube videos in the .mp3 audio format.  There is no doubt that YouTube has a large collection of music videos, so this type of service was bound to happen eventually.

• More YouTube Tips – 1-Click YouTube Video Downloader

#5 – Speed up Flash Videos in Firefox

Want to speed up your flash video watching?  By default, Firefox takes a sort of “snapshot” of whatever you are doing every ten seconds.  Why?  It is so that the browser can restore itself, just in case of a crash.  Now you might ask, what does this have to do with flash videos?  Well, the snapshot action is what is causing your ten second delay, at times, with watching flash videos on the Web.

• Firefox Hacks – More Fun Tips with About:Config

#4 – 10 Popular Themes That Are Firefox 3.5 Ready

One of the negative side effects of a new version of Firefox rolling out is the fact that some Firefox theme creators neglect to update their themes to the newest versions.  So, when updating our browser, that leaves some of us in the dark, when it comes to using the themes we know and love.  However, this time around many more popular themes have been updated to support Firefox 3.5 and here are my favorite ten for you to choose from.

• Skins Galore – All the Great Firefox Themes I’ve Reviewed

#3 – Skip to the Download on Rapidshare, Megaupload and More!

Want to skip the totally unnecessary “wait to download” pages on Rapidshare, Megaupload and more?  SkipScreen, and add-on for Firefox is here to help.

#2- All About Perspective – Firefox Wallpaper

Firefox wallpaper that I would actually see myself using is hard to find.  The main reason behind third is that I don’t really like text on my desktop, and I really don’t like feeling like a marketing campaign either.  So with that said, what type of Firefox wallpaper does make me happy?

• Desktop Decorations – Five Star Firefox Wallpaper

#1 – Beginner’s Guide to Greasemonkey

In a nutshell, Greasemonkey is an add-on for Firefox that allows you to customize a web site’s look and function.  Now you don’t have to be a coder to use it though, because there are already hundreds of scripts out there available for free that you can use to help you do a number of different things.

• Another Great Guide: Beginner’s Manual to Stylish

I hope you have enjoyed reading all the Firefox Facts tips, tricks and more this year – and you’ll subscribe to the RSS feed, visit daily and be entertained and informed all the way though 2010 and beyond.  This site wouldn’t be a success without you, so thank you for making Firefox Facts on of the most popular Firefox tip related blogs out there today. Happy New Year!

BONUS – Check out the Best of Mitchelaneous (2009 Edition)

Please Note: To use any of these, you will need to have the Firefox add-on Stylish installed.

No Icon Image Until Click – New tab button icon does not appear until you CLICK on it instead of when you hover because there is another style that produces that effect.

Tiny + 3D(Special Effects) – New Tab Button on the tab bar is tiny and when you click on it, it changes.

Left Side New Tab Button – Move the new tab button to the left of the tab bar, instead of the far right of the tab bar.

Smaller New Tab Button – make the new tab button smaller, which changes how it looks in the Firefox interface (makes it more of a button).

Change the New Tab Icon into a Firefox Icon – Want something a little more colorful to show you how to open a new tab?  This user style will replace your new tab icon with the Firefox icon.

Round off the New Tab Button – Give that new tab button a rounded off edge, so it isn’t such a square.

Change the New Tab Button Color – with this, the new tab button will become another color when you hover.

Remove the Open a New Tab Button – Don’t like the new tab button?  With this user style you can get rid of it all together.

Hope you enjoyed these Stylish tweaks from the awesome coders at UserStyles.org.  If you have another favorite style edit for Firefox 3.5’s new tab button, or you fully enjoyed any of these tweaks, be sure to let us know in the comments.

If you are a user of the Stylish extension, you will love this little tip.  I use iGoogle, however I never stay on the page long enough to use the embedded chat they included a while back.  However I am happy to say I found a solution. 

Install this Stylish user style:

• Hide iGoogle Chat Tab on iGoogle Home Page

Once doing so, the chat (as you seen in the screenshot above) disappears.  To make it work for me, I had to change:

http://www.google.com/ig?hl=en

to

http://www.google.com/ig

However, once that was done – it worked flawlessly.  An easy hack for a very lovable web page.  Got to love these Stylish user styles!

All Tabs are Rounded

Want to make all of your tabs more rounded inside of Firefox?  This user style will help you get that look and feel inside of Firefox.

Slightly Rounded Tabs

If you are not that crazy about the idea of having too many rounded edges, you could just round the upper-right of the tab, if needed.

I HATE Rounded Tabs

Now, if you have absolute distain for the idea of rounding off your tabs, I have a user style for you too.  With this one, you can make the tabs less rounded, and more square.

Only Round the Selected Tab

Last, but not least, you could also decide to round off only the selected tab.  The reason for doing this is to help visually make it different from the others so that you can pick it out from the crowd of tabs in your tab toolbar.

You now have more than a few ways to make your tabs stand out from the rest of the crowd.

Using what is called “user styles” the Stylish add-on for Firefox can empower your browsing experience by letting you personalize or fix the features of Firefox or the Web in general that bug you the most.

How do I get started with Stylish?

Once installed, all you have to do is right-click the status bar icon, select “Write Style” and then choose if you want to write a style for the URL you are on right now, or create an empty style not related to any web site, for now at least.  You can also tag your style, giving it a few descriptive words. 

Now how do you know what to put into the window, to customize Firefox (as I have done in the screenshot above) or your favorite web site?  I suggest checking out userstyles.org. 

Where can I find and learn to create user styles?

Not only is userstyles.org a great repository of scripts others have written that you can use, it is also a place where you can view the code they used, so you can try it out when you create your own user style.

Here are a few resources to get you started finding the user style that you need or want to use:

• Highest Rated User Styles
• Popular User Styles
• Newest User Styles
• Recently Updated User Styles

There is also a user styles blog and set of forums for you to follow too.  If I had a top 10 list of my favorite Firefox add-ons, Stylish would be in the top 5, at least.  Anything that helps the users of Firefox customize the Web or Firefox to meet their needs better is a winner in my book.

Vista Ultimate Skin for Facebook – Want to make Facebook look a ‘bit more Vista-like?  This user style will give Facebook the look and feel of Windows Vista.

Also, if you want just the Vista-like taskbar inside of Facebook, you can pick up this user style.

For these two user styles to work, you have to have the Stylish extension for Firefox installed.  Once you do,  be sure to check out our entire archive of Stylish tweaks and tips.  Also, if there are any Firefox Facts fans on Facebook, be sure to look me up and add me as a friend.  Have any favorite user styles you like to use with Facebook to tweak the interface? 

I now turn towards my favorite Firefox modification tool, Stylish to do the job for me.  Go check out ffox 3 no resize”thing” in the lower right corner and load that into Stylish (or Greasemonkey).  Now, you should have a little more status bar room.

As an extra bonus, if you want to make your status bar appear more flat, and remove the borders between things – copy and paste this into Stylish.

/* ::::: flat statusbar ::::: */
.db_downbar, statusbarpanel, .statusbarpanel-iconic,
  .statusbarpanel-iconic-text, .statusbarpanel-menu-iconic,
.progressmeter-statusbar, progressmeter {
  -moz-appearance: none !important;
  border: none !important;}

Credit for that tip goes to the mozillaZine forums.  Doing so should remove the junk and leave things with a cleaner look.