Even though Firefox 4 might not yet be ready for the public, it does not hurt to take a look at some of the nice themes that have been developed for the browser of the future. One theme that caught my eye for Firefox 4 is AvantGarde. It brings a unique new look to the Firefox 4 browser interface.
There is no question that Firefox was designed with extensibility in mind. With it you can hack, modify and bend Firefox and web sites in many different ways to best suit your own needs. With that said, how many people have wanted to control Firefox with the Nintendo Wii Wiimote? With the Nintendo Wiimote driver, you can do it.
So, now the question is – what does it look like in action?
I do have to say, this is a very innovative idea. Not sure if it is really practical, but shows that there are still a lot of creative minds out there tweaking around with what Firefox can do.
Read more about this project over at blog.mozbox.org.
Looking to make your web browser a little more blue? I am here to give the Bluetacular theme for Firefox two thumbs up, for an original look and feel when it comes to giving Firefox a new face.
When multiple tabs in your browser are not enough, try splitting your browsing area instead. Split Browser, an add-on for Firefox, divides up the context area of the browser in many ways. Want an over the top example?
That might be a little extreme, but it does help to point out that this extension will let you split your browser up however you see fit to do so.
Today we have the Teeny-tiny Stratini-Stripe Point Nine theme for Firefox. Yes, go ahead and take a minute to say that out loud, I promise it is as fan as it looks. This fantastic theme takes the classic winstripe look and feel and gives it the clean Stratini presentation.
Here is a little more about the Firefox theme from the developer:
The icons and style are mostly taken directly from Firefox 0.9 Winstripe and Pinstripe for Mac, both designed by Kevin Gerich and Stephen Horlander. This is my absolute favorite Firefox theme, and I am not planning on porting others into Stratini. The code is all based on Stratini so Stratini-Stripe 0.9 includes all of the Stratini features such as tiny Teeny Mode, miniature bookmarks, rotating Reload button, highlighted text input boxes, and encryption coloring in the urlbar.
This adds one more unique member to the Stratini family of themes, have you collected them all?
You can pick up the Stratini-Stripe Point Nine theme from the Firefox Add-ons web site. Now you tell me, which Stratini theme is your favorite?
Need to quickly navigate back in the browser history? Now sure, you could click the actual backwards button, in the Firefox navigation toolbar. I have another alternative for you to try though. MileWideBack is an add-on for Firefox that will let you click on the left border of your Firefox window to go back to the previous web page you were viewing.
What does does this extension for Firefox allow you to do? Well, if you can navigate forward if you right-click with your mouse on the Firefox border too. If you are using tabbed browsing, middle-click on the left border to close the current tab, or rotate the mouse-wheel to cycle through your current tabs.
To learn more about how to tweak this add-on, check out this tutorial:
So if you are looking for way to make your browsing experience more user friendly or unique, MileWideBack is well worth your time. Give it a shot, and let me know if you find browsing this way is better or worse than your more traditional methods.
Very clean and easy on the eyes, two things you can say about the ArzoFox theme for Firefox. I like themes that can make the browser experience better just by touching up a few things. The gradient background, mixed with the colorful icons is a great combination that is really hard to beat.
Like what you see? You can pick up the ArzoFox theme on the Firefox Add-ons web site.
There are a number of different add-ons that will change the way your Firefox tabs look. How would you like to have one that made your tabs match your web site you are browsing. FabTabs does that.
How does it work? I’m happy you asked…
FabTabs is kind of an experimental extension for now that will color your Firefox Tabs in a way you have never seen before. By taking a small screenshot of the website you are currently viewing, and calculating the most commonly used color from that screenshot, it tries to take the 1 essential color from the website and applies it to the tab.
Sounds like a good idea. If your looking to make your tabs appear more like the pages your surfing, pick up the FabTabs add-on for Firefox.
I have no clue what avant.garde stands for, but I do have to say – no matter what you call it, this theme is colorful and unique.
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.
Looks like somebody else has tried to put up a fresh new theme inspired by the local population of the Mushroom Kingdom. You have Mario, Luigi and the rest of the gang here. I have to say this is a beautiful piece of work. Makes me so happy I could go bust brick with my head until I find a surprise.
There is a lot to love about this new Mario theme for Firefox. For example:
This is not the first Mario inspired Firefox theme, there have been several others:
So you had better grab the MushroomKingdom theme before it gets taken down due to trademark concerns and Nintendo’s lawyers. You can download the MushroomKingdom theme (while you can) via the Firefox Add-ons web site. To check out more of the author’s Firefox theme work, check out his own site at savaden’s designs.
1-UP JUST FOR YOU! Just in case it gets taken down, I’ll go ahead and host a mirror here of the MushroomKingdom theme for you to enjoy. Just unzip and then drop it into Tools > Addons > Themes. Just make sure you beat Bowser there before he takes it to another castle.
