Bloomind FT DeepDark 2 really transforms the look of Firefox 4+ for Windows users.  It has been tested to work though on both Windows and Linux with little to no issues.  The entire theme is very sleek looking.  I hope to see more Firefox themes like it in the future that pay attention to detail and get every inch of the browser themed over like Bloomind FT DeepDark 2 does.

When push comes to shove this is a clean theme with cool colors.  You can pick Bloomind FT DeepDark 2 up from the Firefox Add-ons website.  If you’d like to see it in a different color, you might also browse through some of the other variations that have been released.

So, what is the magic going on behind this add-on? Start Faster bypasses the Windows prefetch feature to get Firefox up and running faster.  When running Firefox on Windows, the default way of doing things is to call several things up at the operating system level (such as DLL libraries). Since these are not 100% needed, all the Start Faster add-on has to do is ignore this step of the start up process.

A “Faster Firefox” shortcut is added to your desktop to start launching Firefox with this idea in mind, after you install the add-on.  So, if you want to go back to starting the old fashion way – you can do so via your regular shortcut icon. Overall you should see your Firefox start up time be about two times faster than without.

You can pick up the Start Faster add-on for Firefox 4 from the Firefox Add-ons website.

The world of Firefox 3.6 themes is really slim pickings these days.  Well, there still are a lot of great themes, however most of them I have already covered here more than a few times.  However,  I am happy to say I was surprised to find this suggestion in my inbox this morning.  Bloomind FT Graphite really transforms the way Firefox looks for Windows users.

This has to be one of the best looking themes for Firefox, hands down.  The interface is very sleek and Apple-like, however it still has a unique feeling about it that makes you say, "Hey, maybe I’m not using Safari!". 

The only complaints I have seen are a few issues with some buttons not looking just right, but other than that I would give Bloomind FT Graphite two thumbs up and five stars all around.  With Firefox 4 right around the corner, why not decorate Firefox 3.6 one more time with this exceptionally awesome theme.

You can pick up Bloomind FT Graphite at the Firefox Add-ons website.

The Pale Moon Project says they can get Firefox to perform 25% faster, through the art of optimization.  You see, the Pale Moon Project is all about creating a custom-built and optimized Firefox browser for Windows users to enjoy.

Are you interested? Here are a few more features Pale Moon has:

• Highly optimized for current processors
• 100% Firefox sourced: As safe as the browser that has seen years of development.
• Uses slightly less memory because of disabled redundant and optional code
• Significant speed increases for page drawing and script processing
• Support for SVG and Canvas
• Support for Firefox extensions, themes and personas

You can also get more geeky details on the differences on Pale Moon’s Technical Details page.

Now for my word of warning. The way this works is you install Pale Moon’s own version of Firefox, and use it – rather than the default Mozilla browser. I have not tried this yet myself, because I am not sure if it stands alone as it’s own browser or over-rides the default Firefox browser.

If you give it a shot – please leave your reviews in the comments!  Also, big thanks goes out to Ramadas from our Facebook Fan Page who gave me the suggestion to check this neat download out in the first place.  You can learn more about Pale Moon over at palemoon.org.

For those of you using Windows 7 or Windows Vista, you probably have already noticed that by default, Firefox does not have the cool glass effect that some of your other programs might have.  You can make Firefox a little more transparent though, with the Glasser add-on.

Now, I’ll be honest – I didn’t think it would make that much of a change for me.  Sure, some more of Firefox is transparent – so what?  However, after giving this add-on a try finally, I might decide to keep it.  I like the fact that it gives the bookmarks toolbar a little ‘bit more highlight and makes it stand out a ‘bit more too.

Overall, I think it does make the Firefox 3.5/3.6 interface a lot sleeker.  You can pickup this interface changing extension from the Firefox Add-ons website.

Today I have for you three themes based on the ideas and icons behind the Gnome Colors project.  What is that? The Gnome Colors project really aims at making the Gnome desktop as elegant, colorful and consistent as possible.

So can these three themes, each accented with their own color stand up to the rest of the Firefox themes out there?  I will let you decide.

Gnome-Wise

Gnome-Noble

Gnome-Brave

So, what do you think – are they a hit or a miss?  I personally like all three flavors offered of this basic Gnome-inspired theme.

Every so often, you might need to find your Firefox profile folder to do some tweaking or maintenance of your own.  In the past, this has lead to diving through your operating system’s folders and after twenty clicks, finding the information you need.  Since Firefox 3.6 there is a much easier way to open your profile folder, with no additional extensions installed.

To open your Firefox profile folder, go to Help in the menu bar:

Next, click on Troubleshooting Information.  This will take you to the about:support information page.  If you can remember, you can also visit this page by typing about:support into the Firefox address bar too.

Under Application Basics, click on the button that reads, "Open Containing Folder" next to Profile Directory, and there you go. Your Firefox profile directory should be opened up.  Going to the profile location by following the folder path to it via your computer still works, but this is a much easier way to get the job done.

Hope this comes in handy next time you want to backup, tweak or change something in your Firefox profile folder.

This inspirational theme, created for the Firefox browser, is one of the most attractive themes I have seen in some time.  Designed with the idea in mind that simple/flat designs tend to be more appealing than overly decorated ones; Purity is ready to refresh your browsing experience.

The author of the theme notes that some of the theme is still a work in progress, as many of the dialog icons are from the stock Aero theme.  However I have high hopes for this unique browser skin.

You can download and install the Purity theme for Firefox (Windows only) at the Firefox Add-ons web site.

Due to some unknown reason, Firefox on Windows pulls certain file locations for security reasons.  In turn, having too many temporary, history or recent document files will slow down Firefox 3.5’s data generation process.  A bug has been filed about this, but in the mean time – the best thing you can do to help fix it is to do a little house cleaning.

The fix here is to browse through and clear both Internet Explorer’s history and cache and Firefox’s history and cache as much as you can.  You can find more help with this process at these resources:

• Workaround for Firefox 3.5 slow startups on Window
• Speed Up Firefox 3.5 Start-Up on Windows

I had not noticed this problem too much – then again, I have my Firefox temp files set to clear every time I close the browser and I hardly ever use Internet Explorer.  How about you?

UPDATE:

This problem was fixed in Firefox 3.5.1.  To check for updates, be sure to go to Help > “Check for Updates…” in Firefox.  Thanks to the Firefox development team for the speedy update!

This is a really helpful extension for those people out there that work on multiple pages at the same time and down want to have two Firefox windows open side by side or don’t want to switch between tabs.  There are several ways you can decide to split your window too.

Ways to become more productive by splitting up your browser…

• Choose the "Split Browser to" menu in the context menu.
• Choose the "Load in Split Browser" menu in the context menu on link.
• Click popup-button on top/bottom/left/right edges of the content area.
• Drop links, bookmarks, etc. to popup-button on top/bottom/left/right edges of the content area while dragging.

There is no limit to the number of windows you can open inside of your browser.  Of course, adding too many might get a little on the silly side.  Click the picture to your right to see an example of the madness that can happen with a few too many windows open.

Another great use for this, would be to view one page normally, and then load up a mobile or sidebar-friendly page and squeeze it down so everything fits in nicely.  You can pick up the Split Browser add-on for Firefox on the Firefox Add-ons web site or learn more about it on the official Split Browser web site.