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iAqua
I’m retiring from Firefox theming.
It’s been a fun journey over the past 5 years creating Firefox themes. I created nearly a dozen themes, stating with iPox, and I’ve got over 5 million downloads! However, I just can’t keep up.
With Firefox 4 just around the corner, my themes would probably need to be revamped from the ground up and I just don’t have the time. Heck, some of theme aren’t even updated for Firefox 3.6!
It’s a hard decision to make though as I loved creating them. I loved making the fans happy and I wish I could keep up with them.
iAqua Has a New Home & Firefox 3 Compatibility
A big thanks to Jivko Evgeniev who heard the call for help and has taken iAqua and ran with it. It’s alive and well and running nicely in Firefox 3.5!
I’m really happy at how iAqua has grown in the hands of another developer. One of the downsides to letting go is worrying about what someone else will do.
You can grab iAqua 3.5 from the Mozilla Addon’s site for Mac, Windows and Linux.
Also, the same developer is working on extero and taking it in a different direction. I have not tried out that one yet though.
iAqua and extero Themes Need Your Help
Two of my themes that have not yet made the Firefox 3 jump are iAqua and extero. Both themes are very nice and ones that I wish I had time to update but it’s just not happening. With a baby due in weeks, I just don’t see these two Firefox themes getting any sort of attention.
So, if you’d like to take the files, update them, and release them, you are free to. If you’d like to take the files and create your own theme, you can do that as well.
My Themes and Firefox 3.5
Good news, I’ve gone though and updated all my themes and extensions to work with Firefox 3.5!
There are no major issues, but there are some minor ones. Like the bottom part of the scrollbar is missing and secure pages don’t render the secure part of the URL bar. I consider these to be pretty minor overall, but do hope to fix the annoyances.
Since Firefox 3.5 is well on its way to being released in June, I thought it was high time I get a few updates in.
Why I Love Theming Firefox
Theming Firefox has its good and it’s bad times. Yes, it’s a lot of work for no money, but making people happy is something I like to do too. And it appears that, according to Mozilla’s stats, I’m making a lot of people happy with my themes.
Check out these stats!
Miint
Total downloads since April 8th 2007: 234,303
Active Daily Users on Wednesday September 3rd: 35,425
PinkHope
Total downloads since January 29th 2007: 530,214
Active Daily Users on Wednesday September 3rd: 80,814
iPox
Total downloads since January 4th 2006: 1,479,462
Active Daily Users on Wednesday September 3rd: 79,518
Why I would quit theming today.
I love to create Firefox themes, make addons and lots of freebees that others often enjoy. I do this on my free time and love to see people enjoy them. But some days, I’m ready to throw in the towel.
I’ve recently got a few comments from a visitor saying “hurry up and release the f**king theme” and “do your f**king job.”
Now I know that there is bound to be one jerk out of hundreds of users, but it’s comments like these that make me wonder why I continue to spend my time on themes. It’s not my job and, the more negative comments I get, the slower my progress will be. These things take hours to build and there is a lot to take into consideration.
TwisterMc Themes and Firefox 3 – Vote for your favorite.
With the Firefox 3 release upon us, a lot of people will be wondering about the status of my themes.
So what is the status?
Mac Like Firefox Themes
If you’ve ever wanted a good Firefox theme to match the look of your Mac a bit more, there are lots of developers out there trying to make this happen.
The best one, if you are actually on a Mac, is probably GrApple by Aronnax. His attention to detail is amazing. Other good choices are Pinstripe (again Mac only), iSafari and iAqua, my own creation.
However, there are many many more choices out there. Mozilla Taiwan has a forum thread going with screen shots and download links for many other alternatives. Some look pretty good and some are, oddly enough, not very Mac friendly.
Feed My Cow. Catch me on Pownce. Skitch it Up.
For any of you readers that might also have Facebook account, please go feed or pet my cow. Hamburglar, that’s his name, is lonely and would love some attention.
If you’d rather connect via Pownce, I’m now no that too. I’ll use it about as much as I do Twitter, and that’s not a whole lot.
I’ve also been checking out Skitch, the new little graphics program that’s suppose to be amazing. So far, it looks very cool, acts great, but has been troublesum to actually use. Maybe I haven’t put enough time into learning it, or maybe I’m just stuck in my Fireworks ways, but Skitch just doesn’t seem quite as cool as I though it would. As I use it more though, I’ll probably like it more.
iAqua – Mac Like Theme – Beta 3
iAqua Beta 3 is ready for testers. Yes, if you’ve been installing it, then you are a tester. 
So what’s new in beta 3? So glad you asked.
- Updated Progress Bar. Just a tiny bit.
- Updated Bookmarks bar so if you have more than one line, it doesn’t look completely ugly. It’s been condensed a bit too.
- Go button themed to be end of URL bar.
- Drop down icon in URL bar re-themed.
- Tab close button moved to the left of each tab.
- Buttons are now clear by default. Blue on hover/press. Like OSX.
