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.

I’ve got other things going on that are a better use of my time so I’m saying goodbye to Firefox themes.

So what’s going to happen to the themes? Good question!

At this point and time they’ll remain as they are. No updates, no development.

If you’re a Firefox themer, I’d be open to discussing letting you take them over and continuing their creation. The only thing I ask is that you keep the integrity of the themes intact.

I gave iAqua away years ago and it found a nice home. I was happy to see it continue to live on with a new developer.

extero also went to the same developer, however it turned into a completely different theme and extero as I knew it disappeared.

It’s hard for me to give my themes to a new developer as I worry that they’ll turn them into something that I don’t like. Then again, I have to get over that as it’s their theme now and it’s better to live on then fade away into nothingness.

If you’re waiting for me to update one of my themes, it’s sad to say, but it’ll probably never happen. Then again, I may pull a Brett Favre. You never know, but I doubt it.

It’s been a great journey and everyone who downloaded my themes rock! It was a lot of fun and I’ll miss it.

Thank You!

I’m retiring from Firefox theming. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

iPox v3 has landed with some re-designed elements, bug fixes, and iPox Aqua mixed in.

So what’s new?

1. The scrollbars have been re-designed utilizing CSS. They are now a light grey with a nice mouse over effect.
2. The throbber has been reverted back to the Mac throbber.
3. The URL bar has been re-designed to *hopefully* work better with URL extensions. It’s now all CSS and even highlights when active.
4. Added a full screen button.
5. Also includes many fixes under the hood to incorporate a bunch of smaller, missing elements. Probably didn’t catch them all, but it’s better.

As a bonus, iPox Aqua was rolled into iPox. No longer will there be two separate themes. If you want to change the navigation buttons to blue, you’ll need Stylish and a few lines of code. Full details on the iPox page.

If you already have iPox installed in your Firefox, it should auto-update. If you’d like to download it, you can via the Mozilla Add-on site.

Hope you like the updates!

iPox Version 3 originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

The bad news is that my themes are currently NOT compatiblewith Firefox 3.6. I tested it out the other day and nothing happened. No error, no theme, no luck.

The good news is I was able to find out why and fix it. I had to re-do the theme structure and install files but I did get it to work. If you are using iPox Remix as the basis of your theme, you’ll need to make the updates as well. I hope to have a how-to on that soon.

iPox has been submitted to Mozilla with 3.6 compatibly and some bug fixes. Hopefully that’ll be live sooner than later.

Tinseltown is next up on the list to fix. With Christmas basically here, fixing Tinseltown is a high priority.

Once you upgrade to Firefox 3.6 don’t be alarmed if my themes don’t work. I’m working on them as I get time and you’ll hopefully see them soon.

Firefox 3.6 Theme Compatibly originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

There are some tweeks and extensions that have to be used to get the full effect as seen above, and I’m not sure it’s exactly Mac friendly, but it’s a very nice looking theme.

It’s also partially based off the iPod Remix set of tutorials which is very cool!

Firefox 3.7 Mockup Theme originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

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.

I have a lot more to talk about when it comes to my themes and Firefox, but those posts will be coming in the months ahead.

Also, if you use MidnightFox or MidnightFoxy, new versions have been uploaded to Mozilla’s Addon site to fix some status bar and form field bugs. Look for them coming your way via Firefox’s addon updates soon.

My Themes and Firefox 3.5 originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Midnight iPox combines the dark of MidnightFox and the bright blue buttons of iPox Aqua to create a pretty nice theme!  Hats off to Jeremy for such a nice mashup.

Download Midnight iPox

To install, download the Midnight-iPox.jar file from the link above.  Then open Firefox and go to Tools -> Add-ons and drag Midnight-iPox.jar into the left side of the Themes section.  Once installed, restart Firefox to use it.

So what do you think?

Midnight iPox – A Dark Theme with Bright Blue Buttons originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

iPox Aqua has the same style and feel as iPox, with a bit more colorful buttons and brighter blues.

Now I think I have only 3 more to update.

iPox Aqua Shines in Firefox 3 originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

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

MidnightFox
Total downloads since March 30th 2006: 1,960,530
Active Daily Users on Wednesday September 3rd: 166,482

This is only a sampling of the themes I have available, but all represented above are available for Firefox 3.  Knowing that so many people enjoy my themes makes me happy.

Thank You!!!

Why I Love Theming Firefox originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

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.

On the other hand I’ve gotten a lot of comments recently about people who are so passionate about Miint that they’d switch back to Firefox 2 until it was ready for Firefox 3.  These kind of comments drive me.  They are not yelling at me but encouraging me to spend more time theming.  And the good news is, Miint for Firefox 3 has come along way in just two and a half hours.

What I’m trying to point out here is that when you don’t pay for something, you should not demand updates and start swearing at developers.  We do this because we want to, because we love to, not because we have to.

Give a little respect to those that create free addons, themes and free software in general.

Why I would quit theming today. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

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?

Currently, I have started work on iPox.  It’s looking pretty nice and it has advanced a bit from the current Firefox 2 version.  However, it’s a complete re-write.  I started from scratch and have a lot of editing to do.

To help me prioritize the order of other theme updates, please vote for which theme you’d like to see updated sooner rather than later. I do have a vague idea for the order that I’m going to work on them, but the votes could sway my decision.

Poll Closed

Notes: iPox is not in the poll as it’s going to be completed first.  You may also vote for up to two.

I don’t have a release date on iPox yet and the other themes are a ways off.  Unfortunately, I haven’t yet found an easy way to transfer a theme from Firefox 2 to Firefox 3.

I do plan on continuing to theme and getting everyone converted over.  It’s just a matter of time.

TwisterMc Themes and Firefox 3 – Vote for your favorite. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

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.

If you try any, let us know how well they work. I tried Castripe which turned out to be a pretty decent theme.

And, believe it or not, Mozilla may actually be creating a Safari like theme for the Mac version of Firefox 3. The mockups don’t look to bad, but it’s not quite the polished Mac look and feel that Apple makes. I’m sure they’ll iron out those details though.

So what’s your favorite Mac like Firefox theme?

Mac Like Firefox Themes originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Thanks to BitBox for the base buttons that started this re-work and thanks to you all for making iPox such a huge success.

And this is just the beginning, in the upcoming weeks I plan on helping everyone create their own version of iPox. Or, if you really excel in my tutorials, you can create your own theme. So stay tuned for that.

iPox Aqua – It’s all about the blue! originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com