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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.
iPox Version 3
iPox version 3 is now available!
iPox v3 has landed with some re-designed elements, bug fixes, and iPox Aqua mixed in.
So what’s new?
- The scrollbars have been re-designed utilizing CSS. They are now a light grey with a nice mouse over effect.
- The throbber has been reverted back to the Mac throbber.
- The URL bar has been re-designed to *hopefully* work better with URL extensions. It’s now all CSS and even highlights when active.
- Added a full screen button.
- 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.
Are Firefox Themes Dying?
I’ve been developing Firefox themes for the past few years and, as I see Firefox change and evolve, I’m beginning to wonder if themes are going to become a thing of the past.
Why?
- Firefox is pushing personas. They are now standard in Firefox 3.6.
- Themes are complex with lots of pieces to edit and are not easy for users to create.
- Getting them to work cross platform is tricky. Testing cross platform is even harder.
- Themes have to be tweaked often to work with Firefox updates. On major releases, possibly completely re-created.
Google Chrome Themes Are Mac Friendly
Google recently launched a theme gallery for Chrome. Much to my enjoyment, these themes are Mac friendly too and can be used with the latest development builds of Chrome.
These themes can’t even begin to compare to some of the great Firefox themes, but it’s nice start.
Firefox 3.7 Mockup Theme
Only a few days ago Mozilla put up some ideas on how they’d like to re-design Firefox in the next version. BoneyardBrew and SoapyHamHocks then took the mockups and created a working theme called Firefox 3.7 Mockup Redux 2.0.
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!
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.
Midnight iPox – A Dark Theme with Bright Blue Buttons
Ever thought that you liked parts of one of my themes and parts of another? Well one reader by the name of Jeremy did. He decided to combine MidnightFox and iPox Aqua to come up with Midnight iPox.
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.
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.
MidnightFox and MidnightFoxy Betas Available
Two more of my themes are now in beta and ready for you to test out. MidnightFox and MidnightFoxy are both available for Firefox 3 and the adventurous type.
Actually, you don’t have to be adventurous. I have tested the themes on Mac and XP and saw no show stopping bugs. Yes, there are quite a few outstanding areas that need theming, but I thought that the progress so far would be enough for some users who are patiently waiting; which I appreciate.
