Firefox 3 theme for Vista is here. Join the discussion.
Today’s nightly Firefox 3 release features the new icons for Windows Vista featuring an overall blue glassy look.
Recent Firefox 3 builds after Beta 3, feature a smoother Back icon and a thinner stop icon out of the stop-sign-like octagon. I like it much better than Beta 3’s:
On the latest status meeting, it was suggested that Windows Vista icons could be used on Windows XP. Not sure if it will really improve things. Green is much more XP-ish. But I would still like to see similar style arrows on Windows XP.
Anyway, this is how Firefox currently looks with Windows Vista icons on XP.
Mozilla’s Alex Faaborg, member of Firefox’s UI design team will be today in Air Mozilla to talk about and answer questions about the Firefox 3 themes. This is a good opportunity to voice your suggestions and concerns and make sure they are listened at the very least.
Today’s Air Mozilla will also feature David Ascher, CEO of just launched Mozilla Messaging. The live show starts at 10:00 PM GMT (2:00PM PST, 5:00PM EST).
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February 21st, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Hi Percy, thanks for the update on the Vista icons! One quick question - Paul Thurrott was complaining about Mozilla’s lack of vision for a complete Vista-based theme for Firefox 3. Do you know if Mozilla plans to make the Firefox theme completely Vista-native? For example, that Places mockup we saw quite a few months ago was a good example. Will that ever come to pass?
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February 21st, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Does the Vista glass show a blurred view of the desktop behind it?
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February 21st, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Never thought I’d say this, but the Vista theme is starting to look uglier then the XP one!
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February 21st, 2008 at 2:44 pm
I’m not sure I like the buttons being more purple than blue…
Vista buttons are not purple. They should simply get some “inspiration” from the Start Orb.
Pic: http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/4683/orbsns9.png
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February 21st, 2008 at 3:46 pm
hi
in xp i prefer the vista look, the last image
in linux is very ugly the firefox theme
the icon print setup must be more clear
best regardes
ozie
Portugal
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February 21st, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Aubrey, yes you get a translucent title bar. I am running Vista in a virtual machine and it doesn’t have enough power for the eye candy. I’ll try to update the screenshot later with a “real” Vista install.
Matt, so far we have seen mostly the icon side of the themes refresh. I can’t tell for sure but I think there’s still plenty of work to be done including the Library (Places organizer) toolbar. I’ll make sure to bring this to Air Mozilla today.
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February 21st, 2008 at 3:48 pm
I sure hope they’ll do something about the back button being so cramped on the bar… I still think the XP icon set is a complete inconsistent mess. The Firefox 2 theme was consistent but a little to desaturated for me. All the same I liked the Firefox 2 theme better than the current ones.
I guess… what can you expect from the company that created windows XP:s own icons? They aren’t exactly consistent either…
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February 21st, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Please use one (1) standard theme for all Windows platforms
Preferably, the theme currently designated for Vista
The Beta 3 theme designated for XP is rather crude
This is a simple cosmetic issue but I have found IE7 and WMP11 are still aesthetic on XP computers
LINUX and MAC OS X will have standard themes so should Windows
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February 21st, 2008 at 4:20 pm
It still looks like bollocks.
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February 21st, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Although I like the icons, this isn’t what you say months ago.
Where is the native Vista look?
You’re missing the point here, you can beat IE7 with the gorgeous look you were going to make for FF3. This is crap. It’s not Vista, it’s not XP, it’s nothing.
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February 21st, 2008 at 6:26 pm
I prefer the old Firefox look - if Firefox 3 looks like this I will be having to find a theme to replace the default for sure.
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February 21st, 2008 at 7:41 pm
The reload and stop button need to be thicker and the back and forward button make me want to puke,
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February 21st, 2008 at 7:46 pm
This is such a lively debate, geez. Lots of opinions.
Here’s what I think after reading through all of this and seeing the new icons. We have to rest assured that Mozilla will end up shipping Firefox 3 with the best underlying code they can, the best interface they can, and the best overall web experience they can. And I know one thing for sure, Firefox 3 is hands-down going to be the best web browser out there and it’s certainly going to be better than IE7 or IE8. Microsoft does not understand the internet - they never have and never will.
Having said that, I think the bottom line here is that Firefox 3 will be a great browser despite any UI theme quirks simply because of how much work went into the rendering engine Gecko and time they took to write the code for the underlying FF3 features. It’ll be great no matter what.
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February 21st, 2008 at 9:46 pm
I just hope that people aren’t really this excited over this new theme because they are simply desperate for a new Firefox default theme. I think that the UI team did a beautiful job but I never cared much for the whole look of the Vista theme to begin with.
My preferences lie more symmetrically. I like a toolbar that flows and is consistent. The Vista theme looks like someone ran out of toolbar parts while it was being developed and so they used what was lying around.
I will say that the buttons themselves are really cool. I dig the blue glass look.
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February 21st, 2008 at 9:59 pm
stop icon should be red in vista, to make it more colorful..
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February 22nd, 2008 at 8:25 am
Will we be able to use XP icons on Vista ?
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February 22nd, 2008 at 9:19 am
John, I guess the hack I used to get the Vista theme on XP will also work with the final version.
If you want to try it, here are the simple instructions I followed:
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=3239527#3239527
The image linked from there is outdated. The current one (used in this post) is this: http://mxr.mozilla.org/seamonkey/source/browser/themes/winstripe/browser/Toolbar-aero.png
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February 22nd, 2008 at 12:08 pm
3 different themes? That’s just silly and complicated.
Why is it so important to imitate IE7 and Vista? I think firefox shouldn’t look like either of the two, it should look like firefox!
IE7 looks good, ok, but instead of trying to imitate it, why don’t you just make a theme that looks better by far? A team that is recognizable, that has a true “firefox-identity”, with recognizable firefox-colours (dark blue and orange, right?), a glassy look to get rid of the fisherprice resemblances and above all functionality.
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February 22nd, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Like some people have said before me, why should Vista style mean IE7 rip-off (I also think IE7 and Media Player buttons and colors aren’t nice)? There’s the orb or ribbon (Office 2007) and they look much better.
Stop button should be definitely red and Reload button much thicker (like FF2).
All the other Icons look so unpolished and flat, they should be worked on as well.
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February 22nd, 2008 at 8:16 pm
The Back-Forward button combination improves functionality but the back button seems a bit cramped. I am running the Vista theme on Vista, and I agree the theme is better without the octagon on the stop button. The theme overall seems to be missing some type of vista element. The buttons don’t seem to fit in with the general Vista UI. The shinyness in the back button also seems a tad overdone. The coloring should also be redone to fit more with the vista start button. In general this theme is “different” and needs to be improved on.
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February 23rd, 2008 at 11:12 am
Overall I like it, but the “Reload” button looks *far* too much like the “Rotate Clockwise” button in Windows Photo Gallery. Plus the “Stop” button should definitely be red.
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February 23rd, 2008 at 8:13 pm
I have an XP machine and a Vista machine. Any idea as of how to install Vista icons on both?
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February 23rd, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Excellent! I love the improvements made to the theme. I believe that the Vista theme looks good on Windows XP too.
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February 23rd, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Muy Vacano El Tema
Para El FireFox
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February 24th, 2008 at 2:24 am
Firefox has always been a colorful browser, don’t make it look like the dull IE7 that we’re trying to get away from
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February 24th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
I prefer the Vista theme to the XP.. The color are .
I even prefer the Mac Theme over the 2 others.
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February 24th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Is there anyway to get these icons on Firefox 2
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February 26th, 2008 at 3:26 am
Please change the Stop icon to red in vista. The color red signifies stop. As red is stop in traffic signals etc
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March 2nd, 2008 at 2:06 am
Would like to know if/when will a Vista x86-64 version be released.
Thanks
AG
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March 3rd, 2008 at 11:15 pm
where can i get the theme?
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March 4th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
I’m fine with the xp icons (except maybe for the star icon), but the Vista icons are ghastly. Please don’t make them default on xp OR Vista, make them downloadable. Or at least fix them so that the back/forward icons look more Vistaish and the icons aren’t mainly just blue. I would actually suggest combining the two themes, using xp icons for the toolbar icons (back, forward, refresh, stop, etc.) and Vista icons for everything else (preferences, star, feeds, etc.).
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March 4th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
I wish Firefox 3 for XP looked blue like the Vista one. Maybe someone can make a theme to make it look like that. The XP one looks good though.
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March 5th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Too bad they don’t incorporate transparency in vista like ie7… Where the address bar is transparent and it’s surroundings. That would be cool if Firefox did that. (Just my 2 cents)The blue looks good though. I’m using 3.0 b3 and i’m liking it so far with the green forward and back buttons.
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March 5th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
All icons blue is not native, and it’s ruined colour recognition of actions. Novice users often sub conciously browse over to a red button for stop, green for go, that and more is ruined. I urge for the over the top blue to be seriously re considered. Ideally on all platforms back/forwards should be blue, matching IE7. Reload and Go are associated with Green. This is also per IE7. Red is associated with Stop, per IE7. Hate to say it but IE7 colour coordination is correct and shouldn;t be avoided. Please colour coordinate in this way it’s very important.
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March 12th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Is there an about:config that allows us to change to the Vista appearance in XP?
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March 16th, 2008 at 10:24 am
The Vista theme is the most ugly graphical interface I have ever seen.
I want the Firefox 2 theme back in Firefox 3, yet it’s not available.
WTF. Thanks a lot.
P.S. Me loves Firefox. Not Firefox 3’s theme.
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March 20th, 2008 at 8:17 am
thanks for the info
i killed myself trying to install beta 4 “properly” with the green, blue , red, buttons on Vista like in XP
If you ask me, the XP theme is much better than the Vista one.
The Vista theme is boring and kinda “thin”…
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March 23rd, 2008 at 1:49 am
oh god, these new back/forward button are hideous. Where the fuck can I download the old Firefox 2 theme
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June 20th, 2008 at 1:26 am
I’m would recommended firefox 2 because a lot of ad-on not comfortible with the new version firefox 3 and seem firefox 3 slow startup in vista…
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