15 Best Mozilla Firefox Skins To Customize Your Browser

Aug. 4th, 2009 By Tina

firefox-128Firefox has long been the head of the Mozilla browser family and it remains the prime rival for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Up until now the release of Google’s Chrome was a rather insignificant episode in the browser war.

What makes Firefox so popular? Back in the days it hit a nerve with geeks by letting them create, add and share their own content: extensions and themes. It was the start of Web 2.0 and the fascination soon caught on with the general crowd.

If you’re using Firefox, I hope you can appreciate the freedom it provides. One is that you can express your style with custom Mozilla Firefox skins. Here are 15 of the best. Dig in!

Black Steel

(3.0 – 3.6a1pre)

browser

A dark metal theme with sharp contrasts. It will definitely draw attention.

Silvermel

(1.5 – 3.6a1pre)

style

Silvermel is silver, shiny and quite unobtrusive. The transparent effect for tabs is awesome.

Daum Blue

(3.0 – 3.5.*)

firefox

This Mozilla Firefox skin is not revolutionary, but it has a fresh look with nicely designed tabs. If you keep on reading you’ll see that I’m a little obsessed with pretty tabs. :)

Anthem

(3.0 – 3.5.*)

firefox theme

Anthem is a very stylish template in dark and light grey. I love the look of the tabs. The icons are exceptional and they’re smaller than with most themes, which saves space and gives more room for browsing. This one is my new personal favorite.

Scribblies Plain

(3.5.*)

theme

A playful theme for your kids or the kid in you. Gotta love the icons in the navigation toolbar. Also the tabs are quite original. Definitely something different!

iFox Graphite

(3.0b5 – 3.5.*)

browser theme

This is the theme I’ve been using for years. It’s clean and simple and also available in three more flavors: pure, metal and smooth.

Simple Green

(3.5b4 – 3.5.*)

extension

Simple Green reminds me of Netscape. If you still mourn the end of IE’s first serious rival, express your grief with this theme.

Stratini Padded

(3.0 – 3.5.*)

firefox skin

This theme made the list because it has a refreshing set of icons and very lovely shaped tabs and boxes. I’m still a huge fan of rounded edges.

Vista on XP

(3.5.*)

Firefox extension

If you’re using a Vista transformation pack on XP, you can’t do without a Vista Firefox theme. So this one’s for you!

NASA Night Launch

(3.0 – 3.5.*)

skin

One of the few dark Mozilla Firefox skins that are actually stylish. NASA Night Launch is very cool. Pretty tabs, well-designed icons and a very clean, dark look.

Utopia FFSE White

(3.0 – 3.5.*)

mozilla firefox

I love the fox in this theme. But also the buttons and tabs are pretty cool. If the animal is a little too much for you, there is one without it: Utopia White.

yogurttree

(3.0 – 3.6a1pre)

mozilla theme

Here’s a very soft and girly skin with lovely pastel colors and roundish icons. Yes, we do have female readers! Girls, where are you?

XboxFox

(3.0b1 – 3.5.*)

mozilla extension

Girls play Xbox, too! Maybe that’s why this theme isn’t exactly virile. Or is this just a very modern design?

OldFactory Black

(3.0 – 3.5.*)

best firefox theme

Here’s one for the guys. Chrome, stone, levers and rounded edges so that you don’t hurt yourselves. I love the levers. Makes me think of Myst. And get this: they’re actually animated!!! How cool is that?

Chromifox Extreme

(3.1b1 – 3.6a1pre)

cool firefox theme

Finally, here’s a theme that will give Firefox a Chrome-like look, including tabs on top.

You like none of them? Maybe you should try Personas. Kabir wrote an article on How to Create Custom Themes for Firefox with Personas, which can be your guide in getting to know this Firefox addon.

What else would you like to see in a Firefox theme? Maybe you’re lucky and a talented theme designer will read this. So let it out!

(By) Tina has been writing for MakeUseOf since late 2007. In her other lifes she is a researcher, scientific writer, senior customer service representative or blogger. Tina is also an experienced host with CouchSurfing.

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30 Comments Add Comment
2009-08-04 15:34:43
nils

the grApple themes by aronnax should definetly be on this list – i think they are OSX only though. so, i may be wrong if this list is only for themes that are compatible with all OS.

2009-08-04 17:05:26

Since I’m on Windows, I couldn’t test the grApple or any other OSX only skins. Too bad cause they all look awesome.

2009-08-04 15:37:03

Hy,
I am using NASA Night Launch and it’s very nice!
I like more night themes!
But certainly I will try some of the others themes!
Thank’s!

2009-08-04 16:21:28

In terms of practical use, LittleFox is very nice for running Firefox on a netbook, shrinking menus and toolbars.

Noia 2.0 is also a classic for simplicity and usability. Note that some skins offer specific support for certain extensions.

2009-08-04 16:29:34

I enjoy LittleFox and Classic Compact on my Firefox install. Both are compact and have good graphical interfaces.

2009-08-11 18:05:07
Subscribed to comments via email

I want to thank you for mentioning Classic Compact! I read your suggestion and gave it a whirl. One word: WOW!!!! It’s slick and so customizable. I can even use it with a system wide dark theme. Incredible!

Excellent suggestion and again, I thank you. :)

2009-08-04 16:51:45

Pitchdark is another good dark skin too.

2009-08-04 17:53:57
Anne

I tried several of these out before settling on Daum Blue. Thanks for the recommendations!

2009-08-04 19:19:20
2009-08-04 19:53:26
Doc

I’ve always like Aero Fox…although you have to pay a whopping $0.99 for the Premium version. A few user-chrome tweaks and it matches my SevenVG theme from (AskVG perfectly.

2009-08-05 01:11:42
Felipe

And you missed the Pink Theme: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/10284 It’s a hit among the girls

2009-08-05 08:25:18

I saw it and it didn’t make my list because it was too pink for my taste.

That’s also why Ruler didn’t make it. I liked NASA Night Launch and the other three dark themes on my list much better.

But thanks everybody for mentioning your favorites!! Please keep adding your flavors. :)

2009-08-05 07:37:42
Bradford Taylor

I’ve tried most of these themes, and many others. But my favorite I’ve never seen featured here or anywhere else and I think it’s a great looking dark sleek theme.

It’s Ruler Dark: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9300

It’s clean, easy on the eyes, and just works. It was just updated a few days ago also and looks much nicer. I’d suggest it to anyone.

2009-08-05 09:23:24

I will have to admit I was hoping to see some of my themes on this list, but no biggie :)

I am friends with many of the authors of these themes. Will have to pass on my congrats to them!!

My themes can be found at http://www.spuler.us

2009-08-05 15:05:31
Bradford Taylor

Aaron, you have some nice themes too. I like Eye Candy/Neptune/Rain. They all got a nice fun easy going theme. My PC has a dark theme so would clash :)

2009-08-05 09:51:23
2009-08-05 09:55:41

Thanks painfield. Unfortunately, your link doesn’t work. here is a Working link for the Whitehart theme.

2009-08-05 10:49:03
Subscribed to comments via email

HI, i would like to know how u moved address bar next to help.
Also, how do u add that clock?

2009-08-05 11:06:43

hotplugin, I used customize to move / add icons and bars.

Simply right-click into any open toolbar and select Customize… from the bottom of the menu. Then you can drag and drop the address bar into your desired location and also drag and drop more icons into your toolbars. The “clock” is just the icon for browser history, not an actual clock. Good luck!

2009-08-05 12:07:03

I tried and liked the Night Launch theme as dark ones go. I find they’re a strain on the eyes, though. iFox Graphite looks nice, as does Silvermel and Daum Blue. I like the clean look with the flat-looking bars (as opposed to the round ones in the first example). Might give them a try sometime (maybe with KDE4?)

I’m using Firefox 3.7 Mockup:

See it in action in these screenshots on my blog

2009-08-05 13:54:15
GregNoir
Subscribed to comments via email

I love using the Chromifox Basic theme.
I really like the look of the hanging tabs.

2009-08-05 19:17:23
Ollie

As far as dark themes go,this one wins hands down!..Wellll,if he would kill the blinking tab icons… https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/11396

2009-08-06 00:02:03
Yoz

Hi, I was wondering about the add-on you used to make only the first letter of your bookmarks appear. also what is that toolbar below the bookmarks toolbar? (I’m sorry if this seems intrusive, just the toolbar looks useful and I have to many bookmarks on my toolbar..)
~Yoz

2009-08-06 01:53:53

Yoz, I didn’t use an addon for the one/two letter bookmarks. I edited the bookmarks or folders and gave them abbreviations I would recognize.
The toolbar below the bookmarks is my shortcuts toolbar. I simply created an additional toolbar (>Customize >Add New Toolbar) to hold more buttons.
Hope that helped. :)

2009-08-06 02:00:30
Yoz

Yeah thanks, (I was hoping for a rollover deal, where when the mouse goes over it you see the full name, other wise it’s the abbreviation, (I know they have a add-on that shows just the favicon but that doesn’t help when a site admin is lazy and doesn’t make one [believe me there are more than you think...])
thanks anyway.
have a good one.
~Yoz

(Comments wont nest below this level)
2009-08-06 17:11:53
Nicbot
Subscribed to comments via email

If you like dark themes: Gradient iCool is my #1 and the best dark theme I’ve used yet.

2009-09-28 13:33:19
**Adde

I have used all themes and all is nice……but i have NASA Night Launch used now and this theme is wery nice!

2009-09-30 22:16:00

nice sharing!thanks

2009-10-06 22:53:37
Joseph

I’ve been using “yogurttree” for longtime theme

2009-10-23 21:09:22
Victor
Subscribed to comments via email

Muchas gracias por el aporte… está super bueno el tema de NASA… Es genial…

Suerte y sigue subiendo buenas cosas…

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