Personas for Firefox
Personas for Firefox is a extension that adds lightweight theming to your browser.
Personas is a prototype that builds upon the ideas that:
- themes today are too hard to find, install and use
- graphic designers should be able to style the browser without having to code
- browsers can be more than just desktop software, they can include online components
- people just want their computer to be a little more fun and personal
This version improves upon a prototype that was discussed and tested earlier this year.
We’ve just started talking about the possible benefits of taking advantage of an online component to deliver a better browser experience. There is certainly more to explore in this regard; Personas is but a simple example.
In this version, the Persona selector is dynamically loaded and populated from a JSON feed and all designs are loaded via URLs to remote resources. All changes to the browser chrome are applied instantly, with no need to restart.
We’ll shortly be releasing an API that will allow developers and designers to submit Personas that are based on Web content, including support for anything that can load in a content window such as HTML, CSS, PNG, JPG, Javascript, SVG and Canvas.
Features
- You can select a Persona from the dynamic menus and see results instantly without having to discover, select, download or install a separate bit of software or code.
- Personas can be added, removed or updated by their designers at any time, without requiring a software update.
Get Personas for Firefox
- Install Now for Firefox 2.0.0.* - 3.0b2pre, Windows/Mac/Linux
Compatible with the default themes that ship with Firefox
How to Get Involved
It’s great to see this up and running again.
One thing though, it would be nice to be able to download the XPI because I wanted to use Personas in a profile other than my default one. Fortunately MR Tech Local Install had it archived when I installed it.
December 15th, 2007 at 9:23 amFirst impressions: i love it
cant wait till i’ve got the time to explore it
December 15th, 2007 at 11:19 amNot keyboard accessible. Please duplicate the persona menu under Tools.
December 15th, 2007 at 4:16 pmTHIS IS AMAZING! NICE WORK MOZILLA!!
December 16th, 2007 at 12:37 amGracias, es una excelente utilidad que desconocida por completo…embelleció 100% la interfase.
December 16th, 2007 at 4:02 amDésolé, je ne peux pas recommander ce module complémentaire pour les utilisateurs de Mac OS X (et Firefox 3,0b1). Avec tel module, les seules choses qui étaient modifiés sont la barre de liens, la barre d’onglets, et la barre de statut (en bas).
December 16th, 2007 at 4:03 pmIt´s great, but how can create more themes?
December 16th, 2007 at 4:10 pmSuperb!! Brilliant!! What a fantastic idea.
December 16th, 2007 at 7:19 pmMy firefox looks cool now! With this extensión I can change my browser’s face instantly…. I’m waiting for the API ;)
Congrats!!!
December 16th, 2007 at 8:56 pmHi there,
I really like this. However, is there a way to make this transparent?? Somehow decrease the opacity like in IE7. that would be amazing. I would prefer if there was a transparent skin for the top especially…so all I see is the web page.
damn! I should patent the idea. :p lmao! How about just a hanging address bar for firefox 3?? I mean basically just let the page continue to scroll into the top. All there should be is web page. then the address bar can be called, address typed and it slowly fades away. maximum screenpage to website.
cheers,
Varun
December 16th, 2007 at 11:42 pmPersonas is pretty cool~~~
December 17th, 2007 at 1:02 amI love it!
Interesting concept, hopefully it will allow easier theme creation but it’s not like this hasn’t been done before IE has had this kind of skin feature for years.
December 17th, 2007 at 2:11 amYou need to mention somewhere that the interface is the far left button on the status bar. I had to watch a video in google’s search results to find out how to use this extension.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:14 amit should be compatible with the “all in one sidebar”
December 17th, 2007 at 6:47 amCan’t wait to try it out…
December 17th, 2007 at 6:49 amgreat work Mozilla!
December 17th, 2007 at 1:49 pmThis is very nice. It seems to work well. Of course, little bugs inherent in the default theme (like its three-piece tabs where the middle parts outgrow the ends whenever the user has slightly larger than normal fonts) are still present, but this certainly solves the need for holiday themes (as the author of a Halloween theme, I get many requests for holiday themes).
If you could come up with a theme that would enlarge chrome text, it would greatly help people wiith vision problems.
December 17th, 2007 at 2:24 pmPersonas com certeza é a melhor (e mais fácil) forma de personalizar o navegador, é muito bonito!
December 17th, 2007 at 2:29 pm(Melhor do que temas)
–
Personas is the best (and easier) way to personalize the browser, it’s very beautiful!
(Better than themes)
I have tried this with my themes. It works with any theme that does not use an image. So, for example, although this does not work for the SphereGnome and FormalGnome themes, it works fine with the HiVisGnome themes and Scribblies Plain. Cute.
December 17th, 2007 at 2:43 pmWOW! I notice it works a lot better with firefox 3 beta. looks really cool. :)
cheers,
V
December 17th, 2007 at 2:43 pmAnd it works with Halloween. Very cute.
Now all you need to do is come up with a Halloweeny background.
December 17th, 2007 at 2:46 pmTruly opening the new platform for themers! Great work Moz!
December 17th, 2007 at 3:41 pmΑγάπη αυτό! Διατηρήστε την καλή εργασία
December 17th, 2007 at 4:44 pmhttp://userstyles.org/styles/3874
what’s the different?
December 17th, 2007 at 6:59 pm“themes today are too hard to find, install and use”
really? 4 clicks too much for people? (tools -> addons -> themes -> get themes)… wow! pages of themes directly on Mozilla’s site.
not that this won’t be cool, but Mozilla already fixed this particular issue.
December 17th, 2007 at 7:43 pm惊艳！！！
December 17th, 2007 at 9:28 pm就是很奇怪那些皮肤保存在什么地方，配置文件夹里好像没有哦？
Great work, Thanks :)
December 17th, 2007 at 10:57 pmYa lo instale y va DPM instalenselo para darle un poco mas de vida a esto, ya vmeos que firefox hace cosas que IE no pude, jaja,…
December 18th, 2007 at 2:43 amIt doesn’t appear to work under linux.
The option is there and I am using the default theme, but there is no add-om options or personas listed in the menu.
December 18th, 2007 at 7:45 amIt would be nice for developers to have a button in their websites so their visitors can click and catch the website theme in their firefox peronas.
December 18th, 2007 at 7:47 amThis sounds very interesting… how about creating more themes?
December 18th, 2007 at 8:21 amLiking this a lot so far - thanks!
December 18th, 2007 at 8:51 amSweet,gonna install it right now.
December 18th, 2007 at 9:28 amI like it alot! It would be great if there were a “favorites” option that collected all the user’s favorites into an RSS feed so it could rotate through them (and include a setting for how often to change the persona).
December 18th, 2007 at 9:40 amExtremely Cool Tool! I’d just like to see more personas that I can download :)
December 18th, 2007 at 5:41 pmThis is truly well done and has always… Mozilla rulles
December 18th, 2007 at 6:24 pmThis is amazing. I like this extension.
December 18th, 2007 at 7:08 pmreally fantastic. great job.
December 18th, 2007 at 10:38 pmJust wanted to let you know that the RSS feed URL in your side bar is not correct.
It is pointing to..
feed://http//labs.mozilla.com/feed/
Please correct that.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:54 amJust a good start…
December 19th, 2007 at 11:18 amIts a fantastic idea. My appreciations for all those who worked for it.
One request:
December 19th, 2007 at 11:23 pmCould you please provide the option of loading the random persona(from available or from “favorite personas” section) after the specified timeout(configurable)?
WOW! ISA AMAZING! Ive been looking for a good theme forr a while and this is just awsome.
December 21st, 2007 at 2:35 amPersonæ. Seriously.
December 21st, 2007 at 8:20 amAll i can really say is WOW. I love this extension!
December 22nd, 2007 at 4:20 pmPersonas is pretty cool.
December 23rd, 2007 at 8:18 amI love it!
It’s a great extension, I would love if it changes the icons too ;)
December 23rd, 2007 at 9:33 amThis extension is great, I set a Snowman for Christmas and Fx look fantastic, but I found small bug. Some times there are problem with Address bar and Search bar, there loose their height, but when I click on it, all is back to normal.
Great work Mozilla.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
December 23rd, 2007 at 2:14 pmCool idea, much better than themes which, yes, are too cumbersome to install just to find out it sucks.
But many of the personas render the forward/back/reload/etc buttons unreadable. Ultimately it’s a personal preference, but I wish the designers would be more careful about it.
December 31st, 2007 at 11:38 amI like the fact that the changes are applied without having to restart Firefox.
Not to be pushy, but I’d really like to see this being extended to extensions (pun?) as well. It sucks having to restart the browser everytime I install or remove an extension. And no, I’m not worried about my windows and tabs being open - I just don’t like to restart the browser just for a tiny extension to take effect.
Anyway, good work on the Personas!
January 1st, 2008 at 5:57 amPersonas is great but it won’t cooperate with noia theme :/ Is it possible to connect these two themes?
January 2nd, 2008 at 4:27 amIE had this feature for a long time now… but its never too late ;)
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:02 amwhat’s going on with all this spam?
January 3rd, 2008 at 6:01 amHow do I create own Skins for Personas
January 4th, 2008 at 2:53 pmCool - I like the background image changer…
It’s great to be able to change the background without having to make a whole new theme!
Will the official release allow users to develop their own icons too?
I find that the most interesting part of theming
is the new icons and widgets that designers create!
Thus, I have a little constructive criticism:
I felt a little bit misinformed by the description:
it says that you will be able to change “themes” =
which implied to me that they might have new icon and widget graphics.
(as do most of the best published themes)
I would like to see a distinction in definition
between a pervasive theme which changes the whole interface,
and a lightweight theme that just changes the background-image.
(a more accurate description could be a “background-changer” or “wallpaper-changer” ???)
Theme designers often put a lot of work into creating pervasive graphic themes that warp the whole browser window into a fantastic new micro-verse.
Calling a background-image swap a “theme” seems to cheapen the more pervasive themes,
and could imply to novice users that changing the background is the limit of theming.
Users will need to see more pervasive themes to be inspired to make their own:
January 5th, 2008 at 2:24 pmI’m concerned that if first-time users start out using this background-changer, they will not be motivated to explore and create quality pervasive themes such as the ones available in the add-ons section.
I am searching for information on setting up my own blog. Reading others I realized that I want to write about…blah, blah, blah. Not important - but - I have a stupid PowerBook G4 that I do not understand and really hate because aliases and duplicates and all the stuff it throws in the trash and creates dozens of iTunes that are impossible to reconcile…some say it has a virus. I say that I can’t relate to men wearing black T-shirts and standing under signs that read “Genius.”
Does anyone else ever wonder how Albert Einstein would look in a black tea-shirt?
So Mac, yuck. Firefox, the very best.
If I ever meet the man who invented AdBlock I would ask him to marry me, or at least give him my first born child. Actually, my first born is named Noah, just turned 17, is one of the nicest people I have ever met, but refuses to help me with Mac. (Actually he took this computer into an Apple store. They told him it had water damage. Scary stupid Geniuses.)
I must tell the gentleman who created Adblock that he has, perhaps unintentionally, created a remarkable tool for those of us with ADD and sensory perception issues. You do so much for everyone and I really admire your dedication in a somewhat depressing world. I like coming to your site and fooling around. I am a Newbie and seriously ADD - you do not overwhelm me. Before Adblock, so many of us could not tolerate the overwhelming stimuli created by flashing lights, crawling words, bright colors - Overload! No, we are not able to watch or look at such a multitude of images. Many of us get sick and are unable to function for days. ALL stimuli has to be removed, colors, music, touch, smell, speech. To save ourselves we disassociate and if we really know what to do, we do nothing.
“Compare and Collapse” is my motto- which is why I love The Great and Powerful Adblock man.
I wonder, when you consider your projects, if you are aware of people who are left-handed, right-brained, dyslexic, and have no place to turn for help? We are the “creative” ones, and often lack the ability to use our left- to understand the “right-handed” design before us? Writing this, every time I want to erase a word(s) I have to remember to move the cursor from left to write. It is truly cerebral and confusing.
But please know that this began as a question about how to use Firefox to create a simple blog to write my days away. You may have noted that I write way too much! I feel sure that something like that exists. Also, do blogs get connected to RSSs? I know their must be a connection between reading websites - but maybe not.
I also want to know why so many apps don’t work or aren’t written for Macs - not enough co-operation - open source? Your people dislike the famous “Apple Atmosphere” that reaches deeply into your pocket and exploits you mercilessly?
If I happen to have tried an HP that has so many layers of protection it caused us both to faint - would you go with the Mac or the HP? I like PC’s, but am confused as well. But it is nothing like aliases and duplicates and files within files within files…
Which would you pick? How many of you use PCs and how many use Macs? Don’t you seriously dislike making this decision. My brothers think I am an idiot and spend my time breaking computers. My friends are too afraid to make the decision - too much responsibility. The “About” site now gives personality quizzes to help you choose the right cell phone or ring tone. Seriously. They are a goner!
If you feel like you have to blow me off - well please tell Mr. Adblock that he has saved a small nation, and thank you for being a bright and cheerful place to visit.
Sincerely,
Katharine Karr
January 6th, 2008 at 2:42 pmGreat work as usual Firefox! Your team has more creativity in one finger than all of Redmond.
January 7th, 2008 at 8:27 pmGostei do Personas, vou indicar para todos os meus amigos.
January 9th, 2008 at 2:11 amThis is very nice extension. I discovered it by accident and I love it! Having the ability to change how Firefox looks without restarting is awesome. Will there be a way to add even more “appearances” Personas gives Firefox?
January 11th, 2008 at 5:19 pmCan we get some patriotic and military personas, please? A couple with a flag motif (”Old Glory”), plus a few military (”Tanks”, “Planes”, “Ships”, “Soldiers”) would be very popular.
Publish the API and let us have at it.
Thanks
January 11th, 2008 at 9:07 pmHi,
what happend ?
At “https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/” I can’t find personas anymore.
Thought, ‘Hey, perhaps they just have a new version and they’re back in a day or two’, but no, no such luck … What’s going on?
Read you, Toryu
January 13th, 2008 at 11:12 amthe transparency effect looks good only in ff2. in ff3 i had to change the code to make the address bar, search bar and tab bar opaque. it should also be compatible with AIOS… well, at least viva firefox shows well with the xp zune theme :)
January 16th, 2008 at 4:04 amat look!
January 24th, 2008 at 4:11 amThanks!
January 24th, 2008 at 4:14 amIs it possible to make it so that the theme retains its shading?
January 28th, 2008 at 3:59 pmI like Personas very much. It works very well with Opera 7.5x theme for firefox. Enjoy it :)
February 4th, 2008 at 10:04 amPersonas é o maior sucesso aqui no Brasil
February 12th, 2008 at 9:50 amThis’s a nice add-on.
February 14th, 2008 at 9:03 amBut could ya add more option to it, like remove theme that I dislike or sort the themes in my own way.
Will download and check it out now…
February 14th, 2008 at 11:16 amThank you Mozilla….
Great app Mozilla than you!!
Is there a manual or something to guide me trough the developing of new skins of my own?
cheers
February 20th, 2008 at 8:27 amLove it! Great work!
February 22nd, 2008 at 4:55 amCan’t start Personas because the icon is blocked by a bar at the bottom of my Firefox screen!
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:52 amI have down loaded this and why do I have just a inch strip of it instead of it covering the whole top of my page? No matter which one I use it does the same thing!
February 23rd, 2008 at 8:16 amYeah! Really cool!
February 24th, 2008 at 4:30 amperfect !
March 4th, 2008 at 8:11 pmbest addon
March 7th, 2008 at 6:37 amI love it..but just a few themes…and jet no possibility to create owns.
March 13th, 2008 at 2:38 amBut at all,very nice!
Very nice effects and idea!
March 15th, 2008 at 5:18 amExcelente, me gusto la personalizacion que uno le puede dar al navegador con Personas. Keep going with this really good job!
March 18th, 2008 at 10:40 amgrrroooovieeeehh!!!
March 23rd, 2008 at 3:03 amersonas è disponibile come estensione per Firefox !
March 24th, 2008 at 7:12 amThanks you Mozilla.. I Love you !
March 24th, 2008 at 7:12 amFirefox Personas daha geliştirme aşamasında, ancak başarılı bir proje. !!
March 24th, 2008 at 7:13 amPara las necesidades de juegos de poker gratuitos revista poker…
March 24th, 2008 at 7:14 amteşekkürler
March 29th, 2008 at 4:12 amteşekkürler güzel bir şey
March 29th, 2008 at 5:09 amcould reach. and foxes pretty his that the my dad snapping It is playing leaf
March 29th, 2008 at 12:47 pmPersonas: a new way of changing the look of Firefox.
March 29th, 2008 at 2:09 pmCool. Nifty. I thought about doing something like this a couple years ago after seeing a Christmas theme that someone created, but I never got around to it. I’m glad someone else did. This’ll be a dead simple way for the typical user to make his/her Firefox look way more personalized, and personalization builds a feeling of ownership.
Wunnerful!
April 1st, 2008 at 10:51 amPersonas for Firefox is a really nice extension for Firefox which adds lightweight theming without having to restart your browser.
April 4th, 2008 at 8:01 amturtles often forts for the he got returned for kids we watched called
April 9th, 2008 at 9:24 amHave card consolidate credit loan stud
April 9th, 2008 at 1:00 pmFan !
http://firefoxmozilla.wordpress.com/
April 12th, 2008 at 3:56 pmGreat work guys!
April 21st, 2008 at 8:07 pmGo here to install it manually: https://labs.mozilla.com/projects/personas/xpi/personas-latest.xpi
it works with mr tech.
Great!
April 29th, 2008 at 9:00 amThank you Mozilla
April 30th, 2008 at 11:04 amThank you Firefox..
Mozilla fan club
May 13th, 2008 at 6:35 amTertambat aku pada halaman !!! itu
May 13th, 2008 at 9:20 am