Developing Portlets... Developing an OpenSo...

Creating a Firefox 3 theme

Created: Tue 26 Aug 2008 Posted by: wesleyhales under Java
[90] Comments
**UPDATE - This theme is now available on Mozilla.org here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9627/

I decided to tryout Firefox theme building a few weeks ago on vacation. It took me a few days to design the skin and slice up all the images for theme creation. But once it came to laying down the Firefox CSS, I have to say that I was a little overwhelmed and haven't been back to finish the theme since.

Of course this could be due to me actually having a day job and somewhat of a life. I think the overall css code for the layout is fairly simple. All you have to do is get your x,y coordinates right and you are golden. If anybody has any quick tips to make the process of placing the buttons a little simpler, please speak now! Or if someone wants to take on the task of completing this theme I will post the .psd files.




One of the cooler things about this theme is that the icons are 100% original. We all know most themes take some form of Windows or *nix icons. I tried to take the old 1930's cinema approach where I could. But I couldn't come up with anything for the copy and paste buttons (C and V).





Comments:

this theme is sick, please finish it, you can email me when its done

Posted by Steven Werley on August 27, 2008 at 09:31 AM EDT #

just thought id also say that the theme does look extremely promising. as for that copy button just do an image of 4 pages opened like a hand of cards. paste button.. maybe a paper with a big paper clip on it? dunno on that one. but anyway- finish the theme it looks great!

Posted by p on November 19, 2008 at 01:46 AM EST #

I just installed it and it looks fantastic! Very good job!!

Posted by TwisterMc on November 21, 2008 at 10:49 AM EST #

What happened to the throbber?

Posted by Howie on November 25, 2008 at 03:58 PM EST #

Hi,
I'm installing firefox for the very first time, and your theme is MY favorite. The unique favorite. But why make disapear the icons of the bookmarks bar ?
I keep it anyway !

Posted by El-Gato on November 26, 2008 at 03:38 PM EST #

it would b good if u can burnish the scrollup bar

and this theme isn't compatible with all-in-one sidebar. there isn't a menu to nagivate between theme/plugins for the AiO sidebar.

thanks 4 ur time

Posted by d on November 28, 2008 at 07:35 PM EST #

My English is bad.. Sorry for this.
http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/2841/25468263db8.jpg
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/6395/91215025gc7.jpg
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/1728/30094769eu2.jpg

Posted by Smith on November 28, 2008 at 10:04 PM EST #

I must say that your theme is perhaps the BEST I've found for OSX. However, I saw that your screenshots are different than how mine looks. My main concern with your theme, is that it takes up a large amount of screen real estate. Make no mistake it's not a lot, but when combined with google/yahoo toolbars, it really consumes a good deal of the viewing area.

Looking forward to the updates!


Mike Wilson
NightmareCinemajesty@gmail.com

http://dl-client.getdropbox.com/u/14190/screen%20grab.tiff

Posted by Mike Wilson on November 29, 2008 at 08:06 PM EST #

So this is one of the best themes ive seen..good job..one big problem though...when i use adblock pro from the toolbar and select an option, it wont place a tick next to any option i select. its a problem with the theme and not the software.

looking forward to an update.

Posted by Shehryar A on December 02, 2008 at 06:24 AM EST #

This theme is great, but I noticed a few bugs:
-If you get rid of the address bar, white lines appear above and below where it would be.
-Some websites cause the address bar images to not quite mesh up. (Mozilla site for one)
-Incompatible with the fission add-on (the one that displays load progress in the address bar).

Thanks for an awesome theme!

Posted by Randomman on December 02, 2008 at 10:07 AM EST #

I like the theme quite a bit. Dark in a cool way without being oppressive. SOme of the icons are hard to interpret (like download).

One bug I have encountered is that the add on sidebar does not seem to allow me to toggle between add-ons, extensions and themes.

Keep up the good work

Posted by FGiorlando on December 03, 2008 at 11:07 PM EST #

Nice theme, but am unable to access and change to any other themes (as I like to do frequently for variety). I can access the Add-ons -Extensions, but NOT the Add-ons - Themes. Help!

Posted by Dan on December 06, 2008 at 12:53 AM EST #

on the bar where your favorite websites are make it so you can use the websites icon instead of just the name.

Posted by Jason on December 08, 2008 at 02:50 AM EST #

Hi, I just want to thank you for this Firefox Theme, i really like it, and i think im gonna use it for a long time.

Btw, Congratulations for all your goals, and even better that they are on Linux.

Greetings from mexico, sorry for my english :D

Posted by Reoba on December 12, 2008 at 02:08 AM EST #

VERY GOOD WORK!!!

At last a theme design that have broken the paradigms.

Bookmarks and Menu are unreadable, must change text color.

Posted by NitroZZeLLo on December 13, 2008 at 10:58 AM EST #

Beautiful! Great work!

Posted by Liberation on December 13, 2008 at 04:14 PM EST #

Best theme for mozilla.
i confirm this little problem Posted by d on November 28, 2008 http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/2841/25468263db8.jpg
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/6395/91215025gc7.jpg
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/1728/30094769eu2.jpg

Posted by Galva on December 20, 2008 at 06:08 AM EST #

Bug..............The fission addon causes the address bar to become messed up on the edges(left and right).

Posted by hhelper on December 27, 2008 at 10:35 PM EST #

There are also a little problem on ubuntu 8.10. I cannot see the text on the menu bar when i press it.
http://jasonvoorheeszzz.googlepages.com/Screenshot.jpg

Please fig this bug also. This is the best theme i 've ever had on firefox.

Posted by bubuzzz on December 27, 2008 at 11:34 PM EST #

The active tab isn't finished yet. I miss some pixels on the edge of it.

See image for more info

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/5499/tezn5.png

Posted by Tibiot on December 28, 2008 at 01:40 PM EST #

Excellent theme, very unique.

One small problem though with the bookmarks- it seems to try to pop up a new window, which gets stuck.

Posted by v.o.s on December 29, 2008 at 06:44 PM EST #

Excellent theme, very unique.

One small problem though with the bookmarks- it seems to try to pop up a new window, which gets stuck.

Posted by v.o.s on December 29, 2008 at 06:46 PM EST #

I found a little visual bug:
I prefer small icons on Nav bar (right click -> Customize -> Use small icons), but when I'm switching between tab with content and a new tab Nav bar is resizing a little bit.

I think this happens because active Back/Forward buttons are slightly higher than inactive ones.

P.S.
I'm on WinXP Pro SP2 using Firefox 3.0.5

Regards,
Dave

Posted by David (Business Ideas) on January 03, 2009 at 12:41 PM EST #

The theme looks nice but when i install it the black goes grey when inactive which is kinda annoying. Also the black doesn't reach the top its stopped by the mac window outline. but it looks great with my decals and blends in nicely with the desktop. Anthem 2 perhaps?

Posted by Cass on January 05, 2009 at 07:12 AM EST #

The theme is very cool, i love this carbon - black gray design but it's only missing one big thing: the FAVICONS. Please make them visible and this theme will become Number ONE for firefox.
Btw good job!

Posted by Ob3ron on January 05, 2009 at 06:01 PM EST #

Smooth looking theme. However, it bugs me that the icons on my bookmark toolbar does not show. To save space I only have icons, not descriptive text. And when the icons now are hidden I have no way of locating my favorites by using the bookmark toolbar.

Posted by Benjamin on January 05, 2009 at 10:11 PM EST #

I love your theme.
Would it be possible to change the background color of marked text so it is more distinguishable from the normal text?
(e.g. in the URL bar)

Posted by Mapache on January 10, 2009 at 03:34 PM EST #

First: the theme is great!
But unfortunately I also noticed some bugs.
These are the same bugs, that have been found by Smith, Galva and some others people.
Furthermore, the close button of Tab Mix Plus add-on in the tabs is distorted and his colour is grey, instead of red.

Posted by Peter on January 21, 2009 at 10:53 AM EST #

I just install this them and it looks great. I have one issue though, the Fox Clock add on does not work properly when I use this theme.

Any plan to fix it?

Posted by Al on January 28, 2009 at 07:14 PM EST #

I cannot (visual) select text in the Adress and Searchbar. I can select but there's no color for the selected text.

Can u fix that or say me how i can change it on my own?

greetings

Alucard

Posted by Darkalucard on January 30, 2009 at 03:51 PM EST #

(sry hat problems with sending this form o.O)

I cannot (visual) select text in the Adress and Searchbar. I can select but there's no color for the selected text.

Can u fix that or say me how i can change it on my own?

greetings

Alucard

Posted by DarkAlucard on January 30, 2009 at 03:52 PM EST #

GREAT THEME!!!!..... Probably the best to grace firefox since 708090...

As with all new projects things have a few bugs but hes working on them.

As for the bugs the only one ive seen so far is a white bar above and blow the bookmark toolbar after hiding then showing it. These white bars persist over theme uninstall then reinstall, firefox user profile wipes & app data wipes... hope this helps narrow this bug down since its a shame it has to plauge my screen so!!!!

Posted by Jesse on February 07, 2009 at 05:54 PM EST #

This is the most beautiful theme for Firefox !

Thank you !

Posted by Sam on February 16, 2009 at 02:50 PM EST #

Great theme, but I have 1 problem tho...
Whenever I open Firefox it starts with a grey header (where adress bar, previous, next, ... are)
and I always have to toggle to another program and back again to get it black like it's supposed to :s
How can this be fixed?

Posted by Tim on February 20, 2009 at 09:01 AM EST #

the best Theam of firefox but the 1.5 version actually ruined my day as i spent an hour trying to get back to the 1.4 version which has no large banner blocking the view.

Posted by yak on February 23, 2009 at 06:18 AM EST #

So the banner comes with the theme?
Was looking around like crazy trying to find the Spyware that installed it there :s
Its blocking the view indeed... and it keeps attracting my attention... damn thing
Not happy with it...

Posted by Tim on February 23, 2009 at 07:25 AM EST #

lol, I wanted to try something new.. but I agree that it may ruin the theme. I will try to add a new version soon.

Posted by Wesley on February 23, 2009 at 08:36 AM EST #

If you want to disable the advertisement just check the "use small icons" box.

Posted by Wesley on February 23, 2009 at 08:52 AM EST #

Hi Wesley

Great theme, but I have a problem with searchboxes:

http://img120.imageshack.us/my.php?image=clipboard01f.jpg

It also happens, in the browser searchbox.

Posted by Paul on February 23, 2009 at 09:39 AM EST #

Please, please remove the ... banner :S It´s ruin the great look

Posted by jonniep on February 23, 2009 at 12:14 PM EST #

I'm Sorry.. But I'm currently uninstalling the Anthem Theme...

The Banner spoiled all your great work =/

Posted by Cradwel DienteRojo on February 23, 2009 at 02:30 PM EST #

I LOVED your theme up until the latest update. The banner on the upper right corner of the window is horrible. Please remove it. Until it's removed, I will no longer use the theme.

Posted by Norm Phillips on February 23, 2009 at 02:33 PM EST #

Wesley, if you look at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9627/ (The theme Mozilla.org/Firefox site), version 1.5 of your theme is receiving A TON of poor reviews because of having this ad on the upper right corner of your theme. While making the icons small removes the ad, it changes the look of the buttons to something worse and makes other buttons from other third party features more difficult to see. Be it from me to suggest to tell you what to do... But with all of these poor reviews now and all of the rave reviews before, I really think it would a great idea to get rid of that ad. Please get rid of that ad and give another update of your product. Thank you.

Posted by Norm Phillips on February 23, 2009 at 06:50 PM EST #

Thanks for deleting the ad!
I'm using the Anthem theme now again :)

Posted by Tim on February 24, 2009 at 09:51 AM EST #

Thank you for deleting the ad! :D It looks great and is now my theme again!

Posted by Norm Phillips on February 24, 2009 at 05:02 PM EST #

Thank you for this great theme - I have uploaded a picture of how my browser now look.

Lovely stuff, keep it up!

Posted by James Hardly Chase on February 25, 2009 at 03:23 AM EST #

Same as Benjamin: I need websites favicons on the navigation bar to appear. But I love the design of your theme. I will come back to it in a little while.

Posted by Blues de ville on March 06, 2009 at 06:33 PM EST #

Please add the Favorites icon in the toolbar. Many people use the same icons without names. thanks

Posted by vercyn on March 25, 2009 at 08:35 AM EDT #

Hey I really like this theme but there's these spaces on the top and bottom sides of the bookmarks bar. I don't know if it's a compatibility issue but it ruins an otherwise excellent theme. Can you fix this if possible. Thanks

Posted by Alan on March 26, 2009 at 08:48 PM EDT #

Hello, when I select text in the awesomebar, it doesn't actually "highlight" the text. Difficult to see what you are highlighting.

Help?

Posted by Diabolikul on April 08, 2009 at 04:36 PM EDT #

hey man, excellent work, but I have an issue with the forms stored information, I can't see the highlighted info, congratulations for your work

Posted by Oneiros on April 08, 2009 at 11:27 PM EDT #

Hey, great theme and all its just one problem i have with this theme. Version 1.5.2 when im using the scroll bar, the far right side, it wont recognize that my mouse is there

-thanks

Posted by Jason on April 11, 2009 at 03:35 PM EDT #

This theme seems to be not compatible with the add-on Fission (https://addons.mozilla.org/zh-TW/firefox/addon/1951). There is problem in showing the design of the address bar. Think you might want to know about it. Thanks for the great work.

Posted by 147.8.108.137 on April 14, 2009 at 12:36 AM EDT #

Hi,
this theme is the greatest that I've ever seen, I really love it.

Wouldn't you like to create a linux (for e.: Ubuntu) theme in this style?! PLEASE!!!

Posted by osiixy on May 07, 2009 at 01:52 PM EDT #

The theme looks very good. Congrats for the great job. I have troubles with auto fill for forms. Whenever I come across a field, there is a blank drop box that appears. See the attached image.

Suggest me to fix the problem.

Posted by indimonk on June 14, 2009 at 05:27 AM EDT #

Great theme!

But I have the same problem with search boxes/forms and the saved form/password drop-down box.
http://img120.imageshack.us/my.php?image=clipboard01f.jpg
Seems like if there are multiple entries it works OK, but if there's only one entry (e.g. my email or username when filling in a form) I get a blank box.
Hope you get it fixed I want to keep using the theme.

Posted by asahel on June 29, 2009 at 08:28 PM EDT #

Please, trim Your fantastic theme for the 3.5

Posted by pabi on June 30, 2009 at 09:05 AM EDT #

Excellent theme, fabulous icons, sober and shocking at the same time. It's a pity that with the new Firefox 3.5 version I can no longer use it in my browser. Maybe you could update it.
Greetings!

Posted by Aldo on June 30, 2009 at 05:11 PM EDT #

Doesn't work on Firefox 3.5! Please update! I love this theme and want to keep using it in 3.5!

Posted by Hybrid on July 01, 2009 at 12:27 AM EDT #

Please make it compatible with FF 3.5. Or else I'll have to come to you in your dreams and beg. This isn't what you want, believe me ;))
P.S. Great work, just keep going.

Posted by MazavrBazavr on July 01, 2009 at 02:15 AM EDT #

I just added support for 3.5+... thanks for all the bug reports! I will try to fix them asap.
@MazavrBazavr - Please use your dreams for better things than visiting me :) lol

Posted by Wesley on July 01, 2009 at 09:53 AM EDT #

This does not work with firefox 3.5!!! I really like the look of it! Please rework it with 3.5! Much thanks =]

Posted by encore5183 on July 01, 2009 at 09:07 PM EDT #

You can get the 3.5 version from the sandbox... it is 1.5.3, otherwise you will need to wait until mozilla approves the new version (should be any day)

Posted by Wesley on July 02, 2009 at 09:28 AM EDT #

Please Wesley, update this theme. He the best theme for firefox and i can't use it on firefox 3.5. Thanks!

Posted by bruno oliveira on July 02, 2009 at 04:06 PM EDT #

It's updated! version 1.5.3... all you need to do is login to mozilla.org (to get the sandbox version) or wait on them to approve the production verison.

Posted by Wesley on July 02, 2009 at 08:13 PM EDT #

I really love this theme - I'm not a huge fan of dark themes usually and yet I've used this one since it first came out! Great job!

I have one question/complaint, however. With the 3.5 upgrade (and I have v1.5.3 of the theme), the New Tab button Tab Mix Plus puts on the tab bar no longer appears. I use that button a LOT, so without it, I've had to go back to the default theme. Any chance of including it?

Posted by Loramir on July 12, 2009 at 01:19 AM EDT #

Hi, I love this theme, great work!

However a couple of bugs (I don't have time to pour through previous posts to see if already reported) -

Whenever Fire Fox tried to give me the drop-down for the auto-fill text (you know, when you're typing in a field you've typed in before it gives you a drop-down showing stuff you've entered in previously), it has like a blank bar obscuring the text I'm supposed to be selecting from, making it unreadable (I have v1.5.3 of the theme, and Fire Fox 3.0.12 running on Ubuntu 8.10).

Also, when using Facebook chat, the box at the bottom of the chat window only displays the top edge of what I'm writing (until I've written enough to go to a new line), meaning I can't see what I'm typing.

All of this is fixed if I go to the default theme, or a theme that doesn't have these issues.

If you could work a fix for these in somewhere that would be great!

I also second any request for displaying the icons for your bookmarks on the toolbar.

And although I'm not using Fire Fox 3.5 yet, so long as the 'new tab' button works I'll be happy! :)

Posted by Brett on July 23, 2009 at 08:30 AM EDT #

Hi,
firstly, love the theme! thanks!
I'm not an expert in anyway, just thought this might be a bug?

Anthem 1.5.3 with FireFox 3.5.1

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2193/bugrwv.jpg

Posted by Andy on July 23, 2009 at 11:56 AM EDT #

I love this theme, however, can you make a version with this toolbar image for me, if it isn't too much trouble...

http://i31.tinypic.com/34yaats.png

Thanks
Mason

Posted by mason on July 28, 2009 at 10:59 PM EDT #

This theme is off the wall. Totally awesome! thanks for sharing the codes!

:)

Posted by Bertrand Barbier on August 14, 2009 at 11:13 AM EDT #

Best Theme Ever!

Posted by adamoh on August 16, 2009 at 01:45 AM EDT #

Hi, this is probably my fav theme. Many people have commented on this but, I want to know if an option is available to turn on the favicon appearance? Or can you show me a way to do so? I use the bookmark toolbar a lot and I erase the site name in the preferences, so only the favicon show for the link. I think it keeps the browser looking clean and also saves space in the bar. Can you make a way to turn the favicon's on/off, or if its already possible show tell me how. Other than that, I'm pleased with this theme

Posted by WICC8 on September 20, 2009 at 05:06 PM EDT #

I hava a addon at status bar(StatusbarEx),and the color of words on status bar is too dark so that I can't see them.

Posted by Jamespond007 on September 22, 2009 at 09:07 PM EDT #

Hi,I've checked your theme and I just love it.. But I have some issues with it.. It seems there is a bug when I Install it with "all-in-one sidebar" Its an add-on that I really really need It.When I trying to use theme both all the icons of the sidebar only become disappear ..Please help me ...

Posted by coreTX on September 26, 2009 at 03:36 AM EDT #

My favorite looking theme, but I can't use it right now due to one issue.

Auto-complete just opens a blank box instead of suggestions. Autocomplete works with every other theme I have so it must be the theme.
Hopefully you update it!

Posted by Jpro on September 27, 2009 at 12:21 PM EDT #

FYI - I have uploaded ANTHEM 1.6 to Mozilla so it should be released any day now. It addresses almost everything mentioned in this comment thread from this date.

Posted by Wesley on October 07, 2009 at 08:26 PM EDT #

Hey Wesley

Firstly, I absolutely love anthem. I have been using it for some time now and I hugely appreciate the effort you have put into it.

But i feel as if v1.6's file/edit/view bar on windows doesn't look right,
I like how it now has a darker background, but the transition between that and the navigation bar just doesn't look right.

Just a little feedback
Keep up the good work.
Thanks.

Posted by Andy on October 16, 2009 at 04:11 PM EDT #

Great theme. However, it doesn't appear to be showing properly in Linux (Ubuntu 9.10, Gnome).

The menu headings (File, Edit, View etc etc) are a light color which makes it hard to read. And, one these are selected, the dropdowns appears to maintain the system's colors and not the theme's.

Finally, the fonts for the bookmark bar and the tabs are very large.

If these can be addressed, it would be great!

Posted by Shane on November 01, 2009 at 12:52 PM EST #

Hi Wesley

ur theme srsly rocks!

but the new 1.6's file/edit etc area looks a lil unnatural now. the font maybe?

and i dont know if its just me but when i click any of the file/edit etc, the whole firefox window moves slightly =/ kinda annoying.
anthems still awesome tho!

Posted by Josh on November 03, 2009 at 03:09 AM EST #

Great theme. I have small icons ( buttons ) placed on the bookmark toolbar. The bottom third of the toolbar changes from gray to white. I tried making another toolbar and the same thing happened. I like to keep the visible toolbars to two.

Posted by Paul on November 03, 2009 at 09:57 AM EST #

How can I get older versions. Firefox update my anthem theme today and I don't like it. The colors of text turned to white.(can't see anything when using bookmarks toolbar. The shading is also screwy. Makes the bookmarks toolbar look blocky. The last version I looked much more refined.

Posted by Matt on November 03, 2009 at 11:10 AM EST #

The new version has got a rightclick-menu problem for me. The text is too much at the left side, so that it goes over the seperatorline

Posted by hellstrike on November 03, 2009 at 03:05 PM EST #

"How can I get older versions. Firefox update my anthem theme today and I don't like it. The colors of text turned to white.(can't see anything when using bookmarks toolbar. The shading is also screwy. Makes the bookmarks toolbar look blocky. The last version I looked much more refined."

+1
me too.
thx.

Posted by KuT on November 03, 2009 at 03:41 PM EST #

If you are having problems please list:
- Platform: Windows? Linux? etc...
- And versions

Are you guys talking about text being white when you mouse over a menu option? If so, I will fix this in the next release, soon.

It looks fine on Windows Vista and Mac OS for me, I also tested on Ubuntu with no problems.
You can get older versions here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addons/versions/9627

Posted by Wesley on November 03, 2009 at 05:26 PM EST #

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/5640/meettheanthemdeveloper1.png

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/2450/imageshackimagehosting1.png

As you can see, there are spaces between the bookmarks toolbar, address bar, the menus at the top, and the window bar at the top. Another aesthetic problem I noticed is that my address bar doesn't completely highlight with my fission add-on. In general, the address bar doesn't look very smooth.

With the glitches this theme is extremely nice. P.S Could you email me when your next theme/fix for my problem is out?

Posted by Alan on November 03, 2009 at 11:36 PM EST #

is v1.6 the Final vers. ?

http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/2683/ff3theme.png

Posted by Flo on November 04, 2009 at 02:06 AM EST #

I have Firefox 3.5 and 1.6 version of this theme.
Like others I have problems with the first entry in a dropdown box being white.
Its really annoying...
Furthermore, when I click on File, History, Extra, ... everything gets pushed down and to the side.
Its like the square thats drawn around it when clicked, is too big and is pushing everything away.
None of this happens with the default theme.
Can this be fixed?

Posted by Scooby on December 19, 2009 at 04:46 AM EST #

Hi i would say that Anthem is 4 me the best theme of the world,there is only one problem: The File,Edit ,View,favorites,Tools,Help are too dark,(almost black) and i can't read them well,it's possible to make them grey or more brillant to see better?pls replace thx a lottttttt

Posted by Fedor on February 24, 2010 at 10:36 AM EST #

Hi
Love the theme but it wont install using ff 3.6.3

Please can you fix??

Thanks Pete

Posted by pete on April 07, 2010 at 12:59 PM EDT #

a good theme for mozilla, good look and easy to intall.

Thank's

Posted by Marc on July 27, 2010 at 10:06 AM EDT #

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Wesley Hales is currently the lead JBoss Portal UI Engineer at JBoss, a division of Red Hat. He is a member of the JSR-301 Expert Group and is currently an open source committer on various JBoss and Apache projects.

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