Firefox vs. Chrome: all about the looks?

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I started using Firefox extensively to test the Collusion add-on. While I constantly use the stable version of the browser on my work PC, it’s so slow and running Windows XP on top of it that I wouldn’t want to judge software under those conditions. At home I am running the Aurora version (12 back then, currently 13 after an update) and I must say the experience was much smoother than I remembered it. Firefox feels faster, more responsive; it even starts up quicker, thanks to constant tweaks and bug fixes. It most certainly consumes less RAM than Chrome, not that it makes a noticeable difference with 4GB available. It’s very stable for not-yet-beta software. It finally added its own version of a New Tab page – last among the major browsers – and it can sync a lot of browser essentials, including add-ons, more or less on par with Google Chrome. As for rendering speed it’s not something that makes a noticeable difference – there are some crazy reports that Internet Explorer beats other browsers in this area…

Restore the previous theme in Google Chrome

One of the improvements introduced by Google Chrome compared to other browsers was the ability to install themes and extensions quickly, without restarting the browser. But as extensions evolved and gave birth to apps, themes were somewhat ignored. Even if they are included in the Chrome Web Store, you cannot manage them there or see a list of previously installed themes, like you can with extensions and apps; nor does the browser itself offer a manager for themes like in Firefox. They are not logged in the download manager either, even though to install the theme you will download a file. So if you reset the theme and want to get it back, you’re basically out of luck if you didn’t at least write the name down or bookmarked the page where you found the theme.

Bring Firefox into 2010 with TwentyTen

After making a small step to refresh Firefox’s looks by hiding the old-fashioned menu, I made a bigger step by changing the whole theme. I found something very similar to the recently presented proposals for the upcoming interface of Firefox 4.0. There are lots of tutorials on the web about making the current version of Firefox look as close to this concept as possible, but they all involve several steps, more than one extension and tweaks to configuration files. This theme on the other hand makes the switch easier.

The theme is called “TwentyTen” and can be found on deviantART. It’s inspired by the Office 2010 design, hence the name, and includes a different color theme for every Office application, plus a ‘Noir’ setting, for a total of 10. Since the recent UI concept for Firefox on Windows is also inspired by Office, the theme comes pretty close to both.

I personally love how it looks, although on Windows XP it doesn't benefit from any Aero effects. I usually go with the default browser look and lately Firefox was very behind compared with Chrome and Opera 10. And yes, the interface makes a difference, whether we like to admit it or not. The interface was the main reason I didn’t like to use the previous versions of Opera. Now, with this theme installed, Firefox has a chance to compete and I find myself using it more and more instead of Opera.