Top 11 Firefox themes

There are a lot of bad Firefox themes out there. Skip the fluff and head straight for the chocolatey centre. Indulge your aesthetic side with a trip through our favourite Firefox 2 themes.

No. 11: Modern Modoki
Minimalism lives, and quite naturally with Modern Modoki, a stone-grey theme that's perfect for the Web surfer or developer who wants his or her browser to fade into nonexistence. It's clean, it's clear, hey ... it's Netscape 8! Or is it 6? It's both: The look of 8 with the colour scheme of versions 6 and 7. Its nigh invisibility makes it a solid choice for the mysterious 11th spot.

Most importantly, of course, it works with most major Firefox extensions with interface-altering features such as the pictured two-paned bookmarks and All-in-One Sidebar.

Photo Credit: CNET Networks
No. 10: NASA Night Launch
What an appropriate Firefox theme to start off the Top 10 countdown! The NASA Night Launch theme isn't kicking off the list, but it's blasting off anyway. The only thing that really distinguishes this theme from other polished dark Firefox themes is the shuttle image that "launches off" when a page is loading. See, you're travelling to another planet on the World Wide Web universe!

Snark aside, the shuttle imagery throughout the browser looks fantastic, and it's compatible with a long list of extensions. It's also a nice tribute to the STS-116 mission.

Photo Credit: CNET Networks
No. 9: MidnightFox
If you're gonna go dark, do it with style. We're not usually big fans of black-background Firefox themes, but MidnightFox is a rare exception. The colourful buttons look great on the textured black interface, but unfortunately it didn't work very well with All-in-One Sidebar, one of our favourite extensions. It still surprised us enough with its fancy look to make it on the list.

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No. 8: 'Super Mario Bros. 3'
For the Mario fanboy in everyone, live the dream with tunnels for toolbar icons and pipes for scrolling in the Super Mario Bros. 3 theme. A recognisable little coin spins and spins as your Web pages load, but there's not much sign of the big man himself, and not a whole lot of polish.

All we can say is: needs more Yoshi.

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No. 7: extero
We like the brand-new theme extero because it's not afraid to take chances -- like black drop-down menus on a near-white interface. Some of the menu icons, such as "Print," are a little cryptic, but its Apple-esque style should prove popular.

The main reason it makes the list, however, is its "throbber," or the icon that animates while a Web page is loading. extero's is the coolest throbber we've seen this year ... maybe the coolest ever.

Photo Credit: CNET Networks
No. 6: HiVisGnome Jumbo
If you're gonna go big, you might as well go all the way. The helpful Firefox theme HiVisGnome, developed as part of the Access Firefox project for users with vision problems, is the biggest theme we've ever seen. Some of the options icons look straight out of 1994, but it's hard to beat for customising an interface that's as easy to see and use.

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No. 5: Miint
Ah, mint chocolate-chip ice cream. We're personally not the biggest fan, but we send a shout out to our mums and everyone else who loves the stuff with Miint, a Firefox theme full of frosty green and dark chocolate goodness. There's nothing to scream about, but it has its own cool style.

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No. 4: Redshift V2
Take a slide into the darker side with Redshift V2, a black-and-red Firefox theme that could appeal to both goths and 2 Fast 2 Furious racing types. A side bonus: The red highlights throughout the interface may convince coworkers that you bite.

The unique look wasn't enough to keep us around long, however. As pictured, we made much use of the Theme Switcher feature enabled by the MR Tech Local Install extension during my trip into the world of themes. Off to Japan!

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No. 3: Tinseltown
If you're one of those Christmas-loving maniacs who decorates every inch of your desktop with yuletide icons and loves to torment your coworkers with your holiday cheer, congratulations. Your Firefox theme awaits with Tinseltown.

Confusing green and red Christmas lights denote back and forward navigation, respectively; red-nosed Rudolph refreshes your browser (huh?); and Santa's hat means stop. Oh, it's the initials! Hmm. Too bad it does nothing to my "Closed Tabs" taskbar icon (available via TabMixPlus). We were hoping for reindeer dung.

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No. 2: TrafficFox
Go. Stop. Spin yourself crazy circling an inescapable roundabout. Vous n'avez pas la priorite! TrafficFox is the perfect Firefox theme for anyone who loves the term "information superhighway." Non?

Its sleek style -- with traffic icons for navigation functions -- and minimally intrusive yet informative interfaces transform Web surfing from a pedestrian experience to a joyride in a fancy European sports car. Really? Well, no. But the design does look slick.

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No. 1: Littlefox for Firefox
There are a number of great "mini" themes out there. The goal is to maximise screen space, making it ideal for viewing large pictures or videos with your browser. We're sticking to the one that we use the most: Littlefox for Firefox by Alfred Kayser.

One of our favourite touches is the gear icons for our little bookmarklets. It's clever like a Littlefox, and we're sticking with it ... for now.

Photo Credit: CNET Networks