Sharing more about Project Nova

[rjacob]

Hello everyone!

Many of you have noticed some of the design updates appearing in certain Firefox configurations over the past few months. Internally, we’ve been calling this work Project Nova, and today we’re excited to share a deeper look at what we’ve been building and where we’re heading next.

The goal of this work is to create a more cohesive foundation for Firefox: making the browser feel cleaner, warmer, faster, and more adaptable.

Some of the areas we’re working on include:

• Simpler navigation and a redesigned Settings experience
• Easier access to features like tab groups, split view, and vertical tabs
• The return of Compact Mode
• Refreshed visual updates across tabs, icons, spacing, and browser surfaces
• More customization options, including new themes and wallpapers

The redesign work also focuses heavily on cohesiveness, accessibility, and making Firefox feel more consistent across desktop and mobile experiences.

This work is still evolving, and we want to continue building this in the open with all of you.

As always, let us know what you think below. We’re listening.

[Scotchester]

Adding another vote for a toggle to switch from the fully rounded buttons/tabs back to the current state of things. I get that full rounding feels friendly/approachable or even "modern" in some sense, and that you're trying to attract new people into the Firefox family, but it's not my preferred aesthetic, and I would appreciate the ability to choose (even if it's just a hidden about:config flag).

I'll throw out a pipe dream request, too. It would be awesome to have the option to make tabs look like, y'know, tabs again? 🙂 That is, attached to the main area below them (or to the right of them if you're using vertical tabs) instead of being free-floating buttons.

[fed-up]

I second the attached tabs! It's bugged me for a long time that the "tabs" now are just buttons that look detached from the main content.

[myspace]

thanks for update. excited to see more and glad to hear compact mode is coming back! 

[foxman]

To the Mozilla developers—dear to me, though my heart has been drifting away from you lately.

To be honest, I believe this design severely neglects usability and will only further shorten Firefox’s lifespan.
The unnecessary white space created to fill the unusable areas resulting from the rounded corners significantly reduces the display density. While this might be an appropriate design for smartphones, which require large hitboxes for touch input, it’s fatal for PC use.
Even as it stands, the context menu with its excessive white space is terrible.

This design should absolutely not be adopted. People don’t choose a browser based on its design. What matters is functionality, speed, security, and above all, the customization options that only Firefox offers. At the very least, I think you should allow users to choose the previous design.

I welcome the return of Compact Mode.

[Arvid]

I very much disagree. “People don’t choose their browser based on their design” is totally a power user thing to say but I can guarantee you that most people are rather visual folks. 
it would be nice if they include some options to reduce padding but just for accessibility alone you need a certain padding to be WCAG compliant. 
I think that the “islands” are certainly something where space is wasted and they go back on it. Also because it adds visual clutter imo. 

[foxman]

Your point is very well taken.

However, I also believe this browser has a high proportion of power users and long-time users. Furthermore, I do not necessarily consider adding whitespace and rounded corners to be inherently modern design.

Rather, in order to keep both groups of users with differing opinions like ours from leaving, I think it is highly important to maintain two design languages.

[sparrowbeepig]

This redesign comes off as immature and like something you'd see in an interface made for kindergarteners. The color scheme is clearly childish, and the rounded corners are both excessive and unnecessary.

Stop changing the design every year and copying bad ideas from other browsers! A proper redesign would look like Firefox 76. Clear, simple and familiar. No one asked for this Barney & Friends UI.

[Arvid]

I like the general more colourfullness of the design! I think the gaps (especially of the top section with the URL bar) to the side of the window are a bit busy visually (and also waste a teeny tiny amount of space since you now need spacing inside of the sections as well as spacing for the sections in the window itself). I personally think it would already look less busy if the shadow for the sections was reduced or removed completely but those are just my two cents.

In the end visual refreshes are always gonna be controversial as everyone has their own opinion and preferences hahaha
I wish your team much resilience in this feedback phase 😅

Most likely we all will just get used to it and I think the positive changes definitely outweigh the negatives for me! Keep up the good work!

[dtx01]

After 5 years with Opera i tried Firefox again  and was super impressed with what Firefox has become. It has way fewer bugs than Opera, feels less sluggish, and the controls are super intuitive and useful. Switched Immediately, looking forward to the Nova Update.

Some Suggestions from what i am missing: 

- please add this flag to settings:  browser.bookmarks.openInTabClosesMenu   ("false" should be the standard option IMO)

- Option "send to Mobile" directly inside adressbar instead of having to right click  the tab

- Custom websites in Sidebar (like web.whatsapp)

- Add customizable edge rounding for UI in Nova ! Rounding is too excessive (right now is perfect IMO) do not make the same mistakes like google

- customizable links on  new-tab-page (desktop and mobile) that are not based on browser-history

- Caroussel Tab view option on Mobile (like Opera) would be awesome

- True Black Theme on Mobile

other than that you are doing a fantastic job and i'd highly appreciate more performance improvements in the future.

[Shibotto]

It's horrible. Stop detaching pieces of the UI and start with reattaching the tabs.

[seive]

You should just go back to the Photon design

[kit_absurd_res]

This screams "Material You" or whatever the latest Google's homogenous, ugly design is called. The only thing I like is the addition of Kit (beautiful mascot, by the way 💛❤️). Everything else looks like change for the sake of change, but doesn't even look good.

At least the previous design wasn't too bad, even if it was yet another "do what Chrome does" redesign. I really don't like the spacing that wasn't there before and increased spacing elsewhere, nor do I like the excessive roundness or the borders. I don't like any of the "form over function" changes.

Provided nothing changes, browser.nova.enabled set to false will go straight into my configs. No thanks. The layout changes are a complete downgrade and a literal waste of screen real estate, not even figurative.

The only way to redeem this would be to prioritise customisation for roundness, spacing, borders, etc. I realise this was confirmed to be done "over time", but whenever that would be, it would be way too late if not at launch. Please, delay it if necessary, just let the average user dial it back before they consider ditching for alternatives.

[at2]

I don't want it t all.  It's geared to some mythical user that's never used a browser and want a wall of marketing crap on their homepage and are impressed by colors that (not making this up) are favrored by lower end of the normal IQ range - pink and purple. Also, rounded corners are intruduced almost a decade after they became the new thing, and has reached peak overuse.  Did you notice saavy user detest Windows 11 make-everthing-rounded nonsense?  And I use Macs most of the time, where there's lots of rounded stuff, but it's waay more subtle.

[at2]

Firefox "Nova" is terrible. Why are redesigns so tailored to home uers with very, very low tech skills? It idotizes interfaces and bomards you with visual fluff rather than focues on the key objective: to be a secure, stable, reliable content delivery tool with good bookmarking and enough customization to allow slightly edge case folks to get their wish for, say, vertical tabs.

If you must, how about a toggle for 'Thanks, I hate it, take me back'?

[TotallyUniqLily]

A lot about this update feels like a downgrade. The rounded corners give text a lot less space to breathe, while not being any more compact. Tabs feel even less attached to the browser content than before.
The islands very much look cool, but they introduce visual clutter.

It's very form-over-function and personally I don't like the new form either. Tabs already had a soft, rounded shape! The smaller corner radius helped make their borders/edges distinct.

I agree with gcozzi's comment about transparent island gaps. They look cool, but also very distracting. They do look okay in a maximized window, where they make Firefox feel like it's a window manager, but they're very ugly otherwise (though Plasma rendering shadows around the window doesn't do them any favours).

What I do like however, is the new settings. Adding more categories was a much needed improvement given how search currently works, and I appreciate that time is being taken to improve their readability. Making everything an island there sounds useful to make individual settings pop. In the current design, many times my eyes glossed over a setting while I was actively looking for it.
Edit 3: Checking the settings on Nightly with nova disabled, they're pretty much just as good. (and prettier imo)

The current tab getting a clear border is good (though I already had that with a theme :P).

Personally, I think moving the Android pill to the side looks a lot better even if it is a bit less practical, but I can see why others may disagree.

Edit: Having looked through the settings on Nightly, I hate that I can't delete search engines. It feels very uncomfortable seeing Perplexity there and only being able to disable it.
Edit2: Additionally, the search engine list elements are too big, making it impossible to see all engines at a glance since the list overflows into the scroll region. Flattening them a bit would do wonders.

[at2]

Just read that you can't delete search engines.  Whhat?  So FF i going to the "you will like what we give you and if not, tough" mode seemingly everything has become.  I shudder at losing FF but this redesign and desperate search for income presumably from adding Perpleity AI as unremovable, just hide, is not gonna help with your existing loyal base and won't move the needle one micromillimeter for new users.  NONE of this redesign will get new users.  Perplexity as a search options will not do it.  This is shockingly bad.

[TotallyUniqLily]

I think it's worth considering that they might have done this change to obsolete the "Restore Default Search Engines" button. Still, it's a bad look and very uncomfortable.

[Shvabra]

Got a new settings design. Personally, I don't like it; everything feels like a mess. Also, a special shout out to the genius who hid the proxy settings.

152.0b2

[Zoutpeper]

Focus on the tremendous drain firefox has on my battery instead.

This redesign looks like it was fone by people who hate practicality; lots of wasted space, rounded corners (which reduce clickable surface) and unneeded redesigns of buttons.

I no longer use firefox because it is good, but because it is not chrome. Yet with each passing day Firefox seems to try and emulate chrome more... Do you want to be irrelevant?

[jacobc]

Keeping the option to enable the Title Bar is good to let us grab and drag many windows from where the mouse lands at the top of each window, instead of hunting for the small safe draggable space to the left and right of the tabs. 

[peekkay]

I wanted to share a specific rendering issue I'm noticing with the new Project Nova active tab design on Windows 11.

When running at a standard 1920x1080 resolution with exactly 100% scaling, there are distinct anti-aliasing problems specific to the curve of the active tab capsule. Instead of a smooth, clean arc, the curved edges exhibit noticeable jaggedness and uneven rendering along the loop.

This issue occurs on a completely fresh profile with default settings, suggesting it is a scaling/rendering problem specific to how the new curve geometry resolves at a 1:1 pixel ratio.

[Antares]

I don't find excessively rounding everything and using tons of screenspace for unneccessary faff design elements to be "modern" or "friendly", I find it infantilising, like I'm using a browser made for children, uninspired, as many other browsers use the same sort of design language, and wasteful, as it does not respect my screen real estate. 

First that absolutely godawful redesign of Firefox Android, now this. It feels like your UX/UI designers completely lost the plot. 

[cephirosx]

I find the new menu on the firefox android confusing, instead of making it easier to find things it made it harder

[andrew8596]

We need a rounding control so that people who don't like round shapes can easily change it.

[OldBoy]

Hello,

When I first read about the new Nova redesign, I was worried about what it would truly mean for me and other users. All my concerns became reality. Nova is horrendous for me.

The violet accents hurt my eyes within a matter of seconds. The chosen colours are bad for my poor eyesight, making everything harder to read and putting heavy strain on eyes accommodation. I use light themes, bright background and black text, works the best for my eyes.

Recent Firefox changes have also restricted UI customisation and removed the ability to freely mix dark and light theme components. Using SVG background assets is now the main workaround, at last until Nova lands, because themes will become broken afterward (nightly 153.0a1, Nova on, all my themes breaks, like this one https://addons.mozilla.org/pl/firefox/addon/classic-theme-wkr/ ). Why there are rounded elements everywhere, as others, I think they look hideous.

Compact mode in Nova is also poorly implemented compared to what we can achieve now. There is too much space above and below the tabs, and adding the window frame looks weird. It provides less working space overall. Selecting the address bar, enlarging it also reduces the visibility of the tabs and bookmarks toolbar.

The only improvement to Firefox is the new Settings design, but it's not part of Nova. Even if we must get used to it, it looks clean and neat — but only with browser.nova.enabled set to false. If it is set to true, I get a headache after a very short while, again combining a light violet background with dark violet  text can create eye strain.
Firefox losing identity along the way is what bothers me. The moment Nova becomes mandatory in it's current design or you remove possibility to switch it off, like you always do at some point in time (browser.nova.enabled), I will be forced to look elsewhere.

So, either give us ability:

1. To change/switch colour from new violet to old blue that we have now, with related background and text. Old colours are easier to read.
2. Give ability to switch off rounded tabs e.t.c
3. I don't like, that every few years because of redesigns, old themes breaks, you don't respect creators.