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.

[manticore]

browser.nova.enabled --> off

[TrekBec82]

I got the update and I hate it. The purple in the settings menu is genuinely hard on my eyes - you need to let users have control over the colour scheme for accessibility reasons!

[sosasees]

The purple really is alien.

The blue was an excellent choice because everyone on Earth is used to seeing that color in the sky.

[maplewalnut]

I honestly don't like this design at all. I'm happy that there could be more ways to theme it in the future, but I honestly like something minimal and more square. The previous Proton UI (which I have now enabled in about:config) looks a lot better in my opinion. Thank you for listening to feedback as always.

[PEJ]

Drop the AI features and go back to having ispell/aspell based spell check.  You rather nailed it with the original on that: No AI, use the pipes for spellcheck...

[Rkland]

Honestly, I love all the changes. They're very good, and they make browsing very nice. I love the rounded corners of the tabs, and I think you guys hit the nail on the head. It's very good, and I love the privacy. Fantastic!

[terribleplan]

Holy cow this is ugly. I just updated firefox and got assaulted with terrible rounded corners. Even after disabling "nova" it is still somehow worse than before with tabs detached from (and with unnecessary padding between) the status bar.

[superwind45]

I hate the pill shape tabs. Add an option to disable it. And I do not like that we can't customize the gradient, and no colors apply to the rest of the browser. I do not like the color purple or whatever is used across the browser, I want a color of my choice.

[notANotherUserN]

More than anything else, I'd prefer you bring back the option to have text menus and browser controls as an option.  Text only.. text and icons or icons I believe the choice used to be.

For me, icons are both condescending, designed for children and the illiterate - and difficult to see, which discriminates against visually impaired people.

I hate to break it do you folks, but firefox is NOT the most customizable browser.. Pale Moon and Basilisk still out pace firefox on interface choices and have since you folks stopped supporting the extension, classic theme restorer,.. and Vivaldi allows .css changes.

Claiming that "Firefox has long been the most customizable browser. It’s in our open source DNA"   is just wrong.  You folks have been eliminating both helpful addons and built in features for over a decade.  That statement was wrong in 2015 and has gone down hill since.