The new Firefox design lands in today. This is what you can expect

[AshleyT]

Firefox has evolved significantly over the past year and now, its look has evolved too. 

The design begins rolling out today, with Firefox 157, bringing a cleaner, more cohesive , and more adaptable experience. It is still the Firefox you know and trust, with the same commitment to independence, privacy, customization, and user control. 

The Mozilla Connect community has helped shape this work from the beginning by sharing feedback on the early designs, tested the experience in Nightly starting in July, filed bugs, and shared with us what worked and what didn’t.

Here’s what landed today.

A cleaner, more cohesive design

• Softer tab shapes
• Redrawn icons that hold up better across light and dark themes
• Rebalanced spacing throughout the interface
• A refreshed color palette featuring the glow of the active tab, deeper purples, and warmer light tones

The updated design brought bolder color choices to Firefox — and your feedback made clear that opinions on browser color run the full spectrum. In response, we created additional themes, accessible through add-ons and a new theme picker off Firefox Home, so you have greater control over how Firefox looks. 

More ways to make Firefox yours

Firefox is becoming more customizable, giving you more ways to shape the browser around how you browse. These options include:

• A new theme picker in the customization panel on the Firefox Home page. Additional community themes remain available through about:addons.
• New Firefox themes and wallpapers
• A dedicated space to pin and organize shortcuts so sites you use all the time stay put.
• Compact Mode for a denser browsing experience

Compact mode now officially supported!

Compact Mode is now available as its own dedicated setting. It will also switch on automatically on smaller screens, reducing the space between interface elements so more fits on the screen.

This is one of the clearest examples of how community feedback shaped Nova. Many of you told us that maintaining a denser interface was important, and we listened.

Faster performance

The refreshed experience also includes improvements to Firefox’s startup, page-loading, and scrolling speeds.

Frequently asked questions

Will my existing themes and add-ons continue to work?

Themes and add-ons should continue to work. Nova is built on the same Firefox foundation, and the extension and theming architecture has not changed.

Will my userChrome.css customizations continue to work?

Some customizations may require minor adjustments, depending on how closely they rely on element names or layout structures from the previous interface. 

But keep in mind that Mozilla does not officially support customizations made through userChrome.css. They can cause unexpected behavior or even break Firefox, and future updates may affect them as Firefox continues to evolve. If you choose to use userChrome.css, please proceed carefully.

You can learn more in Firefox advanced customization and configuration options.

Can I opt out of the update?

The new Firefox design becomes the default experience starting with Firefox 157. However, you have several ways to adjust how Firefox looks and feels, including Compact Mode, themes, wallpapers, and New Tab customization. 

Keep shaping Firefox with us

Nova may be shipping today, but the work doesn’t stop here. Many of these updates grew directly from the bugs you filed and the conversations you started while the design was being developed.

Update to Firefox 157 to try the refreshed experience, then let us know what works well and what could still be improved. Your feedback will continue to help shape what comes next.

[orderofthetriad]

like i'm soooooooo sorry that i'm not being nice about this update causing me physical harm. I am in f ucking pain right now. 

[Fulgerion]

It's not about taste, It's about function. Rounded edges are like lube. The tab is also disconnected from the window, which makes if very difficult to navigate to what tab you have open. It always made sense to have the tab connected with the window like a file folder. This update has no practical theory applied. When things are round, you just slide around them. When your eyes meet something sharp, it signifies an edge. Rounded or soft edges don't grab your attention. 

This doesn't even look nice. It's quite exhausting to look at because it's too round. And the tab is completely separated from the window, making it more difficult to differentiate the active tab from other elements.

[K0LO]

The purple colors in the latest Firefox are hideous. Please make a simple user switch to turn this off. I disabled it by disabling "browser.nova.enabled" in about:config, as the post prior to mine. It should always be possible to select a rather plain black and white Firefox if that's what a user wants.

[J35VKRYZPO]

Amigo, acabas de salvarme del "toxico color deconstruido" y homosexual morado. Pedí ayuda a una IA, pero todo lo que dijo no sirvió para nada... incluso llegue a perder 10 años de datos como marcadores, orden en la interfaz, todo, completamente toda la configuración del navegador. Que bueno que vine a quejarme del color, me sirvió para encontrar tu sugerencia... "about:config" y browser.nova.enabled = FALSE.

Dude, you just saved me from that toxic, purple 'deconstructed' and homosexual color scheme. I asked an AI for help, but everything it suggested was completely useless... I even ended up losing 10 years of browser data like bookmarks, UI layout, everything—my entire browser configuration. I'm so glad I came here to complain about the color; it led me right to your suggestion... 'about:config' and browser.nova.enabled = FALSE.

[J35VKRYZPO]

ES UN MALDITO ASCO DE ACTUALIZACIÓN. EL COLOR DE LA INTERFAZ CLARAMENTE GAY NO ES POSIBLE CAMBIAR DE ALGUNA MANERA. ES IMPOSIBLE, ACABO DE PERDER 10 AÑOS DE DATOS DEL NAVEGADOR POR EL MOLESTO SISTEMA DE PERFILES INTENTANDO CORREGIRLO AL REGRESAR A UNA VERSIÓN DEL NAVEGADOR ANTERIOR... LA "152.0.2". UN VERDADERO ASCO ESE TONO MORADO PARA TODO.

THIS UPDATE IS A **bleep** DISGUSTING TRASH. THE CLEARLY GAY INTERFACE COLOR IS IMPOSSIBLE TO CHANGE IN ANY WAY. IT'S IMPOSSIBLE, I JUST LOST 10 YEARS OF BROWSER DATA BECAUSE OF THE ANNOYING PROFILE SYSTEM TRYING TO FIX IT BY GOING BACK TO A PREVIOUS VERSION OF THE BROWSER... '152.0.2'. THAT PURPLE TONE FOR EVERYTHING IS TRULY DISGUSTING.

[Litvan]

Have you muppets ever heard of an "OPT-IN" instead of just showing things down our throat?
I didn't ask for the ui/theme change, don't want it, yet you just go "BOOM.. Here you are, you should thank us for making the browser worse"

I mean.. I opened firefox, and the very first thing I did (after I stopped screaming and trying to claw my eyes out) was open a new tab and type "firefox disable theme/ui" and then sighing in relief after 5 seconds of work turning that nova sh!t off.....

[Fulgerion]

Too many rounded corners. Whoever at the UI/UX team that is addicted to circles needs removed from the department, immediately. This is terrible to look at. The tabs are no longer connected to the tabs, like a file folder. The visual flow is completely disrupted. Too many round edges makes things very uncomfortable to look at. One top of thing beings too round. Whoever designed this update did not learn graphic design at all. Absolutely zero awareness of how the visual design "feels". In visual design, circles are like lubricant. When thing's are too soft, or round, your eyes just slide all over the place. There is no visual stopping point.

It was fine before. Stop fixing things that aren't broke. You don't need to change your identity every 2 years.

[HMCdwqLv]

I opened Firefox this morning and hated the new UI so much I immediately looked up how to disable it, which at least for now is possible thankfully.
I use the tab containers feature every single day and it's a big reason why I use Firefox over other browsers, but this update makes them look absolutely terrible and is so distracting visually. I also use dark mode and the new colour gradient is awful from both an aesthetic standpoint but also for accessibility.
I'm not personally hugely bothered by the switch from squares to circles on its own although I much prefer the squares, but all the other changes are so bad that I honestly would have been looking to switch browsers if there hadn't been an option to disable them.
I don't usually bother with feedback for stuff like this as I doubt it will make a difference, but I hated this update so much that I made an account just to post this and I hope they at least continue to allow this to be optional for as long as possible.

[J35VKRYZPO]

Me ocurrió exactamente lo mismo, aunque en mi caso entré en pánico, llegue incluso a intentar regresar a una actualización anterior. Lo de la extensión "containers", fue horrible. Un día tienes colores planos y muy fáciles de distinguir y al otro tienes una graduación donde una fino borde de color hace la diferencia. Puse en falso "browser.nova.enabled" y es seguro que muchos usuarios ni si quiera lograrán llegar a esta sección de comentarios para terminar cambiándose de navegador.

The exact same thing happened to me, although in my case I panicked and even tried downgrading to a previous version. The situation with the 'containers' extension was terrible. One day you have flat, easy-to-distinguish colors, and the next you're left with a gradient where a thin colored border is supposed to make all the difference. I set 'browser.nova.enabled' to false, but it's a fact that many users won't even manage to find this comment section and will just end up switching browsers altogether.

[wayyllon]

The outline around the selected tab is too thin, I can see pixels when it's turning. Increase the thickness by 1-2px.

[Shorrer]

New design is silly. Tabs are rounded too much which makes it appear as if a lot of space is wasted, they're also too round to properly display square favicons. The color design is too tacky for those who just wanted a dark theme. Like, you use the "dark" color scheme because you want it to be pretty neutral, right? And there isn't no new "dark" theme at all (well, there is, but it's only in the name). I mean, colors are cool and all, but what's better is the choice as some people prefer their UI to look how they want. It's Firefox we're talking about -- isn't "choice" is all why people are even here? What would be left of Firefox if not "choice"?
Please don't just blindly follow trends. If this continues then the "why won't we just use Chromium under the hood?" would be too close for comfort. At the very least make this new design "toggleable".
And in my honest opinion -- remove it altogether.

[SCnTRD]

Maybe I’m in the minority, but I actually like the new design overall. It might be a little too rounded, but I think some variety is a good thing. If I had to choose between the old design, the new one, and something in between, I’d pick the new one just for the sake of having some variety, and I doubt I’d switch back later.

The only thing that has been bothering me for a LONG time is the sidebar. When selecting a function that expands the sidebar on hover, it gets this oddly angled corner that doesn’t really fit the color scheme of about 80% of the themes. Even among the new themes, the only one where it looks properly integrated to me is the dark gold one.

Basically, the sidebar is nicely rounded in its normal state, but when it expands, suddenly the corner becomes angular. In modes where the sidebar doesn’t expand, it looks much more appropriate. Honestly, it’s a bit strange.

[dftf]

You:

Maybe I’m in the minority, but I actually like the new design overall.

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This post:

👍🏻 4 to 💬 303

It would certainly seem that way! 😂

[sebby300]

I've been using Firefox for years and this is the first time I felt the need to give feedback about a change because it really rubbed me the wrong way.

Sweeping UI changes (changing shapes of elements, AND colour across the entire web browser) should always be optional, especially if they serve no functional purpose.

I'm sure somebody loves the new saturated tab outlines and rounded tabs, and the weirdly high contrast black on the settings screen, but I immediately felt distracted by them. The ad for this update is that Firefox is "the good old internet", but part of what I hate about the "new" internet is companies just forcing arbitrary changes (like the aesthetic changes) onto every user for no apparent reason. There is no good reason for the user why changes like these are forced. None.

Firefox is bragging about giving the user so much ability to customize there experience, such as disabling AI features (which is great by the way! We should be given those sorts of options) but then it turns around and slaps a new, distracting theme onto the entire browser without asking the user to opt in if they want to, and with the only way to turn it off being in some hidden config setting (which apparently might not always be an option?)

It's very much exactly like the "new" internet and nothing like what people loved about the "old" internet. Let superficial things like themes be fully customizable by the user, and don't change it for everyone for no reason. Sure, develop colourful and unique themes if you want but it should be an option for those people who specifically want to use something like that, not just a new default look for everyone. It's, frankly, incredibly out of touch. Some people won't care and that's fine, I'm happy for them, but it's this kind of attitude that makes modern technology so frustrating to use: changes are forced onto people at seemingly random times for seemingly no benefit. I often wonder how people would feel if they bought a hammer, and then every couple of years the company that made the hammer would just go into their home and replace it with a slightly different hammer, with a different size, weight, shape, and colour, and just be like "We updated your hammer! You're welcome!" That would be pretty fricken annoying if you were used to how that tool felt, or if you picked it instead of another hammer because you liked the colours, or whatever. It's insane that the culture of software development includes this baked in expectation that the developers not only should regularly overhaul the look of things, but has the right to do so and force that change onto everyone who uses the software. It's just absurd to me, really, but it's the culture we are in right now. I want Firefox to actually distance itself from that kind of culture and put users first.

Anyway, thank you for listening to my rant. Apparently I needed to get that off my chest.

TLDR: Don't force superficial UI changes onto users, because it can alienate people and it serves no practical purpose. Make UI changes like that a clear option that users can opt into if they wish: no one is going to complain about customization options, what sucks is being forced to accept a completely arbitrary change.

[slartibartifart]

You're not alone feeling like this. Thank you for this rant because it puts into words my frustrations.

[slartibartifart]

I got up especially early this morning - 05:30am because it was forecast to be a rainy morning, and my commute to the office could easily go from being 25 minutes, to well over an hour. 
Before I left for work, I whipped out my macbook as usual to check the traffic one last time before heading out. This morning though was different because somehow, over night my trusty browser had been replaced by someone's LSD induced hallucination of where firefox used to be. 

I didn't check the traffic or leave for work, I googled WTF happened to firefox??!

Then found out about this nova thing. I honestly don't need this kind of crap in my life. I've already abandoned every other browser because of bloat and this and that and the other thing, and now you too?

How can your dev team or who ever the F it is that makes design decisions be so utterly tone deaf to think that this kind of crap is what your user base wants? We are screaming for keep it simple, keep it light, stop screwing around, keep focus, fix bugs, improve performance. 

What the hell do we matter though? Here, have this ridiculously ugly, tacky piece of **bleep** new interface and screw you if you don't like it. What you have lost sight of is that we-the users hold the power. Keep screwing around like this and you're all going to be destitute. 

P.S. I've been a fan since NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR days, so put that in your vape and smoke it. If you've become this deaf to your users needs you're utterly stuffed. 

[SodaPop]

100%

You read my mind.  This is exactly it.

[slartibartifart]

darn streight. I'm thinking of getting some coffee later and going outside to shout at some clouds too if anyone wants to join.

[cmcallister]

I use Firefox Multi-Account containers mostly for categorizing what tabs are for, especially at work. The new Nova design greatly reduces their visual effectiveness.

1. Moving the highlighted edge to the top for no reason makes the change jarring
2. While it seems like the colors have as many options, the variance between them is greatly reduced, making orange and yellow tabs basically indistinguishable along with blue/green, etc.
3. Removing the in-fill of colors in the icons makes them harder to recognize
4. making the tabs rounded (why? all this does is make more wasted space in my thin sidebar where I don't want wasted space) reduces the amount of space for tab colors to display, exacerbating the problem with poor color differentiation

I normally haven't really cared about the UI changes y'all have made over the years and actually enjoyed the Quantum upgrade immensely. Nova, though, just seems like a C-suite **bleep** show idea to have change for the sake of change nobody was asking for.

I have turned `browser.nova.enabled` to false and will keep it so until you remove the option. Should you do that I will most likey jump ship to Zen at work like I do on my personal machines.

[Lisq]

ALL THESE CHANGES ARE UGLY AND YOU MAKE FIREFOX WORSE AND WORSE. HOW CAN I REVERT THESE CHANGES? I DONT WANT THEM. GIVE ME A SINGLE WAY TO UNDO THESE CHANGES OR I AM CHANGING BROWSER

[dftf]

To reverse the changes:

In the web-address bar type about:config then press ENTER
Accept any warning, and continue
In the search-box on the next screen, type nova
Look for the line "browser.nova.enabled" and double-click it so "true" becomes "false"

That should undo most of the changes

[Lisq]

BTW YOU SHOULD RATHER FIX ANDROID FIREFOX - EVERY SINGLE TIME I SWITCH APPS FOR A SECOND (FOR EXAMPLE TO GET A VERIFICATION CODE FROM MY EMAIL) MY FIREFOX REFRESHES THE PAGE. IT IS SO FRUSTRATING AND MAKES REALLY UNABLE TO USE

[dftf]

If you have an older phone, with a low amount of RAM (thesedays 4GB or less, so a phone from around say 2021 or older), then Android will force apps out of memory, causing them to refresh when opened.

The best ways to avoid this are: close other apps in the background; only have Firefox and your e-mail app open.  And in Firefox itself, make sure you don't have lots of websites still open in the background -- the number inside the box after the address bar is the number of websites you have open in the background.  Tap that, and close any you are no-longer using.

[andyman1222]

No one:

Software corporations for some reason: BRO we really need to UPDATE OUR UI it's been like 5 minutes LET'S ROUND SOME CORNERS!

If there were a plethora of customization tweaks for this new UI built directly into the settings menu, I would be all for it. There aren't, beyond changing the colors.

I complain about how Google removes 90 degree corners in their UI. I use StyleBot with `border-radius: 0 !important` to force no round corners (Google STILL finds ways around the CSS, WHY). Now Firefox wants to roundize their own UI? NO, I WOULD USE CHROME IF I WANTED A ROUND UI.

The previous UI isn't much better, but at least there's some resemblance of rectangles instead of ovals.

[NekoNegde]

After more than 20 years with Firefox, this is the first time I felt the need to complain. Those curves are **bleep**ing ugly.

[dftf]

If you haven't done-so already: URL bar -> about:config -> ENTER -> accept warning -> search nova -> "browser.nova.enabled" change to "false" to undo most of the recent UI changes

[Firefux]

Please just stop. "Softer tab shapes." Did someone ask for this? Did a kid get cut on the tabs? I've never liked how the Google Chrome tabs look, so stop trying to emulate failure. 

Also, why did you change the color of everything? I use a theme for my browser, in addition to other addons that update certain websites. I don't need you to make everything purple. You're actually not helping. If you would like to introduce a cool new theme, please present an OPTION when the update launches. Let us see it with and without, and make a decision to use it. NEVER turn on some new option without an explicit setting to disable it. I should never have to use the about:config to fix the terrible ideas you have. 

I'm sure there's probably some decent things in this update, but you've presented the worst idea the loudest. Please rethink your business strategy. 

[dftf]

1. You can undo the recent changes: URL bar -> about:config -> ENTER -> accept warning -> search nova -> "browser.nova.enabled" change to "false"

2. Consider switching to the ESR version (https://www.firefox.com/download/all/desktop-esr/) if you want a Firefox that gets security fixes, but new features and UI changes only about once-a-year

[Sparatan117]

As a web dev and Mac User, I LOVE THIS NEW DESIGN. 

**bleep** the haters, this is the best looking Firefox update in a while. Bravo!

[orderofthetriad]

well F U C K you too! You can have this design and we can have the design we want, both can happen if the people at firefox actually GAVE A S H I T ABOUT PROVIDING OPTIONS FOR USERS! Vapid aesthetic loving loser. 

[dftf]

That's probably because tabs being one line, with only the current (active) tab having any sort of border or highlight is a very macOS-style way to do UI.

On Windows or Linux, it isn't.  So it may look normal to you, but it doesn't to others.  But it's likely most of the Firefox developers use a Mac, hence they prefer what they know.  Same reason that Arc browser only supported macOS initially; it's what everyone in their team used.

[Sparatan117]

I mean I get what you're saying, and once upon a time I would have been in the same boat, but honestly the fav icon and X being displayed creates a natural tab negative space that makes it really easy to see where one tab ends and the next begins.

I'm definitely for people having options though, and they probably didn't consider people wouldn't think the same way they did when they created this. 

Also I use Linux, MacOS, and Windows every single day... so I'm indifferent to each different style.... although my Linux DEs are always KDE Plasma so there's that.

[Bogdan_]

As a web dev and Mac user, you may love a bunch of long sausage-shaped objects right in front of a face.

But I prefer a cohesive user experience over pointless decorations.

[Sparatan117]

Lol the user experience is the same, it just got more aesthetically pleasing. 

You need some zen in the middle of a stressful day to help balance out the stress of deadlines and problem solving. Embrace it!

Also, no... I saw my fair share of sausages when I served for 6 years. Good on that front. 

[orderofthetriad]

"it just got more aesthetically pleasing" do you understand the difference between "objective" and "subjective"? You're acting like the look is objectively better when it's just your subjective opinion. You are not the true arbiter of aesthetic, you're just one dude with an opinion that can't wrap your head around the reality that you're not the main character here. You have an opinion which a lot of people here disagree with. 

"Lol the user experience is the same," maybe for you, but for me the new user experience is if I try to go into the- now extremely high contrast- settings menu I will get a migraine. It's not an opinion that'll I'll get a migraine, it is an objective fact. People with disabilities exist and a lot of changes firefox has made this past year are extremely hostile against them. You should try and consider learning that other people are actually people and not NPCs, you self centered weirdo. 

"You need some zen in the middle of a stressful day to help balance out the stress of deadlines and problem solving." like the stress of trying to problem solve how to use the settings menu without getting a migraine? You might find this ui "zen," but for many it has now become a source of stress, not a solution to it. 

[Mop]

How to I get rid of that lavender tint in the top tool bars?

[ItsWempo]

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firefox-proton/

Please note this doesn't completely revert nova

[dftf]

To revert most of nova:

Address bar -> type about:config -> ENTER -> accept any warning -> search for nova -> double-click the line "browser.nova.enabled" -> "true" changes to "false"

Should then get mostly undone

[Firerox]

I use vertical tabs and this update changed container markers from logical and beautiful short vertical lines that formed one colorful line to ugly horizontal fence of lines across all tab fence. It's absolutely rediculous! Looks terrible, overloads interface visually and unecessarly takes precios space. And all that was made just to fit in rounded corners. Nonsense!!

[dftf]

If you haven't already done so, revert most of the recent UI changes by going to about:config (type that in the URL bar, then press ENTER) and search for "browser.nova.enabled" and change it to "false"