How to make Firefox look good on Mac OS X

Apple is often cited for the great design and usability of their products, yet they have several different looks on their Mac OS X interface. Namely Brushed Metal, Aqua and two flavors of Smooth Metal. It doesn’t bother me too much but it’s an interesting observation none the less.

UNO is a neat little app that modifies the appearance of all programs to fit into one single interface design (Smooth Metal). It’s great, the only downside is that these interfaces don’t act like their “real” companions. For example “Preview” is an Aqua application, it looks like Smooth Metal, but I’m only able to drag the window with it’s title bar, real (Brushed|Smooth) Metal applications can be dragged anywhere on the border. Anyways, that’s the only inconsistency.

I really like the look of it. Just take a look at my Firefox:

Lovely.

I’ve used UNO 1.3 and the GrApple theme (at the bottom of the page) (direct installation link). I also had to install the two files described at the theme page (userChrome.css and toolbar.gif) into my Chrome directory.

BTW, I use a G5-optimized version of Firefox from BeatnikPad this build includes some Aqua widgets which make Firefox even more OS-Xy. It is said that these builds dramatically speed up the rendering speed of Firefox.

I almost forgot: to get the close button for each tab separately I use Tab Mix Plus.

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The defining qualities are about use: ease and simplicity. Caring beyond the functional imperative, we also acknowledge that products have a significance way beyond traditional views of function. —Jonathan Ive

It’s sad and frustrating that we are surrounded by products that seem to testify to a complete lack of care. That’s an interesting thing about an object. One object speaks volumes about the company that produced it and its values and priorities. —Jonathan Ive