Is this really worth making a big fuss over? The only time most of us would interact with personas is when Firefox upgrades and we see the update splash page. Aside from that, it basically stays out of the way and you can use the browser normally.

K. I have a simple solution for this guy. Don't change your Firefox persona. It's a feature, and guess what? You don't have to use it!

I, myself, sifted through a few of them and landed on one that I quite like. I've lived with it for a day, and I like it. It's not distracting, and it livens up the grayness of the toolbar a little bit.

So I fall on the side of people that like it. There will be some that don't. But again, you have the choice to do so or not. Nothing to create a whole rant over!

Oh dear. Mozilla has just exhibited its first symptom of "everything disease," in which it has noted the ascendancy of a competitor (Chrome), observed it, and started copying it without critically evaluating what it's copying.

Call it a shark jumping or whatever you will, but this to me marks the moment Firefox's post-peak status became unambiguously evident. Remember Blake Ross' philosophy that a browser should be as invisible as possible? By turning the browser UI into a dormitory wall, Firefox's gradual descent into bloat is made concrete, and its acknowledgment of Chrome as the future leader is implicit in its blind imitation of its theming system.

As for me, I'll stick with Safari.

To everyone saying this is a non issue:

Like all dev teams firefox has a limited number of resources. It's not that there's anything particularly wrong about this (well there is but that's a different argument): it's that they could've been working on much more important shit. It's also another completely unnecessary moving part which, even though this one is probably relatively simple, adds unnecessary complication. From a UI dev perspective it's also a feature that isn't supported on OSX, and I assume it's also not supported on the linux versions. It's even more of a waste of a time to focus on a feature that pulls these three in different directions.

Logically: stupid. This is pretty small though, so mountains out of mole hills? Yes.

I thought we were talking about attracting the "Normals" around here today, and then this rant appeared. It feels kind-of out of place.

This is exactly the kind of thing that happens when software companies start going after the "Normals".

Pretty pays, so function tends to take a back seat.

I believe that if you ask a "Normal" if they'd rather have more keyboard shortcuts or a rainbow colored browser, they'd probably take fancy over function every time.

Worst idea? Uh. I also thought that browser should look like everything else and so on, but then I simply tried some of these Chrome themes and some Firefox Personas, and hey, I liked it. Why not. Not all of them are ugly and makes everything in your browser illegible. It's just something nice to look at, something that looks a bit "artsy". I'm living in a rented shared flat with just gray wallpapers, some furniture, and the only decoration is an xkcd poster. I'm so glad that I can get at least this, no matter how desperate it may sound.

And, well, I have quite a lot in common with a teenage girl, but don't know why I should be ashamed for that…

(You may not share my taste: http://imgur.com/5r2B2.png http://imgur.com/kuo4X.png)

But please. Don't call something that I like and use, while you don't have to, a "failure".

This was actually implemented way back in 2009. It is also entirely possible to not use a persona and completely ignore this feature. Skinning/theming is actually a feature that some users may want. I've tried it and it doesn't seem to impact performance at all.

To many people the browser is just stuff around the page they are interested in.

Yes some of those personas is but ugly but it doesn't have to be.

I don't understand the problem. You don't have to use them.

This is not personas, it's simple theming.

An actually useful persona feature would allow cookie profiles/sessions that can be run in parallel (per window, for example) to log into several gmail accounts at once, segment my search identities, etc. I've found the extensions I've used lacking (maybe I've missed a good one).

But privacy and power usage don't seem to matter as long as everybody is distracted by "OOHHH SHINY!". It's the curse of marketing to the hump of the normal distribution.

When did Firefox turn into Netscape? What I loved about Firefox was how it was lean and simple to use. If it wasn't for a handful of add-ins I would have switched to Chrome or Safari by now... and it's only a matter of time until those add-ins are available in one of those browsers.

This seems to be a problem with lots of open source projects, features keep getting added and added and added. It's easy to add new features, it's hard to take a stand and keep things simple.

Maybe I'm not looking in the right places on their (Mozilla's) site, but how is this different than the 'themes' that have been a part of firefox for several years now?

I take issue with the WinAmp comparisson ... normal users liked that stuff. It's partly the reason Winamp was such a success (the other being that it was ingeniously simple to use).

I think the author is the one thinking like a programmer.

I upgraded today too and played around with the personas. Most of them wanted me to puke profusely, but I quickly found this one: http://www.getpersonas.com/en-US/persona/1498

It's a simple gray gradient that adds some subtle shadows to some of the text. It's a welcome change. This brushed metal one is cool too: http://www.getpersonas.com/en-US/persona/10897

I suppose they are trying to appeal to a younger audience, but I couldn't agree with you more. I find the new skins distracting and far away from the core value that I've come to expect and enjoy from the talented folks at FF.

Chrome has this too, and Opera's had support for it for a long time. I'm not sure Mozilla should get the credit for this "idea".