Themes are a fun way to change the visual appearance of Firefox and give the browser a look that’s all your own. You’re free to explore more than a half-million community created themes on addons.mozilla.org (AMO), or better yet, create your own custom theme. Best of all — create a theme featuring a beloved pet! Then you can take your little buddy with you wherever you go on the web.
(You’ll need a Mozilla account to create and publish Firefox themes on AMO.)
Prepare your pet pic for upload
I find it helpful to first size my image properly. For Firefox themes, we recommend images with a height between 100 – 200 pixels. So I might first prepare an image with a couple of sizing options, perhaps one at 100 pixel height and another at 200, and see what works best. (Note: as you resize an image, be sure its height and width parameters change in sync so your image maintains proper dimensions.)
Depending on what type of image editing software you have on your computer (PC users can resize pics with the standard Photo or Paint apps, while Mac users may be familiar with Preview), find the controls to resize and save your images in the recommended range. Supported file formats include PNG, JPG, APNG, SVG, or GIF (not animated) and can be up to 6.9MB.
Upload your pet pic & select custom colors
Go to AMO’s Theme Generator page and…
- Name your theme
- Upload your image
- Select colors for the header background, text and icons
Once you like the way your new theme looks in the preview display, click Finish Theme and you’re done! All new theme submissions must first pass a review process, but that usually only takes a day or two, after which you’ll receive an email notifying you that your personalized pet theme is ready to install on Firefox. Now Tootsie accompanies me everywhere online, although sometimes she just stares at me.
For more tips on creating Firefox themes, please see this Theme Generator guide or visit the Extension Workshop.