Take a look at the next Firefox review

Take a look at the next Firefox review

On the heels of the New Year, we told you about a major design overhaul for Firefox. Called the Proton, the new look is expected to be released generally when Firefox 89 is released in May. But you don't have to wait another four months to see what Mozilla has in store for you. The company has revealed some of what's in store for the browser in a series of design mockups. And it looks like there's a lot to look forward to with the Proton's design update. This is what you can expect. Mozilla has big plans, with changes to the New Tab page maps, address bar, toolbar, tab bar, main hamburger menu, info bars, and more. Going back to the beginning of the Web 2.0 design phenomenon, the updated tabs now have rounded corners (see below for how to enable them), and the New Tab customization options are now much easier to use. Firefox's menus have been relaxed to include fewer options by default, but can easily be expanded to display everything you might need to access. The information bars will use "color and whimsy" to make the experience of receiving Firefox messages "less formal and cold," the mockups reveal. You may be eager to try out Proton's layout for yourself, and this will be possible through the Beta, Developer, and Nightly versions of the browser first. By using one of these early versions of Firefox, you can increase your chances of getting the new look before most others.

New year, new look

In Firefox Beta, Developer, or Nightly, complete the following steps to access Proton as soon as possible:
  • Start Firefox and visit about: config
  • Search for browser.proton.enable
  • Set the parameter to true
  • Restart Firefox
  • Unfortunately, you probably won't see any changes right away. You will have to wait a bit for Mozilla to make the necessary changes to the server. But with this setting turned on, you can be sure you'll be among the first to try out the new look. If you are not satisfied with installing a potentially unstable version of the browser, it is not so long to wait until May for the official release. It is possible to test the new hamburger menu and new browser tabs by visiting about:config and setting browser.proton.tabs.enabled
    browser.proton.appmenu.enabled settings en true. Vía Techdows