A little late on posting this, but Mozilla has introduced lightweight theming for the ever-popular Firefox browser. The new version just released on December 14, 2007 improves upon a prototype that was discussed and tested earlier this year. This new extension will help web designers reach a wider range of users, as no browser restart is required to activate a new theme. ‘The Persona selector is dynamically loaded and populated from a JSON feed and all designs are loaded via URLs to remote resources.’ There is news that an API - which will allow developers and designers to submit themes or Personas, based on web content. Support for HTML, CS, PNG, JPG, Javascript, SVG, and Canvas are supported.

Personas is a prototype that builds upon the ideas that:

• Themes today are too hard to find, install, and use.
• Graphic designers should be able to style the browser without having to code.
• Browsers can be more than just desktop software, they can also include online components.
• People just want their computer to be a little more fun and personal.

Other features include the ability to select a Persona from the dynamic menus and view the theme instantly. No restarting is required after initial install of the extension.

Designers can remove, add or update their Persona without having to update the software.

Visit Mozilla Labs to install the extension.