Fastest/Lightest/Smallest/Simplest Firefox themes

[SirPeterPan]

-{ Quote: "
There is certainly 'speed difference'.
Themes with lots and large images are 'slower' than others.
Also style rules can be more complex in one theme than in others.
More images and complex rules do impact the overall performance of the gecko engine, as they also use the same cache, memory, etc.

So, for example: LittleFox is one of the 'faster' themes.
But there no precise statistics on this.
" }-

With this explanation in mind, what are the Fastest/Lightest/Smallest/Simplest Firefox themes currently available today (and not abandoned: being updated to work with new Firefox versions) ??

Please, only cite themes that happen to be lighter than the default theme. Thanks.

I'm using LittleFox and I can tell it really made some noticeable difference in my Firefox-based Pale Moon 3.6. Increased performance..

[Hungry Man]

The simplest ones should be the fastest. Haven't used firefox in too long, so that's all I have to contribute to the topic! sorry =p

[SirPeterPan]

looooool, yes but what are the simplest ones then ? xD

PS: you made me make an edit on the thread's title. :D

[vasa1]

-{ Quote: "looooool, yes but what are the simplest ones then ? xD

PS: you made me make an edit on the thread's title. :D" }-

What is the reason for using a theme? I think Mozilla is trying to migrate people to using Personas.

I don't use either. I can style all I want using userChrome.css and userContent.css.

[SirPeterPan]

Convenience.

Next.:)

[J_L]

Personas and userstyles are definitely lighter than themes. Why not use them? Personas are even more convenient than themes.

[SirPeterPan]

Personas can't be lighter than themes that happen to be lighter than the default theme (which are the ones I'm asking for in the thread).

As for userstyles, I'm just ignorant on how to use them. Give me some explanation, links to articles, etc, and I might try.

[J_L]

Userstyles need the stylish extension or editing the userchrome.css.

These (http://userstyles.org/categories/app) affect the interface of the browser. I usually use them to enhance the look or provide extras instead of the entire browser.

[vasa1]

-{ Quote: "Personas can't be lighter than themes that happen to be lighter than the default theme (which are the ones I'm asking for in the thread).
" }-

??????

[SirPeterPan]

-{ Quote: "??????" }-

Personas change the background image of the default theme, all in all it just complements the default theme and only works with it.

I'm asking in this thread for themes that happen to be lighter than the default theme.

Why is this so hard to understand?

[Hungry Man]

I don't think that any themes can be lighter than the default theme. Except for themes that mess with the .css file, which I don't think any do (manual only.)

Any theme is going to have to change something, which adds time. Even if it cuts something out it should add time.

I really don't know though since I use Chrome and haven't used Firefox in... wow... nearly 2 years.

[SirPeterPan]

-{ Quote: "I don't think that any themes can be lighter than the default theme. Except for themes that mess with the .css file, which I don't think any do (manual only.)

Any theme is going to have to change something, which adds time. Even if it cuts something out it should add time.

I really don't know though since I use Chrome and haven't used Firefox in... wow... nearly 2 years." }-

There are themes that can be faster than the default theme, if the image files they load are smaller than the images files the default theme loads and/or if their style rules are less complex as well. The performance increase is generally marginal, but in slow computers it can be (very) noticeable.

A theme that isn't being used (including the default one) is like a disabled extension. It affects only the disk space, loads nothing in memory/cache/pagefile.

[DOSawaits]

I thinking the fastest/lightest is the default.:)
Regarding the most readible/nice/constantly getting better : My only choice is Silvermel/Charamel.

I just don't get it when some utterly ugly dark themes with some yellow text on black backgrounds (yikes! my eyes!) get so much downloads, perhaps because they have some cool sounding names like Nasa or something.

Anyway, Silvermel & Charamel are fantastic, easy to read, very smooth, nice looking & constantly getting optimized.
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=1520265

[Basic]

-{ Quote: "I thinking the fastest/lightest is the default.:)
Regarding the most readible/nice/constantly getting better : My only choice is Silvermel/Charamel.

I just don't get it when some utterly ugly dark themes with some yellow text on black backgrounds (yikes! my eyes!) get so much downloads, perhaps because they have some cool sounding names like Nasa or something.

Anyway, Silvermel & Charamel are fantastic, easy to read, very smooth, nice looking & constantly getting optimized.
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=1520265" }-

This is also my choice for firefox.

I really don't think most theme developers are thinking in terms of lightest/fastest/smallest. The only one I could find is AvantGarde 5.2 (https://addons.mozilla.org/z/en-US/firefox/addon/avantgardeFF/). The developer of this theme claims to have coded this for efficiency and that it is one fifth the size of many popular theme's. This theme is not to my taste but you might like it.

Another theme that comes to mind is Whitehart 3.6.7 (https://addons.mozilla.org/z/en-US/firefox/addon/whitehart/) which has not been updated in a while. Which is a bummer because I like this theme.

[SirPeterPan]

-{ Quote: "This is also my choice for firefox.

I really don't think most theme developers are thinking in terms of lightest/fastest/smallest. The only one I could find is AvantGarde 5.2 (https://addons.mozilla.org/z/en-US/firefox/addon/avantgardeFF/). The developer of this theme claims to have coded this for efficiency and that it is one fifth the size of many popular theme's. This theme is not to my taste but you might like it.

Another theme that comes to mind is Whitehart 3.6.7 (https://addons.mozilla.org/z/en-US/firefox/addon/whitehart/) which has not been updated in a while. Which is a bummer because I like this theme." }-

Now, that AvantGarde is what I call a different theme! Will try it, thanks.

Edit: unfortunately, it only works with version 4 or superior. :(

[Basic]

-{ Quote: "
Edit: unfortunately, it only works with version 4 or superior. :(" }-

Well I'll be darned. Did not catch that.

[SirPeterPan]

-{ Quote: "Well I'll be darned. Did not catch that." }-

Firefox version 4+

[Basic]

MicroFox for Firefox 1.8.73 (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/microfox-for-firefox/) by same author as Littlefox.

Stratini 2.1 (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/stratini/) and Stratini Padded 2.4.2 (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/stratini-padded/) by patrick j dempsey.

You have got me curious about this now.

[SirPeterPan]

MicroFox = my new theme

Thank you very much! :)

[Basic]

Your welcome!

Some more to take a look at.

SoCool 0.1.2.5.1 (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/socool-12866/)

MonoChrome 1.3.1 (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/monochrome/)

ArzoFox 0.1.7 (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/arzofox-12868/)

Full Flat 3.6.0 (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/full-flat/)

FoxWorld 1.5.2 (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/foxworld/)

Purity 0.1.6 (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/purity-45608/)

Qute 4.1.1 (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/qute/)

Kempelton 3.2.1 (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/kempelton/)

In The Dark 3.5.3 (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/in-the-dark/)

[vasa1]

-{ Quote: "...

Edit: unfortunately, it only works with version 4 or superior. :(" }-

One would get more speed improvements by upgrading to Fx 5 than by installing a "better" theme on Fx 3.x.

[SirPeterPan]

-{ Quote: "One would get more speed improvements by upgrading to Fx 5 than by installing a "better" theme on Fx 3.x." }-

Not really, Firefox 5 feels very sluggish in old computers.

@ Basic:

Thanks man!

[vasa1]

-{ Quote: "Not really, Firefox 5 feels very sluggish in old computers.
..." }-

That's clear now. Old computer. Old Firefox.

[SirPeterPan]

-{ Quote: "That's clear now. Old computer. Old Firefox." }-

Of course, if I was on a new computer, I would be using IE9.:thumb:

[vasa1]

-{ Quote: "Of course, if I was on a new computer, I would be using IE9.:thumb:" }-

I knew it would come to this :D

[noway]

I've found computers for free that are fast enough to run Firefox themes without breaking a sweat. What exactly are you running here, a Pentium 75?

[vasa1]

-{ Quote: "Of course, if I was on a new computer, I would be using IE9.:thumb:" }-

The computer specs were not mentioned at the outset. The version of Firefox to be used was not mentioned either.

Even now, we're left guessing.

I'm not sure of the motive of this thread.

[SirPeterPan]

-{ Quote: "The computer specs were not mentioned at the outset. The version of Firefox to be used was not mentioned either.

Even now, we're left guessing.

I'm not sure of the motive of this thread." }-

ROFL.

FYI it's latest Pale Moon 3.6 (custom-build of latest Firefox 3.6) and the system specs are here (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1895575&postcount=9) if you are so curious.

You and others can suggest Fastest/Lightest/Smallest/Simplest themes for Firefox 4+ if you want, it's not off-topic; I just told Basic that the Avant Garde theme he suggested doesn't work with Firefox 3.6.

More on the motives of the thread:

-{ Quote: "
Large images do use more memory than smaller images. And as images use always 4 bytes per pixel, a 1M pixel image does use 4Megabyte memory. As firefox keeps one cache of images, for both content and chrome, means that if the chrome uses more memory, the content will get less of the memory cache. This also true for virtual, real and screen memory.

With the introduction of Cairo, Unix people (Linux part.) are complaining about the Xserver load causes by those images. There is even a specific bug (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=364221) about slow scrolling of a page because of the large background image, with some very specific statistics.

And you are right that XUL itself has much more impact than the theme code/images. That is why every change they make to tabbrowsing, introducing new panels, etc always impact the performance so drastically.

And actually some people do use old machines and things like terminal servers which are really happy with my smaller themes.

To conclude:

Bottom line is, put the right images with the right code and all is well.
" }-

[vasa1]

I hope you don't mind my saying so, but IMO, you're requirements weren't properly laid out. Even in the first post, you've quoted without attribution. In that post you want a theme that'll work with the latest version.

Later on, you didn't specify which version you wanted the theme to work with. You just mentioned Avant Garde was for Fx 4+.

As for the quote, isn't much of it a truism? The larger the image, the more complex a page, the longer it will take to load ...

BTW, older computers will run Linux happily. I'm posting from Mint running on a pen drive :)

[SirPeterPan]

Nope, I want to see themes that work with latest version as well. I might upgrade to Pale Moon 5+ when Mozilla discontinues the 3.6 line.

It it is a truism or not, I won't discuss. The difference is measurable, even if small. If you don't want to participate providing relevant information (recommending themes), then just ignore this thread.