Firefox debuts new UI that looks like Chrome, but does that mean it can compete with Chrome?

At long last, Mozilla has rolled out a massive UI update to Firefox that makes it look almost exactly like Chrome. Dubbed Australis, this is the biggest ever change to Firefox’s user interface, with much improved streamlining and customization, and the unification of Mozilla’s design language across the desktop, smartphone, and Firefox’s myriad other form factors. Australis will debut in Firefox 28, which just hit the Nightly (alpha testing) channel; if everything goes to plan, the new-look Firefox should be ready for mass consumption at the start of 2014.
As you can see in the screenshots above and below — or if you download a Nightly build for Windows, OS X, or Linux — Firefox’s new Australis theme is very curvy. The most significant changes over the current desktop version of Firefox are: Lots of rounded corners, inactive tabs that “fade” into the background, less padding above tabs, and a massively re-worked main menu button (which shares the same icon as Chrome). Australis also introduces a brand new way of customizing the layout of Firefox — if you hit Customize in the new menu, a new tab opens that lets you rearrange every UI element to your heart’s content (pictured below).

Customizing the UI with Firefox’s new Australis theme is rather fun

Some other features of the Firefox UI that add svelteness and sleekness are a Forward button that only appears when you’ve gone back (this is an older feature), a download button that doubles as a progress indicator, and some reevaluation of which buttons are exposed by default to new Firefox users.
The end result of these changes is a browser that has more vertical real estate and feels significantly sleeker. Compared to Internet Explorer and Chrome, Firefox was definitely starting to look a bit clunky and dated — Australis fixes that. The streamlined tab bar makes themes look better, too. Under the hood, the new UI is more extensible and flexible for future features. Changes to the back-end also allow add-ons to control the UI fully, so that they can be be side-by-side with the browser’s built-in functions, or disappear quietly into the background.


Australis has two primary goals: To make Firefox look and feel modern, and to create a unified look and feel (UI/UX) across every one of Firefox’s platforms — from Windows to Linux, from smartphones to tablets. As it stands, Firefox looks and feels very different, depending on where and how you’re using it. It is not a coincidence that the new main menu has big, touch-friendly icons — and likewise, the increased spacing between UI elements throughout the interface is for the sake of touchscreen users, not mouse users. Ideally, Mozilla would love to have a single codebase for the UI that can be easily ported between different screen sizes and platforms — Australis is a big step in that direction.

StatCounter: Browser market share

Breathing life into the old dog

The real story here, of course, is that Mozilla is trying to stay relevant in a field that is increasingly being dominated by Google and Apple. As of November 2013, StatCounter shows Firefox with just 18% of the desktop browser market, down from 31% three years ago. In the same time period, Chrome’s ownership of the desktop market has grown from 13% to 41.5%. Mobile stats are harder to come by, but it’s safe to say that the last three years have been very good to Android. In 2010, about 20% of all smartphones shipped were Android-powered; in 2013, it’s looking like it’ll be around 80%.

The dream: One Firefox, many different platforms

Mozilla is trying to fight back with Firefox OS, but as you can tell that particular endeavor hasn’t been massively successful. With Australis on the desktop, plus continued improvements to JavaScript performance and other general speed boosts to the Gecko layout engine, Firefox is more desirable than it’s been in a long time. Whether this is enough to withstand the marketing barrage from Microsoft and Google, and the massive network effect of Chrome’s near-monopoly, I’m not sure. Mozilla has said in the past that it’s happy to be in third place, as long as it has enough market (and mind) share to ensure that the web remains open. If Firefox’s market share continues to dwindle over the next year, I worry that it runs the risk of becoming the next Opera — a niche browser that bearded stalwarts stubbornly hold onto, but is ultimately inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

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