Firefox Personas

One the new features of Firefox 3.6 is Personas. Personas are great fun and allow you to skin your browsers using prebuilt themes or even using an image you created yourself. Your browser can be styled to anything from Harry Potter to the Amazon forests of Brazil!

How do you add Personas to Firefox?

To add Personas to Firefox you must download the Personas Plus add-on. Its free and is safe. After you install the add-on you can browse the Personas gallery either online via the Personas website or using the Firefox menu options (under Tools – Personas). If you choose to browse the website, you can see the most Popular Personas and also any new releases. Just click the Wear this Personas button and your browser skin will change instantly. Do not worry if you do not like the new Personas, a nice little toolbar will drop down with a cancel button.

Personas are becoming more and more popular for Firefox and the galleries are full of great designs. Some of the most popular personas include:

Groovy Blue
Abstract Black
Firefox B
Dark Fox
Abstract Electric
Japanese Tattoo
Abstract splash
Yosemite
Summerwood
Pink Radiance
Gato Cinza

If you choose to browse for Personas online (via the website www.getpersonas.com) you will see there are several categories including:

Abstract
Causes
Fashion
Film and TV
Firefox
Foxkeh
Holiday
Music
Nature
Other
Scenery
Solid
Sports
Websites

Create your own persona

One of the best parts of Personas is that you do not have to use the designs created by other people, you can create your own! Creating your own Firefox Persona is really easy as well. You just need a graphics application such as Photoshop to create an image in PNG or JPG format. The core element of a Personas is a single image that spreads across the top of the Firefox browser like a banner. It is called a Persona Header.

Persona headers need to follow these guidelines:

Dimensions should be 3000px wide x 200px high
PNG or JPG file format
subtle, soft contrast images and gradients work best
mages must be no larger than 300kb in filesize
images over 3000px x 200px will not be approved
never use artwork/logos/photography that you do not have the legal rights to use

How to create Personas for free

If you do not have a good graphics software do not worry, you can create them using any of these tools as well (they are all free).

SUMOPaint - SUMO Paint offers professional and easy to use tools for creating and editing images within a browser. SUMO Paint is a free image editing software that gives you the opportunity to create, edit and comment images online with powerful tools and layer support.

Photoshop.com - Tweak, rotate and touch up photos with Photoshop Express, your free online photo editor

Aviary Phoenix - All the Photoshop features you actually need, at a fraction of the price. Did we mention built-in collaboration? Create and edit with the world!

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