A theme for modern Firefox-based browsers made to be as faithful to Firefox Photon as possible.
Designed based on later versions of Photon, specifically Firefox 87.
Have an issue or want to share feedback? Feel free to open an issue or start a discussion!
Contributions are greatly appreciated!
| Windows | Linux (GNOME) | macOS | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 115/128esr | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | No longer updated |
| 140esr | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | |
| 143 | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | |
| 145 nightly | ✔️ | ✔️ | ? |
Most Firefox-based forks that don't drastically modify the interface are supported.
See the Forks section for more information about Firefox forks.
There are four (4) ways of installing this theme.
- Manual Installation 🛠
- Sine Mod Manager🪐 (recommended)
- Extension 🧩
- Git
Classic userChrome installation for Firefox CSS themes.
- Installable on all editions of Firefox (and forks).
- Configuration is handled in
about:config. - No auto-updates; you'll have to manually update the theme.
Open about:config and set:
| Pref | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets |
true (boolean) |
Enables userChrome customization. |
svg.context-properties.content.enabled |
true (boolean) |
Required for proper icon colors. |
browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.logowordmark.alwaysVisible |
false (boolean) |
Reverts the new tab Firefox logo behavior to what it was in Photon. |
browser.urlbar.scotchBonnet.enableOverride |
false (boolean) |
Disables the new dropdown-style searchmode picker. |
widget.windows.mica.popups |
0 (number) |
(Windows only) Disables transparency effects on menus. |
For Firefox 121 and below...
| Pref | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
layout.css.has-selector.enabled |
true (boolean) |
Only for Firefox 121 and below. Required for some functionality to work. |
layout.css.nesting.enabled |
true (boolean) |
Only for Firefox 117 and below. Required for theming and some other stuff to work. |
Optionally, you can set:
| Pref | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
security.secure_connection_icon_color_gray |
true (boolean) |
Makes the connection icon gray instead of green. Defaults to true in later versions of Photon. |
Too lazy to set all these prefs? You can visit https://zapsnh.github.io/zcpt-configurator/, enable Include preferences for theme installation (and maybe customize the theme a bit), and click Export Options to generate a user.js file that you can put in your profile folder.
Make sure to delete the user.js file after you start Firefox so that it doesn't override any changes you make in about:config.
Download the release for your browser version (for esr releases, download the files suffixed with -esr):
| 🪨 Static Release (stability) | 🛞 Rolling Release (features and bugfixes) |
|---|---|
| Firefox 143/140esr (recommended) | Firefox 143 |
| Firefox 128esr | Firefox 140esr |
| Firefox 115esr | Firefox Beta/Nightly |
Extract the zip and move zapsCoolPhotonTheme-* (where * is main, 128esr, etc.) to your profile folder. You can find this by going to about:support and opening your profile folder/directory.
Rename the zapsCoolPhotonTheme-* folder to chrome
Your directory structure should look like this:
Profiles>XXXXXXXX.profile_name_here>chrome>userChrome.cssand others
and not like this:
Profiles>XXXXXXXX.profile_name_here>chrome>zapsCoolPhotonTheme-*>userChrome.cssand others
Restart Firefox.
You're done! 🎉
Uses the Sine Mod Manager to install the theme.
- Installable on all editions of Firefox (and forks).
- Has auto-updating (?) and a basic configurator.
Install the Sine theme manager for your browser. (follow this guide)
You can get this theme by searching for it (zap's cool photon theme) in Sine's marketplace and installing it.
If you want to specify a version of this theme to install, in the local installation text box, then type in this repo, and optionally the branch (e.g. zapSNH/zapsCoolPhotonTheme/tree/128esr for the version for FF 128), and install it there.
You're done! 🎉
Install the theme as an extension (like uBlock and the like).
- Only installable on Firefox Developer Edition, Firefox Nightly, and Firefox ESR (and forks based on these versions) since you need to disable extension signing (which is insecure).
- Has auto-updating and a built-in configurator.
This version is based on Paxmod.
Open about:config and set:
| Pref | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
extensions.experiments.enabled |
true (boolean) |
Enables extensions experiments which allows CSS theming in extensions. |
xpinstall.signatures.required |
false (boolean) |
Disables extension signing which may be insecure. See this for the reason. |
All other preferences required to run the theme (see the table above) will be set automatically.
Download the release for your browser version:
| Browser Version | Extension Version |
|---|---|
| 140+ | Latest Version |
| 128 - 139 | v144.2.0 |
| 115 - 127 | v0.24.5 |
More info at: https://github.com/zapSNH/zcpt-webextension/blob/main/README.md
You're done! 🎉
Uses git . Recommended for people who know what they're doing.
- Installable on all editions of Firefox.
- Configuration is handled in
about:config. - There is no auto-updating (unless you make a script for that) but you can quickly update using
git pullin your terminal.
Open about:config and set the same prefs in the Manual installation.
Download and install Git if you haven't already.
Open your profile folder which you can find by going to about:support and opening your profile folder/directory.
If you're using a file manager with a GUI (Explorer, Finder, etc.), open a terminal in the profile folder, usually by right clicking and clicking Open in Terminal (or similar). (example)
Copy (or type) this command into the terminal git clone https://github.com/zapSNH/zapsCoolPhotonTheme.git chrome and press enter. Make sure the terminal's directory is the profile folder (like Profiles > XXXXXXXX.profile_name_here) and not any of its subfolders.
If you're using a version of Firefox that isn't the latest stable version then copy (or type) these commands into the terminal.
cd chrome
git checkout BRANCH_NAME
where BRANCH_NAME is your Firefox version (i.e. 115esr or nightly). (don't use the ones prefixed by webextension)
You're done! 🎉
If you're using a Firefox fork (e.g. Waterfox, Floorp, etc.), you can set these prefs in about:config for theme fixes and adjustments for your browser.
It is recommended to disable any custom UI styles set by the browser to prevent conflicts.
(these values should be booleans)
| Pref | Value | Browser |
|---|---|---|
uc.waterfox |
true |
Waterfox |
uc.floorp |
true |
Floorp |
uc.librewolf |
true |
LibreWolf |
uc.tor |
true |
Tor Browser |
uc.mullvad |
true |
Mullvad Browser |
You can view all of the config options at the Wiki.
An interactive configurator is available at https://zapsnh.github.io/zcpt-configurator/. To apply the settings, place the exported user.js file in your profile folder/directory (Profiles > XXXXXXXX.profile, not in the chrome folder), launch Firefox, and then delete the user.js file afterwards.
For the WebExtension version, the configurator can be found in the extension's options page (about:addons > zap's cool photon theme > Preferences/Options). The settings will apply after you click Apply (unless you're 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂).
Firefox Photon icons are primarily taken from Firefox 87 or Firefox 78esr. Other icons not present originally in Firefox Photon have been recreated based on their Proton/Acorn counterparts.
Special thanks to:
- black7375's Lepton (see the photon-style version of Lepton for a less aggressive photonization of firefox)
- YukisCoffee's Phroton (rip)
- The folks over at [email protected]
- Mozilla for Firefox
- You!!! (yes you, the reader)