5 Steps to Make Your Firefox Look and Feel like Google Chrome

Many users prefer Chrome over Firefox in choice of primary browser just because of its simplicity and clean interface. But still Firefox has a big dominated user base with being second most popular web browser on desktop. Other than Chrome, Firefox has bigger collection of addons and personalization ability. However, some Firefox lovers out there who want their Firefox browser look and feel more like Chrome, rather than default interface.

Here are some steps which will help you make your Firefox’s fronted interface close like Google Chrome. This is very exclusive to those who want to stick to Firefox but miss Chrome’s simple UI. I’m going to show you multiple add-ons to fill up all the purposes.

Step 1: Install a Chrome Theme for Firefox

FXChrome extension is an excellent and best Chrome inspired Firefox theme which will change Firefox’s overall “Outlook” just like native Chrome. I actually impressed with how it reassembles Firefox tabs into exactly Chrome like tab styles. It also replaces default loading indicator with Chrome’s loading icon. This is the first and must use Firefox add-on if you seriously want to make your Firefox look like Chrome.

Step 2: Unify Address-bar and Search-bar

As previously mentioned, with Omnibar, you can combine Firefox address-bar and search-bar into one like Chrome’s Omnibox. This let’s you get a Chrome like single address bar and a way to search or directly go to addresses from one place. Latest Opera and Internet explorer has similar unified address box.

Step 3: Move Downloads to Status bar

Download Status bar add-on add a download manager to status bar of bottom area whenever you start download a file just like Chrome. It also useful for those who want extra controls on Downloads on Firefox. Note that the default downloads button and manage will not be gone.

You can right-click on the status bar for extra options.

Step 4: Move Toolbar Buttons to Menu

One thing you will notice in Chrome, it has less buttons in toolbar. Chrome places its most shortcuts to its menu which makes its toolbar area more clean. Firefox has built-in option to move toolbar buttons to clean up it. Here’s how to do this:

1. Open Firefox menu and click Customize.
   
2. Drag the toolbar buttons to Menu area which you want.
   
3. Drag Home button to left side of the toolbar as Chrome has it this way.
   
4. Hit Exit Customize.

This lets you access those buttons from Firefox menu while having a clean toolbar.

Step 5: Set New Tab as Startup Page

Firefox shows a default home homepage on startup which is obviously not in Chrome style. Firefox new tab page is different, where it shows a Google search bar and thumbnails of most frequently visited pages. On Chrome, the startup page and new tab page is same.

If you want to set Firefox new tab page as default startup page, type about:config into Firefox address bar and hit enter for accessing Firefox advanced settings. Search for the preference browser.startup.homepage. Double click on this entry and change the value to about:newtab. Thanks Jayakumar for this tip.

Conclusion

Making Firefox look and feel like Chrome not only makes it simple, but also makes it pleasing and friendly to Chrome freaks. However, you cannot make changes to Firefox menu and internal structure.