In early March, we reported Mozilla’s plans for a major redesign of Firefox. This has now been officially confirmed. Mozilla is developing a new design system, internally called Project Nova, with the updated interface scheduled for release later this year.
Mozilla states the redesign aims to make Firefox cleaner, warmer, faster, and more adaptable while maintaining its familiar identity. Users will experience the new design as part of Firefox, not as a separate product.
According to Mozilla, privacy features such as private browsing and the built-in VPN will be easier to access. The Settings page will feature clearer language for data controls, Enhanced Tracking Protection, and options to fully disable AI features.
The redesign also supports workflow enhancements. Features like tab groups, split view, and vertical tabs will be more accessible without overwhelming the main browsing experience. Compact mode will return in response to user feedback favoring a denser layout.
The visual update introduces softer tab shapes, consistent rounded elements, updated icons, and improved spacing. The new color palette draws from Firefox’s fire-themed identity, featuring warmer tones, smoky purples, and lighter accents on active elements.
The redesign will be most apparent on desktop, with significant changes to tabs, menus, settings, panels, and controls. Mozilla notes that the same design principles will extend to mobile through shared colors, icons, and interface language.
On the customization side, Firefox will offer more themes and wallpapers, and Mozilla is exploring further controls over interface shapes, including tabs and related visual elements.
Regarding accessibility, Mozilla highlights improvements in contrast, readability, focus states, keyboard navigation, target sizes, system settings, and visual comfort. At the same time, dark mode remains a priority, as many users prefer it as their default.
The new Firefox design system is still in development. Mozilla continues to gather user feedback ahead of the broader rollout later this year. For additional details, refer to the official announcement.
Image credits: Mozilla
This is just really bad, looking playskool childish (with big buttons everywhere), everything crammed on the title bar, it’s going to be unusable with more than 5 tabs open (and everyone uses more than 5).
Also, it means more tinkering with userChrome.css to get back tabs below the URL (which is way more intuitive).
I’m not saying they should never refresh their UI, but this seems to be going in the wrong direction yet again.