// ITS FOSS — LINUX & OPEN SOURCE
Firefox in a New Skin! Nova Redesign Has Become The Default
Firefox has a new look that brings it up to 2026 web browser standards, where having a clean, minimal user experience is a growing phenomenon.
Called "Nova," the redesign leaked before an official announcement was ever made, with Mozilla playing catch-up a few months later via a technical blog outlining how they were approaching this major transition.
That transition turned out to be more work than the mockups made it look.
When the internal design files were made public in March, the mockups looked unlike any Firefox build before it. The tab bar, toolbar, and address bar were pulled into a single floating island at the top, with a visible gap between them and the page below.
Web content got the same treatment in those designs, sitting inside a rounded container lifted away from the browser's edges rather than running along with them. But the thing is, neither idea made it into the final release.
What we see in Firefox 157 is more refined. Tabs, menus, and the address bar are noticeably rounder, with a subtle gradient on the active tab that adds warmth to the interface.
I pitched Firefox 156 against 157 to see what changed, and I came out impressed.
Opening a new browser tab showed me where the most effort was put, with the tab bar being visibly rounder and the address bar corners being softer, giving the interface a very polished look.
Before this, I was already beginning to dislike the flat/bland look Firefox had; it bugged me whenever I would return from using another browser like Vivaldi or Chrome.
You see, both of them have already embraced a pill-shaped design philosophy that I quite like.