Mozilla has bumped Personas to version 2.0. The company has upgraded its set of lightweight themes for Firefox in anticipation of Firefox 3.6, which will be the first version of the browser to support Personas out of the box. Other versions of Firefox, like the current Firefox 3.5, still require that you download and install the Personas add-on to manage your themes.
While Personas 2.0 offers a few new features -- like an icon in the status bar that allows you to quickly switch themes -- the primary focus has been on redesigning the Personas gallery and making the installation process smoother and easier.
The gallery has a host of new ways to discover Personas, and browsing through it is now much more like browsing the halls of the Firefox add-ons gallery. New means of filtering and sorting themes by category, popularity or related Personas make finding what you want a bit easier.
If you're syncing Personas through the Weave add-on, there's no need to worry; we were able to sync 2.0 Personas through Weave with no difficulty.
Personally I've never understood themes, for Firefox or anything else. Themes are a bit like putting stickers on hammer -- You can, but why spend the time? I like my browser, but I like because its useful, not because it has pictures of Harry Potter in the menu bar. However, according to Mozilla, the Personas site will likely see its 40,000th design uploaded by the end of 2009, so clearly at least some of you are enjoying Personas.
While Personas aren't likely to convince hesitant users to switch to Firefox, they do offer an easy way to make your browser a bit more, well, personal. If you're a fan, head on over the revamped Personas site and be sure to install the Personas add-on if you aren't using the Firefox 3.6 beta.
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