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Firefox’s Nova Redesign Arrives with Firefox 157: What Changed

Firefox 157’s Nova redesign refreshes the browser across desktop and mobile. Here are the new themes, Compact Mode, sidebar options, and theme-compatibility details.
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Firefox’s Nova redesign arrived for Release-channel users with Firefox 157 on September 29, 2026. It updates the browser’s appearance across desktop and mobile, adds built-in themes and Compact Mode, and gives the sidebar a more prominent role. If you want a familiar look, you can switch to Mozilla’s Firefox Proton theme; restoring the earlier sidebar layout requires a separate setting and disables vertical tabs.

What Nova is—and which Firefox version includes it

Nova was Mozilla’s internal project name for a broad renewal of Firefox’s interface, not a new browser. Mozilla’s public-facing description calls it Firefox’s new design. Firefox 157.0 was first offered to Release-channel users on September 29, 2026, and Mozilla described the update as its biggest visual refresh in years. The redesign follows the Proton interface introduced in 2021. Firefox 157.0 release notes; Mozilla’s launch announcement; Mozilla Add-ons’ Nova theme guide

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What changed in the interface

A more consistent visual system

The redesign refreshes colors, icons, themes, and shared design elements across tabs, toolbars, menus, the sidebar, New Tab, and Private Browsing. Mozilla says the design is intended to feel more consistent across desktop and mobile. Firefox UX Team design announcement

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Themes, wallpapers, and New Tab shortcuts

Firefox now offers built-in light and dark theme versions, plus a theme picker with additional themes and wallpapers. New Tab has a dedicated area where shortcuts can be pinned and organized. These are interface and personalization changes, rather than a separate browser edition. Mozilla’s launch announcement

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Compact Mode and smaller screens

Compact Mode reduces the size of the toolbar and tabs, leaving more screen area for web content. Mozilla also describes an auto-compact option for smaller screens. It is a way to adjust interface density; it does not restore every part of the prior design. Firefox 157.0 release notes; Mozilla’s launch announcement

A more prominent sidebar and vertical tabs

The sidebar is more central to the refreshed layout, and vertical tabs are presented as a first-class option. The change affects themes too: the sidebar now shares the theme background with the toolbar area, and when vertical tabs are enabled, the tab-bar color also applies to the toolbar. Mozilla Add-ons’ theme compatibility guide

How Nova compares with the earlier Proton appearance

The redesign changes both the default look and the available layout choices. The options are not a single all-or-nothing switch: themes can change the browser’s appearance, Compact Mode adjusts density, and a separate preference controls the earlier sidebar layout.

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Area Nova design Earlier appearance or alternative
Visual theme Updated design system, with built-in light and dark themes and a picker for additional themes and wallpapers. Mozilla features a Firefox Proton theme in Add-ons Manager; it can be switched to and from like a normal theme.
Interface density Compact Mode makes tabs and toolbar smaller; Mozilla also describes auto-compact for smaller screens. The available information does not establish a separate Proton-specific density setting.
Sidebar and tabs More prominent sidebar and first-class vertical-tab layout. Setting sidebar.revamp to false restores the previous sidebar, but also turns off vertical tabs.

Mozilla Add-ons’ theme guide; Mozilla Add-ons’ Firefox Proton theme post; Firefox 157.0 release notes

How to choose a familiar look or sidebar layout

Switch to the Proton theme

Mozilla says it is featuring a Firefox Proton theme in Add-ons Manager. Because it is a normal theme, you can switch to it and switch away again using Firefox’s theme controls in the Add-ons Manager. This changes the theme; it is not a complete rollback of Nova’s interface changes. Mozilla Add-ons’ Firefox Proton theme post

Restore the earlier sidebar layout

  1. Enter about:config in Firefox’s address bar and confirm the warning to open the advanced preferences page.
  2. Search for sidebar.revamp.
  3. Change the preference value to false.

Mozilla says this restores the previous sidebar and disables vertical tabs. The preference is scheduled to remain available until the end of 2027. Firefox 157.0 release notes

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Will existing Firefox themes still work?

Mozilla says themes continue to load and most color and image properties continue to work, but some may look different because the interface regions have changed. An image made for a short horizontal toolbar, for example, can look awkward behind a vertical sidebar.

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  • For an image intended only for top toolbars, Mozilla suggests using backgrounds_area: "top_toolbars".
  • Theme authors can set sidebar colors explicitly and define selected-tab colors; the old selected-tab shadow is gone.
  • Mozilla says sidebar expansion on hover may fail to show a theme background in Firefox 157. Its guide announces a fix in Firefox 158, scheduled for October 13, 2026; that date is a stated release schedule, not confirmation that the fix has shipped.

The Add-ons team also lists further theme-fitting work—such as focus and link colors, menu and panel icon color, sidebar hover and selected states, and tab-strip button hover states—without release dates. Those items should not be treated as already available. Mozilla Add-ons’ theme compatibility guide

What Mozilla says about speed and privacy

The Firefox UX Team reported in 2026 that it had improved load times for key page content by 9% over the preceding year. That is Mozilla’s figure for broader browser work, not a controlled comparison of Nova with Proton. Separately, Mozilla’s September launch post says the new design has “no cost to your browser performance”; the cited material does not provide independent benchmark results for that claim. Firefox UX Team design announcement; Mozilla’s launch announcement

Mozilla also says the redesign brings privacy tools, including the built-in VPN and Private Browsing, forward in the interface. The UX Team describes Settings changes for controls such as turning AI features off and tuning Enhanced Tracking Protection. These are claims about visibility and available controls; they do not, by themselves, establish a change in the effectiveness of those protections. Firefox UX Team design announcement

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