How to Get a New Side View and Color Change Functionality in Firefox
Firefox introduced several new features this week through its Test Pilot program, and two caught our attention: a new side view that allows you to view two sites in a single window side-by-side, and Firefox Color, a feature that allows you to aggressively adjust the colors of your browser.
Before we get to that, in short: Mozilla is just testing both functions. You can try them, but the company may never write them in the browser – and may pull them out at any time.
And before you can try the side view and Firefox colors for yourself, you need to open Firefox and go here to enable side view, or here to enable Firefox color . (You will be prompted to install Test Pilot before setting it up if you haven’t already.) And if you get bored of a feature, you can just as easily disable it by clicking the same links.
Use side view to split Firefox in two
Of the two, the side view is my favorite. Whenever you browse a website and want to open another one next to it, for whatever reason, you just need to click the button in the upper right corner of your browser. (It looks like a split page with two arrows.)
One drawback: to place a site on the other side of the window, it must be open in a different tab or exist in your story. You can’t just type in a URL and hit Enter, although there is one small exception to the rule: you can open links by right-clicking on that “sidebar” rather than in a new window. Your sidebar persists while you are viewing your “home page” for lack of a better description, and you can follow links in the sidebar without affecting the rest of the browser. Although, if you like, you can also click CTRL to open the sidebar links as new tabs.
By default, Firefox also displays the mobile version of sites, so they look good in a smaller window. You can also adjust the size of the main window and sidebar – they are linked, so making one window smaller makes the other smaller, etc.
Firefox Color can make your browser look prettier
For me Firefox Color is more of a waste of time than anything else, but it can be a fun way to personalize your browser to suit your own style if you’re willing to spend a little time. Turn it on and you can customize everything from Firefox background color to toolbar icon and text colors to create your own unique Firefox theme. You can keep your personalized theme for only you to use, or you can share your creation with your friends using a dedicated URL.