Web Browser Wednesday
One thing that I have heard several complaints about with Firefox 2 is that the tabs are not themed to match what your operating system is using for a theme. Maybe you don’t like the darker color of the default tabs but don’t worry, it is so unbelievably easy to change that you’ll cry. Okay, maybe not as easy as a checkbox but close enough for those of us that have a little knowledge of computers.
First, I’ll show you what I’m talking about. These are what the standard tabs look like in Firefox 2, correct? Just nod your head and agree. 
So, after you complete what I am about to tell you to do your tabs will take on your operating system’s properties. This is what the new tabs look like for me in Vista (the left-most tab is a background tab, the middle one is being hovered over with the mouse, and the right-most tab is the currently selected tab):
In Windows Vista when you hover over buttons and other objects it applies a light-blue glow which is exactly what happens in Firefox now. I’m not sure how this will look in all operating systems but I’m sure some people will like it better while others will probably hate it.
So if you want to give this a shot there isn’t much that you need. You will be creating a custom style sheet and you can do it manually but I recommend just using Stylish. If you use Stylish you also don’t have to worry about restarting Firefox to see the changes.
Once you have the extension installed open up this text file that I uploaded (I would have pasted it here in the post but it is 165 lines long). Copy all of the code and place it into the Stylish box:
Save your new style and the look of your tabs should now match what your operating system calls for. Pretty cool, huh? The beauty of using Stylish is that you can easily remove the new look if you decide that you don’t like it.
I am kinda torn right now because I like having the light-blue glow when I hover over a tab but at the same time I miss the rounded corners on the tabs that the default theme offers. Sometimes I am so indecisive. 
I found this solution at UserStyles.org but at the time of this writing the site was down, but I was still able to get it from the Google Cache.
nice!
i had to restart firefox to get the extension to work.
IMHO, this article is worth to be a part of your “Firefox 2 Tweak Guide”.
This tweak is also a good alternative to [tech.cybernetnews.com] for those folks, who want to have only system-style tabs, but not Firefox 1.x icons.
Oops, I guess if you already had the extension installed you wouldn’t have to restart.
Huh, I didn’t even think about that. Maybe I’ll add it.
Nice tip thanks. I am going to give this a shot.
That’s pretty cool. But can’t you edit the stylesheet to include rounded corners on tabs? I’m pretty sure there’s a way to do that.
I’m sure there has to be a way as well because I know that I have seen some code to do the rounded corners but there is a lot of code there and I’m not quite sure what all of it does.
Sorry this is old, but I just came across this, but has there been a way discovered to make the tabs rounded in the code yet?
I’m sure there is a way to make the tabs round since it can be done in themes, but I’m not sure how that would be done.