14 DAY TRIAL // Firefox Australis still isn't ready yet. It may land in Firefox 26, currently in the Nightly channel, but it may be pushed back even further. Judging by how many times it's been delayed, it's safe to assume that Australis won't become the default until Firefox 27 at the earliest.
Still, the revamped UI has been in testing for a few months now in the official Nightly UX branch. In fact, people are already working on add-ons for the new UI.
One of the goals Mozilla is trying to achieve with Australis is simplification, i.e. getting rid of unnecessary or confusing elements and options. At the same time, one of the big reasons why people love Firefox is the customization options.
Fortunately, Firefox users are getting the best of both worlds – a simple interface for regular users and advanced options for power users.
In that vein, there already is an extension that enables extensive customization of the Australis UI. Users can alter the look and behavior of several features; for example, they can switch back to square tabs if they don't like the round ones.
They can also place the tab bar below the AwesomeBar, like in the classic Firefox, as well as use small navigational buttons.
The navbar can be removed altogether; an option that's no longer available in the most recent Firefox builds. Likewise, the find bar can be moved back to the bottom of the page. Australis has it at the top, like Chrome.
Finally, the add-on bar can be re-enabled, making it possible to place add-on shortcuts at the bottom rather than in the main navbar, which is the only option in Australis.
All in all, the modifications should be enough for even the most hardcore users and should enable everyone to create exactly the UI that they're comfortable with. The add-on isn't available to the general public yet, but it will be launched when Australis lands in the main Nightly channel.
