The biggest advantage of Personas is the fact that they can be added to the browser without restart (except maybe for the very first installation to switch from the old theme to the selected Personas theme). It is furthermore possible to preview themes directly in the web browser without installation. Another benefit is the sheer number of Personas that are available; Currently way over 30,000.

The main limitation of Personas is that they can change the design of existing elements but not the elements. Personas do not change buttons and other elements of the web browser. Only graphical changes are made when Personas are activated.

This is a similar difference to how themes are handled in the Windows 7 operating system. Microsoft made it easier to change some standard theme elements but users who want to change more than these basic themes offer need to patch files to do so.

To sum it up:

• Personas: Basic themes that only change the design of the browser, can be installed without restart. Unlikely to break things.
• Firefox Themes: Can change all elements of the web browser, require a restart. Can break things

Personas offer an interesting way to quickly change the look and feel of the Firefox web browser. It is however unfortunate that they are not compatible with third party themes.

The major benefits of the Any Color add-on besides the fact that the interface changes can be applied without restarting the web browser are the selection and preview of color themes as well as background images for the top and bottom of the web browser. Advanced users can also run so called appearance scripts that can change the web browser’s appearance dynamically.

The creation of a new theme using Any Color could not be easier. It is possible to edit existing themes or create a new one and assign color values and images to it. The theme can be easily tested all the time as the changes are applied instantly to the web browser.

The add-on provides access to additional theme tweaks that can be enabled in the options. This includes compatibility tweaks for several Firefox add-ons like the Colorful Tabs or All-in-One Sidebar add-on. Additional tweaks include changes to contrast, shapes, specific sites and miss tweaks like adding gloss or windows stripes.

A similar add-on for the Firefox web browser is the Personas add-on that allows users to change Firefox themes without restart.