ColorfulTabs

ColorfulTabs is a popular and free addon for Firefox, an open-source web browser by software developer, Mozilla. ColorfulTabs replaces the standard silver-toned tabs with tabs of multiple colors. ColorfulTabs has risen in popularity since it's inception in October 16, 2005 and has 9,771,865 as of June 2009 according to Mozilla Addons which collects these statistics.

Inception
ColorfulTabs is based on the simple idea of improving tab usability and tab-differentiation based upon the color of the tab. There is a difference in the way our visual system processes color compared to the way that it processes shapes. Tabs use the two visual variables - shapes and colors - to differentiate themselves from each other. Additionally coloring of tabs results in theming of the tabs which improves the appearance of the tab UI. Thus ColorfulTabs:
*Distinguishes tabs from each other
*Creates a visual relation to each tab based on it's color.
*Aids in locating a particular tab of interest amongst a huge number.
*Creates a decorative appeal.
Notability

ColorfulTabs was amongst the top 50 most downloaded extensions at the release of Firefox version 3.5. It has been featured on Mozilla Addons recommended category several times, 16 June 2009 being the last known. ColorfulTabs was featured on BBC Click in June 2007. ColorfulTabs has 9,771,865 downloads as of June 2009. (). Additionally ColorfulTabs inspired other addons which work on the same or similar concept like Chromatabs whose author quoted the following "This problem has attracted some interest from the community already. Many of you may be familiar with the popular Firefox extension Colorful Tabs. Its solution is to simply assign each new tab a color from a fixed list, in sequence."

Criticism
Critics point out that ColorfulTabs features trivial functionality and serves no real function. Additionally ColorfulTabs has limited support for third-party themes. Additionally it has been criticized for inconsistent cross-platform appearance .
Functions

The following are the main functions of ColorfulTabs.

*Ability to color each tab using pre selected colors in a definite order starting from the left.
*Ability to color each tab using a unique and randomly generated color.
*Ability to color each tab using a unique color depending on the site domain using an algorithm.
*Allows user to chose colors.
*Allows to fade the background tabs for easy identification of the selected tab.
*Allows unlimited presets for color-domain combination.
*Allows advanced preferences to vary saturation and luminance of the randomly generated colors.
*Allows customization of preferences from the tabs' context menu.
*Allows customization of the tabs' background strip for added contrast and theming.
Licensing
Version 3.9.2 of ColorfulTabs was released under "Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works
3.0".
See Also
*Chromatabs
*List of Firefox extensions

Main Menu