AvantGarde 5.2 was released to the public 2 nights ago, and I have to say, I'm very excited. Why? Lots of reasons.


AvantGarde 5.2 is the most space-efficient and speedy theme I've ever made. By a long long way. In April, Mozilla extended the challenge to add-on developers to improve performance. I responded by cutting file-size by no less than 80%. It was not an easy task, but AvantGarde now has a more efficient coding structure. Unlike nearly every other theme, AvantGarde no longer reskins the entire user interface. There are many similarities between the default theme and AvantGarde, and I've exploited this fact. My theme package now only contains graphics and code where there are changes in the user interface - and this is one of the main ways I have reduced file size.


I've also managed to add a few new buttons. Namely, zoom in/out buttons (which were strongly requested by you, my lovely users), the sync button, and the feed button. Iconminis are still in the pipeline. However, a couple of bugs have been fixed, and AvantGarde 5.2 is now properly compatible with Mac and Linux. As it should have been all along.


I'm also excited for another reason. Remember the seven goals I made for AvantGarde back in May last year? Well it's taken me 12 months, but the results are just astounding, if I may say so myself.

1.   Make AvantGarde one of the top 10 most downloaded Firefox themes

Big tick on this one. AvantGarde 5.1 peaked at number 5 most downloaded, and AvantGarde has remained in the top ten for about a month. It remains in this vicinity. I hope that AvantGarde 5.2 will build on this success and continue to climb the charts.


2.   Keep the bright, colourful personality you all know and love

This one is really based on your opinions, not mine! But I have to say, there are more ways than ever to splash colour onto your screen with an AvantGarde theme, especially with Personas.

3.   Add the flexibility to mould the AvantGarde theme into your own personality

As you probably know, AvantGarde 5.2 is compatible with Personas via a work-around detailed in the user support section of this site. You can, effectively choose from about 200,000 different flavours of AvantGarde this way. So you certainly can add a dash of you to your colourful new browser.

4.   Cut the size of the theme (in bytes, of course, so Firefox loads quicker)

If you've read above, you'll know that I've emphatically responded to this challenge. When I made this goal, my theme was called AvantGarde Skylight, and it was about 1.9 megabytes in size. AvantGarde 5.2 is just 236 kilobytes. That's a reduction of more that 85%.

5.   Make AvantGarde compatible with more add-ons than you'd ever dream of using

AvantGarde 5.2 is now merely a set of small changes and new graphics added to the default theme. So it is also consequently more add-on compatible than ever. If it works with Firefox 4+, and it works with the default theme, then it works with AvantGarde.

6.   Enhanced ease of use, user support, and accessibility

This one is harder to self-assess. I always want to enhance ease of use and improve user support. I try to answer all emails via the "Contact Me" form (link at the top of this site)  within 24 hours. I also now have a Facebook page for AvantGarde should users wish to post for user support there. Feedback via the AvantGarde feedback form has also shown an increased trend of user satisfaction of late, so there are some encouraging signs.

7.   Make developing my theme less of a laborious chore, and more of an innovative and creative process (in other words, have less demands on my precious time)

I've always thoroughly enjoyed making Firefox themes. But at one point, I was trying to maintain 8 of them. Bad idea, because although everyone loved all the different colours that were available, it was a chore to keep up with them, and new features were slow to implement. Now I have just one theme, one colour, and it happens to come in 200,000 flavours (which I don't need to maintain, yay!). That's really great. The new coding restructure now makes it simpler than ever for me to add new graphics and skin new elements.


The future's looking bright in AvantGarde land. Join the colour revolution and download AvantGarde today!