"While Firefox 2 used less memory than it's predecessor, Firefox 1.5, we intentionally restricted the number of changes to the Gecko platform (Gecko 1.8.1 was only slightly different than Gecko 1.8) on which Firefox was built. However, while the majority of people were working on Firefox 2/Gecko 1.8.1, others of us were already ripping into the platform that Firefox 3 was to be built on: Gecko 1.9. We've made more significant changes to the platform than I can count, including many to reduce our memory footprint. The result has been dramatic."
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Member since:2006-07-16
You may want to check out the GrApple themes, then:
http://takebacktheweb.org/
I've been using the Yummy variant (and its Gran Paradiso precursor) for a few months now. With my settings, Firefox doesn't use any more screen real estate than Safari does.
You can also right-click the navigation bar, pick "Customize", and check "Use small icons."
Member since:2005-12-13
...using Mac OS X 10.4.x with UNO 1.52 and the Firefox UNO theme from http://www.takebacktheweb.org add the following extensions:
Fission
Safari View
Stop or Reload Button
SwiftTab
...and optionally the Bookmark Keys extension (if you can make it work exactly as you'd expect on a Mac (command + 1-9 selects between Bookmarks Toolbar links), and you'll be able to get an almost exact Safari clone 
Edited 2008-03-14 08:30 UTC
Member since:
2005-07-09
I'm pleased with the other changes, but the interface for OS X is just way too large. It eats up twice as much realestate as Safari and doesn't do anything more. Just because IE 7 has obnoxiously large buttons, doesn't mean Firefox has to.