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Re: New Firefox update-UI - revert back to previous settings...

Posted: August 11th, 2021, 9:42 pm
by Lanark
Thanks for the heads up about this.

In the short term you can turn off auto-update and download the last good version here
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/90.0.2/

Hopefully someone will have a fix before too long, otherwise its time to find a new browser.

Re: New Firefox update-UI - revert back to previous settings...

Posted: August 12th, 2021, 3:34 pm
by kyu66
Itsallaguess wrote:For anyone who's had the misfortune to recently update their Firefox browsers, they may be dismayed to see the 'visual improvements' Mozilla have made with the application...

If anyone's wanting to revert back to their previous Firefox visuals, then here's some instructions on how to do that -

1. In a Firefox tab URL bar, type 'about:config' and press return - you may also have to progress past a 'Proceed with caution' warning...

2. Once past any warning message, you can see a search box with the words 'Search preference name' in it - type 'proton' in that box and press return, and it'll then present you with some proton-related settings, which are related to the recent 'improvements'...

3. I've made the following changes by doubling-clicking on the true/false column as appropriate -

browser.proton.enabled > false (disables Proton UI of toolbars, tabs, application menu)
browser.proton.contextmenus.enabled > false (disables Proton UI of context menus)
browser.proton.doorhangers.enabled > false (disables Proton UI of doorhangers)
browser.proton.modals.enabled > false
browser.proton.places-tooltip.enabled > false

4. I've left the browser.proton.toolbar.version set to '3', as I don't think that really changes much if altered

5. I think the Firefox visual changes should revert back to something more 'normal' looking straight away, but I closed and re-opened Firefox just to make sure, and everything looked back to 'normal' for me following this rather intrusive visual 'improvement'....

Until next time, of course...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

Just a quick note for anyone that made the changes above (pre V91 of FF), you may find that when you go to the Preferences tab in FF you can no longer see what you have selected (the tick marks are not shown).

This happened to me with the V91 of FF on MacOS Mojave.

To re-enable the tick marks you must revert the change to browser.proton.enabled to its default of true

Re: New Firefox update-UI - revert back to previous settings...

Posted: August 12th, 2021, 4:46 pm
by GrahamPlatt
nmdhqbc wrote:this really annoys me. can't stand all the gaps in the bookmark folders etc. trying out chrome and i've already come across very annoying missing features. not sure i can win here.

3. setting a webpage as a bookmark is very cumbersome. with firefox you can drag the tab into the bookmarks to the exact spot you want it in one drag and drop. with chrome it's at least 3 clicks and then you need to go into the folder and drag it to the position within the folder you want it. very annoying. i create and delete bookmarks quite frequently.


This may help - though it’s Edge. Not sure if it’s possible with FF (yet)

https://www.howtogeek.com/718611/how-to ... ws-10-app/

Re: New Firefox update-UI - revert back to previous settings...

Posted: August 12th, 2021, 5:54 pm
by nmdhqbc
GrahamPlatt wrote:This may help - though it’s Edge. Not sure if it’s possible with FF (yet)

https://www.howtogeek.com/718611/how-to ... ws-10-app/


this link is something different. someone has shown me how to do number 3 above anyway. thanks.

Re: New Firefox update-UI - revert back to previous settings...

Posted: August 13th, 2021, 10:59 am
by Peltiq
As an alternative to Firefox, why not try Palemoon. I have been using it for a few months now and have found it quick to load and generally faster than Firefox.

https://www.palemoon.org/

There are 32-bit and 64-bit versions available for both Windows and Linux.

Karen

Re: New Firefox update-UI - revert back to previous settings...

Posted: August 15th, 2021, 5:18 pm
by Allitnil
The method given at https://www.askvg.com/tip-new-working-m ... -versions/ works with v91. It involves creating a css file however so I guess it might cause issues in the future (but just a case of remembering to try deleting the file if something strange does happen!)

Re: New Firefox update-UI - revert back to previous settings...

Posted: August 15th, 2021, 7:29 pm
by Lanark
Peltiq wrote:As an alternative to Firefox, why not try Palemoon. I have been using it for a few months now and have found it quick to load and generally faster than Firefox.

https://www.palemoon.org/

There are 32-bit and 64-bit versions available for both Windows and Linux.

Karen

The biggest problem with Pale Moon is the very limited extensions, a lot of the important ones are designed for firefox and so may break for Pale Moon.

I recently tried Waterfox, but found it too buggy to be practical.

Re: New Firefox update-UI - revert back to previous settings...

Posted: September 14th, 2021, 5:57 am
by Itsallaguess
Well the new v92 of Firefox has borked the colour scheme again, and beyond that, the tabs are back to being grey and indistinguishable again which is criminal - they seem to actually be on a mission to lose Firefox users in my mind, but I'm sticking with it for now so long as workarounds are available...

My latest fix is to use this Firefox Colour add-in, with a 'good enough' scheme linked underneath it, and at least it allows for a fix to the horrible grey tabs issue, as well as many other user-modifiable colour settings -

Firefox colour add-in - https://color.firefox.com/

Firefox colour sample scheme with improved tab colours (can be 'Applied' to use it as default scheme once the above add-in has been 'Added' to Firefox..) - https://color.firefox.com/?theme=XQAAAA ... Lzf_-haFKA

Note that anyone wishing to use this solution should bookmark the first URL shown above, as once installed that link then becomes the settings page for user-modifying any of the add-in colour settings...

The above solution is working well for me, and I've not had call to alter any of the many additional colour settings available in this new add-in, although I might have a play with the menus to see if I can lighten them up a bit, but hopefully the above might help others who might still be getting annoyed with these regular Firefox updates wrecking their use of the browser...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

Re: New Firefox update-UI - revert back to previous settings...

Posted: September 14th, 2021, 8:58 am
by richfool
Itsallaguess wrote:Well the new v92 of Firefox has borked the colour scheme again, and beyond that, the tabs are back to being grey and indistinguishable again which is criminal - they seem to actually be on a mission to lose Firefox users in my mind, but I'm sticking with it for now so long as workarounds are available...

My latest fix is to use this Firefox Colour add-in, with a 'good enough' scheme linked underneath it, and at least it allows for a fix to the horrible grey tabs issue, as well as many other user-modifiable colour settings -

Firefox colour add-in - https://color.firefox.com/

Firefox colour sample scheme with improved tab colours (can be 'Applied' to use it as default scheme once the above add-in has been 'Added' to Firefox..) - https://color.firefox.com/?theme=XQAAAA ... Lzf_-haFKA

Note that anyone wishing to use this solution should bookmark the first URL shown above, as once installed that link then becomes the settings page for user-modifying any of the add-in colour settings...

The above solution is working well for me, and I've not had call to alter any of the many additional colour settings available in this new add-in, although I might have a play with the menus to see if I can lighten them up a bit, but hopefully the above might help others who might still be getting annoyed with these regular Firefox updates wrecking their use of the browser...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

Thank you for that work around/solution, Itsallaguess. It's the background along the tabs that causes me most irritation, - there being no contrast between the colour of the tab itself and the background along the bar, both for me are currently white, so I can't even easily tell which tab I am looking at. I'm trying out your solution.

Re: New Firefox update-UI - revert back to previous settings...

Posted: September 14th, 2021, 9:03 am
by Allitnil
The solution I posted above still works, https://www.askvg.com/tip-new-working-m ... -versions/

nb: the version of userChrome.css I am using is:

Code: Select all

.tab-background{
border-radius: 5px 5px 0 0 !important;
margin-bottom: 0px !important;
}
.tabbrowser-tab:not([selected=true]):not([multiselected=true]) .tab-background{
background-color: color-mix(in srgb, currentColor 5%, transparent);
}
menupopup > menu, menupopup > menuitem{
padding-block: 2px !important;
}
:root{
--arrowpanel-menuitem-padding: 2px !important;
}

this gives the old tabs but with a slightly rounded top to them.

Re: New Firefox update-UI - revert back to previous settings...

Posted: September 14th, 2021, 8:28 pm
by 88V8
I haven't downloaded the two latest updates. Is this unwise?

V8

Re: New Firefox update-UI - revert back to previous settings...

Posted: September 15th, 2021, 1:29 pm
by xeny
88V8 wrote:I haven't downloaded the two latest updates. Is this unwise?



It's certainly poor security practice. Many might consider that unwise.

Re: New Firefox update-UI - revert back to previous settings...

Posted: September 18th, 2021, 7:53 pm
by 88V8
xeny wrote:
88V8 wrote:I haven't downloaded the two latest updates. Is this unwise?

It's certainly poor security practice. Many might consider that unwise.

Fair point.
I ran the update, no apparent difference.
And no problems, which is what was worrying me.

V8

Re: New Firefox update-UI - revert back to previous settings...

Posted: September 19th, 2021, 10:00 am
by xeny
88V8 wrote:And no problems, which is what was worrying me.

V8



I don't know if what follws is any help, but part of my job is being a sysadmin. I spend lots of time professionally worrying about and mitigating the risk/impact of updates changing things.

Ultimately though I have to maintain a system that is considered trustworthy, so I aim to get updates deployed in a reasonably timely fashion, and pretty much have to accept that the resulting changes may inconvenience me or generate more work to work around them.

It's the nature of the IT industry to seek change (I suspect UI designers are trying to justify their jobs at times with pointless changes) and FF is I think rather flailing UI change wise at present as they're losing market share and are almost desperately changing things to see if anything brings back customers.

Re: New Firefox update-UI - revert back to previous settings...

Posted: October 19th, 2021, 10:11 am
by Lanark
Apple Safari who also followed this idiotic design trend have quietly decided to go back to having tabs
https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/18/227 ... s-monterey