This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

CHANGE BACK THE URL BAR

  • 11 replies
  • 6 have this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by AliceWyman

more options

Please change back the URL bar ever since it was added a month ago or whenever it has been SO annoying. I'm about to change browsers because I cannot stand it anymore. It is visually unattractive and obnoxious looking.

Also, highlighted text in it is a blue font color with no highlight. Why is this different from every other Windows program?? It is not easy to tell that text is highlighted. It should be HIGHLIGHTED blue with a white font color.

Please change back the URL bar ever since it was added a month ago or whenever it has been SO annoying. I'm about to change browsers because I cannot stand it anymore. It is visually unattractive and obnoxious looking. Also, highlighted text in it is a blue font color with no highlight. Why is this different from every other Windows program?? It is not easy to tell that text is highlighted. It should be HIGHLIGHTED blue with a white font color.
Attached screenshots

All Replies (11)

more options

Please ignore helpfox101's post and don't call that number  -   it's a scam !

more options

Hi Jadis, unfortunately there is not a convenient built-in preference for the old URL bar design in Firefox 77+ so taming the enlargement requires more creative remedies now.

Address bar colors

I think this issue is caused by using an add-on theme that hasn't been updated to use the latest settings for how to color things. Could you mention which theme that is and a volunteer could take a look?

Restyling the Address Bar to Prevent Enlargement

In Firefox 77, the only method to eliminate or limit the "enlargement" effect is to apply custom style rules using a userChrome.css file. I realize if it's your first UI hack, that all sounds like a foreign language. It's a little bit involved, so please set aside 10 quiet minutes to work through it.

(For anyone who already has a userChrome.css file set up, you just need to add the rules you downloaded under (A) to your file.)

(A) Download a rules file

https://www.userchrome.org/samples/userChrome-ZeroEnlargement.css

Use the downloads list on the toolbar to open the downloads folder directly to the new userChrome.css file. (See attached screenshot)

Minimize that file browser window for later reference.

(B) Create a new chrome folder in your profile folder

The following article has the detailed steps for that (#1, #2, and I recommend #3)

https://www.userchrome.org/how-create-userchrome-css.html

I have videos for both Windows and Mac in case the text is not clear.

(C) Move the userChrome-ZeroEnlargement.css file you downloaded in Step A into the chrome folder you created in Step B

(D) If you do not already have a userChrome.css file, Rename the userChrome-ZeroEnlargement.css file

Right-click userChrome-ZeroEnlargement.css and choose Rename. Carefully remove -ZeroEnlargement and press Enter to save your change. The final file name needs to be userChrome.css or Firefox will never find it.

(E) Set Firefox to look for userChrome.css at startup -- see step #6 in the above article.

The next time you exit Firefox and start it up again, it should discover that file and apply the rules.

Success?

Once you start tweaking the interface this way, you'll probably find more and more things you want to do. I suggest bookmarking the pages where you get the code for future reference because changes to Firefox may break them and it's easier to request an update if you can find the source.

more options

Hello,

You may have seen a post or received a notification regarding support for Firefox or Thunderbird with a link to another site or a phone number being posted. This is a scam and is not a method to receive support from Mozilla. Mozilla does not have telephone or email support. Please do not click on the link and do not interact by calling any phone numbers or email addresses listed. I apologize for any inconvenience caused. You are currently posting on the official Mozilla website and will receive assistance here.

more options

Thank you folks. Jscher thanks, I'll try your suggestions. I have Dark Fox theme enabled, but I just tried disabling it and restarting Firefox. Didn't seem to help. The URL bar turns the font color blue when text is highlighted instead of highlighting the text as blue. My screenshots shows this. Very weird!

more options

I have the same problem but jscher2000's helpful response does not seem to work for me. I added both the whole css file mentioned above, and also just the shorter snippet to my userChrome.css (which continues to work in that it is still giving me multi-row tabs, so I do have userChrome.css in the right place).

  1. urlbar {
 --lwt-toolbar-field-highlight: Highlight;
 --lwt-toolbar-field-highlight-text: HighlightText;

}

I can confirm I am using the default theme.

more options

Hi Jadis, Timtak listed the rules from another thread. Just to clarify because the forum modifies the formatting, it's:

#urlbar {
  --lwt-toolbar-field-highlight: Highlight;
  --lwt-toolbar-field-highlight-text: HighlightText;
} 

Maybe the problem is that those color keywords are assigned differently on your Firefox, so telling Firefox to use the highlight colors doesn't change anything. You could try directly overriding the colors on the selection intead of changing those variables:

#urlbar-input::selection {
  color: white !important; /* text */
  background-color: rgb(0, 120, 215) !important; /* background (faded blue) */
}
more options

jscher2000 said

Maybe the problem is that those color keywords are assigned differently on your Firefox, so telling Firefox to use the highlight colors doesn't change anything. You could try directly overriding the colors on the selection intead of changing those variables:
#urlbar-input::selection {
  color: white !important; /* text */
  background-color: rgb(0, 120, 215) !important; /* background (faded blue) */
}

That worked! Thank you very much indeed.

The way in which the text is initially selected in its entirety is a bit of a nuisance but I will be able to live with it.

This problem is solved, as far as I am concerned, but I am not the thread starter.

more options

To Timtak: You can report that your issue with the URL bar is solved, in the thread you started here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1294508 Return to normal highlighting and text selection in new URL bar

To others who may have a similar issue: Please don't post questions in threads started by others. If you need help with a similar issue, please ask a new question. See Mozilla Support rules and guidelines.

To Jadis: Do you still need help with the Firefox URL bar or is your issue resolved?

Note: The people who answer questions here, for the most part, are other Firefox users volunteering their time, not Mozilla employees or Firefox developers. If you want to leave feedback for Firefox developers, you can go to the Firefox Help menu and select Submit Feedback... or use this link. To report a bug or request a feature enhancement, see File a bug report or feature request for Mozilla products.

more options

Sorry about that. I thought that I was being encouraged to post similar problems in existing threads, so as to keep information in one place but I see it is against the rules, as you point out, and wonder why.

scher2000 please would you post in my thread https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1294508 so that I can mark your generous solution as the solution?

more options

Timtak said

I thought that I was being encouraged to post similar problems in existing threads, so as to keep information in one place but I see it is against the rules, as you point out, and wonder why.

Hello Tim,

It would indeed make a lot more sense to post similar problems in existing threads, for lots of reasons (e.g. contributors wouldn't have to post the same suggestions/solutions numerous times).

As for rules;   in my humble opinion there should only be one rule :

Always comply with common decency; show tolerance, understanding, empathy and kindness.

more options

To Timtak: No worries. I marked the thread you started at /questions/1294508 as "solved".

To McCoy: Disagreement with forum rules and guidelines or suggestions to change the rules belongs in /forums/contributors, not here.

This thread is getting off-topic. Replies to this thread should be for helping Jadis, the question owner; however, Jadis has not responded in over a month and may have abandoned the thread. If it degenerates further, this thread may need to be closed.