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How do you remove permissions indicator icons from the address bar?

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This screenshot should clarify what I refer to. It is not made by me. http://imgur.com/a/1t5yl

The long row of icons can not be removed in 'customize'. [ edit: I corrected the post and removed discussions about other issues ]

This screenshot should clarify what I refer to. It is not made by me. http://imgur.com/a/1t5yl The long row of icons can not be removed in 'customize'. [ edit: I corrected the post and removed discussions about other issues ]

Modified by mats.forssblad

Chosen solution

Firefox 50.1.0 was released yesterday, so you may be one of the first people seeing something new. I'll try to update.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (8)

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What you 'pictured' appears to be a Theme that isn't compatible or a user customization that is broken in Firefox 50.

Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that temporarily turns off hardware acceleration, resets some settings, and disables add-ons (extensions and themes).

If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu:

  • Click the menu button New Fx Menu, click Help Help-29 and select Restart with Add-ons Disabled.

If Firefox is not running, you can start Firefox in Safe Mode as follows:

  • On Windows: Hold the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
  • On Mac: Hold the option key while starting Firefox.
  • On Linux: Quit Firefox, go to your Terminal and run firefox -safe-mode
    (you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)

When the Firefox Safe Mode window appears, select "Start in Safe Mode".

SafeMode-Fx35

If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, theme, or hardware acceleration. Please follow the steps in the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article to find the cause.

To exit Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.

When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help others with the same problem.

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Thank you for the suggestions, the-edmeister. I followed them and double-checked, but the row of icons remained. Then I completely uninstalled firefox, removed all user data, and started a brand new installation of firefox without login in to any old account. I used default theme, no settings changed, no addons. Still the same row of icons. I tested with or without hardware accelerations. Still a row of icons. A downgrade would likely get rid of them, but in explicitly downloading 50.1.0 in american english 64-bit or just choosing to download the latest you are given which seems to be the same, the row of icons remain.

Modified by mats.forssblad

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Another test - an updated Windows 7 installation in vmware - Firefox 46 - block everything in permissions for a site - just the information icon - firefox updates itself to 47.*, still just the information icon ... - firefox finally updates itself to 50.1.0 and restarts - after the restart there is the full row of icons. After these tests I find it more amazing that The-edmeister has not observed the icons and attributes them to a theme or customization. It is obviously a new implemented UI feature.

This is not the point to me thought. Go ahead and implement. But give us a way to get rid of it.

Modified by mats.forssblad

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Chosen Solution

Firefox 50.1.0 was released yesterday, so you may be one of the first people seeing something new. I'll try to update.

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Wow, I guess I rarely block any of those permissions so I don't see that on my normal sites. If I test it to the max, numerous icons accumulate.

If that bugs you, you can hide that area of the bar using a custom style rule:

@namespace url(http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul);
#blocked-permissions-container {
  display: none !important;
}

See attached screenshot for "before and after" demo.

Custom style rules can be applied using either the Stylish extension (new blank style, then paste the above) or a userChrome.css file.

To suggest this be made a built-in setting, you can submit feedback here:

https://input.mozilla.org/feedback/firefox

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Create a new profile to test if your current profile is causing the problem.

See "Creating a profile":

If the new profile works then you can transfer files from a previously used profile to the new profile, but be cautious not to copy corrupted files to avoid carrying over problems.

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jscher2000 said

Wow, I guess I rarely block any of those permissions so I don't see that on my normal sites. If I test it to the max, numerous icons accumulate. If that bugs you, you can hide that area of the bar using a custom style rule: @namespace url(http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul); #blocked-permissions-container { display: none !important; } See attached screenshot for "before and after" demo. Custom style rules can be applied using either the Stylish extension (new blank style, then paste the above) or a userChrome.css file. To suggest this be made a built-in setting, you can submit feedback here: https://input.mozilla.org/feedback/firefox

Thank you! Adding this to my userChrome.css removed the offending row of icons.

If the developer behind these forced UI 'improvements' read this, I suggest you change the default behavior to it's opposite. Do show an icon when a web site IS allowed to watch you on your webcam or listen to you on your microphone! But please give users an option to not use the feature.

Modified by mats.forssblad

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Hi mats, I think Firefox should not show a blocked permission icon unless/until the page tries to request that specific permission and is actually blocked. Then the user would have that visual cue as to why something might not be working as expected, or could be confident that the Block permission is doing its job. Like the pop-up block icon that sometimes appears in the address bar (or is that on another browser?).

Obviously the code for that is more complex, but it just makes more sense to me than a basic on/off setting.

Whether that is feasible or not, this site is like the Firefox emergency room and isn't the best place for either of us to be "heard" on UI suggestions...