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Scrollbar appearance changed after Firefox upgrade

Radu Rendec
Radu Rendec
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I'm using Firefox on Linux (Fedora 33) and MATE Desktop. After a recent Firefox update, I noticed that the default scrollbar appearance has changed. Scrollbars in Firefox no longer look like the desktop theme and all the other apps. Instead, they are very thin and have no arrows at the top and bottom. Please see the attached screenshots: Firefox vs. standard application (Pluma text editor). I would like to get the scrollbars back to the desktop theme appearance.

Just to be clear, this is not about websites that customize the scrollbar appearance through CSS. I captured the attached screenshot using a tiny HTML file that I wrote myself and has no CSS. For what is worth, I tried to customize the scrollbars by following the suggestions I had found in other posts, namely through ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css and userContent.css. None of that worked.

I'm using Firefox on Linux (Fedora 33) and MATE Desktop. After a recent Firefox update, I noticed that the ''default'' scrollbar appearance has changed. Scrollbars in Firefox no longer look like the desktop theme and all the other apps. Instead, they are very thin and have no arrows at the top and bottom. Please see the attached screenshots: Firefox vs. standard application (Pluma text editor). I would like to get the scrollbars back to the desktop theme appearance. Just to be clear, this is '''not''' about websites that customize the scrollbar appearance through CSS. I captured the attached screenshot using a tiny HTML file that I wrote myself and has '''no''' CSS. For what is worth, I tried to customize the scrollbars by following the suggestions I had found in other posts, namely through ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css and userContent.css. None of that worked.
Attached screenshots

Chosen solution

On a Linux OS in about:config in Firefox, find the preferences beginning widget.non-native-theme.gtk.

Open a new tab and enter about:config in the url bar. You will be warned about proceeding and have to accept the risk if you want to. You can still change the colours with userContent.css.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (3)

Terry
Terry
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Chosen Solution

On a Linux OS in about:config in Firefox, find the preferences beginning widget.non-native-theme.gtk.

Open a new tab and enter about:config in the url bar. You will be warned about proceeding and have to accept the risk if you want to. You can still change the colours with userContent.css.

Modified by Terry

Radu Rendec
Radu Rendec Question owner
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Awesome!!! I set widget.non-native-theme.enabled to false and I got back my beloved desktop theme scrollbars.

Radu Rendec
Radu Rendec Question owner
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It worked, but it didn't last long. I just upgraded to Firefox 90 and I'm back to the non-native scrollbar, even though widget.non-native-theme.enabled is still set to false.

But this is where it gets interesting. If I reset widget.non-native-theme.enabled to true, then the other widget.non-native-theme.gtk.scrollbar.* settings control the scrollbar appearance as expected. If I set widget.non-native-theme.enabled to false, the widget.non-native-theme.gtk.scrollbar.* settings are ignored (also expected), but the scrollbars still use the non-native theme (why?) with the default size/aspect.