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How to move the Firefox 'close window' x icon to the right-hand corner?

  • 4 replies
  • 24 have this problem
  • 12 views
  • Last reply by brentonian

AnonymousUser
AnonymousUser
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I've just been given the option to upgrade my Ubuntu Linux (from Karmic Koala to Lucid Lynx). Although the updated colour scheme and Fire fox look great, one annoyance is that the 'close window' X-icon has moved from the right-hand corner to the left-hand corner. As a right-handed person, my mouse pointer drifts over to the right-hand side of windows, so moving this icon from the right corner to the left corner doesn't make sense to me, as a right-handed person (~90% of the world are right-handed?). I know that there's almost definitely a keyboard shortcut for 'close window' but I would like to see the 'Close window' 'x' back in the right-hand corner, or an option/preference to put it back where it always used to be! (as far as I know...).

This happened

Every time Firefox opened

== When I upgraded Firefox to 3.6.3 as part of Ubuntu upgrade from KK to LL release. Think I might have been running an older 3.6.x version of Firefox prior to this.

I've just been given the option to upgrade my Ubuntu Linux (from Karmic Koala to Lucid Lynx). Although the updated colour scheme and Fire fox look great, one annoyance is that the 'close window' X-icon has moved from the right-hand corner to the left-hand corner. As a right-handed person, my mouse pointer drifts over to the right-hand side of windows, so moving this icon from the right corner to the left corner doesn't make sense to me, as a right-handed person (~90% of the world are right-handed?). I know that there's almost definitely a keyboard shortcut for 'close window' but I would like to see the 'Close window' 'x' back in the right-hand corner, or an option/preference to put it back where it always used to be! (as far as I know...). == This happened == Every time Firefox opened == When I upgraded Firefox to 3.6.3 as part of Ubuntu upgrade from KK to LL release. Think I might have been running an older 3.6.x version of Firefox prior to this.

Chosen solution

You're very welcome.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (4)

JYOuyang
JYOuyang
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This problem is not particular to Firefox but rather a design scheme that is applied to all programs running Lucid Lynx.

Solution 1.

Go to System > Preferences > Appearance. Choose a Theme that has the right orientation rather than the left.

Solution 2.

Open up a Terminal and run this snippet to move everything to the right again:

gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/general/button_layout --type string menu:minimize,maximize,close

AnonymousUser
AnonymousUser Question owner
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Thanks very much for the excellent reply. I tried the first option, and the available themes displayed on screen didn't make it clear as to the placement (left or right corner) of the various window icons).

However, I ran the command (your 2nd suggestion) and that worked a treat!

Thanks very much! What a great 'open source' user community (I've used Linux on my work PC for many years, but have only used Linux on my home PC for a few months - I continue to be impressed!).

cheers Lins

JYOuyang
JYOuyang
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Chosen Solution

You're very welcome.

brentonian
brentonian
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If you are not using UNIX, this is how to get the close button back to the end of the tab bar:

Type about:config into the location bar. Find the entry for browser.tabs.closeButtons and right click on the entry. Select Modify and enter the value 3 into the dialogue box. Done!