I've created some userChrome.css code to address the annoying growing and shrinking of the address bar, if that's a feature that you don't like. You can download the code from here.

If you've never used userChrome styling modifications before, refer to How to Create a userChrome.css File for more information.

Hope this helps.

NOTE: A couple of people have tried this code adn it doesn't work for them. If that's the case for you as well, I'm working on fixing it.

Hi dcoo1, just a footnote about the bar, not related to its appearance:

One of those four preferences still matters: browser.urlbar.openViewOnFocus determines whether the drop-down list opens automatically when the cursor moves into the address bar.

If you want a pure mouse-based solution for accessing top sites, you can set that back to true. To clean up the list, you can unpin/rearrange/pin your Top Sites on the new tab page. See: Customize your Firefox New Tab page. To switch the list to the classic Show History frequently visited URLs list, you can turn off the Top Sites section of the new tab page. See: Customize your New Tab page to hide or display content.

The other three preferences are obsolete now.

Thanks for the info. Looks like there's no simple way to remove this now. It's not important enough for me to deal with style sheets, but thanks for that Wesley.

Note that browser.urlbar.openViewOnFocus is gone in Firefox 78.

• Bug 1627989 - Remove the browser.urlbar.openViewOnFocus pref

Note that browser.urlbar.openViewOnFocus is gone in Firefox 78.

• Bug 1627989 - Remove the browser.urlbar.openViewOnFocus pref

Firefox 78 should have a new checkbox on the Options/Preferences page, Privacy & Security panel, Address Bar section to control this automatic dropping down behavior (most likely labeled "Top Sites"). The corresponding preference is expected to be browser.urlbar.suggest.topsites (but since it's still in beta, it's subject to change).

Thanks for the additional info. And good to know I'm not the only one that does not like this feature.