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new look of 89 firefox

  • 10 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by bkirsten.bk

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Hello, I'm very disgusted with the new look of Firefox 89. Is there any way to get back the old view from 88, out of the downgrade version? thanks

Hello, I'm very disgusted with the new look of Firefox 89. Is there any way to get back the old view from 88, out of the downgrade version? thanks

Chosen solution

Hi All, which parts are bothering you? These are some common complaints:

  • the tab bar redesign => change floating buttons back to connected tabs
  • the theme => restore dark background behind tabs
  • spacing between menu items => reduce to previous spacing
  • wireframe graphics style => change the artwork to...
  • issues with the built-in new tab page

For the first issue (which also covers the second issue for most users), I can give you a quick short-term workaround, but a more durable solution will require more work.

Temporary Fix -- for Firefox 89-90 ONLY (not working correctly in Firefox 91)

For testing purposes, there is a preference to switch the tab bar and address bar between new style and old style. This is not expected to continue in Firefox 90, but maybe you want to use it for now.

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.

(2) In the search box in the page, type or paste browser.proton.enabled and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the preference to switch between true (new style) and false (old style)

Longer Term Community Workaround

This involves setting up a userChrome.css file. I have a rules builder that will get more features throughout the month. By the time the above preference is removed, it should be mature. If you want to take a sneak peek now:

Read this answer in context 👍 2

All Replies (10)

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The new look is horrible. if you want to get us More features or more security fine but stop changing the look and the location of options. I had left firefox for the palemoon project until they too lost their way. Now Firefox is telling it's users that they know better.... sounds like microsoft when they insisted that internet explorer was what everyone wanted! All I can see this new "look" and taking away the option to keep the look we are all happy and comfortable with doing is causing people to either 1) roll back to older less secure versions or 2)switching browsers entirely. for me firefox always had the stuff I wanted but the other guys are catching up AND still standing for the consumer on what they want... not changing for the sake of changing. I hope there is a tweak or a plugin coming to help as this new look makes me sick . if Not then once again I'll have to say goodbye to firefox

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Chosen Solution

Hi All, which parts are bothering you? These are some common complaints:

  • the tab bar redesign => change floating buttons back to connected tabs
  • the theme => restore dark background behind tabs
  • spacing between menu items => reduce to previous spacing
  • wireframe graphics style => change the artwork to...
  • issues with the built-in new tab page

For the first issue (which also covers the second issue for most users), I can give you a quick short-term workaround, but a more durable solution will require more work.

Temporary Fix -- for Firefox 89-90 ONLY (not working correctly in Firefox 91)

For testing purposes, there is a preference to switch the tab bar and address bar between new style and old style. This is not expected to continue in Firefox 90, but maybe you want to use it for now.

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.

(2) In the search box in the page, type or paste browser.proton.enabled and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the preference to switch between true (new style) and false (old style)

Longer Term Community Workaround

This involves setting up a userChrome.css file. I have a rules builder that will get more features throughout the month. By the time the above preference is removed, it should be mature. If you want to take a sneak peek now:

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

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Hello Jscher 2000, thanks for the reply. What bothers me is what you call points 1 and 2. Ie enlarged panels, far apart. I enlarged spaces in the menu, etc. Yes, I believe that everything can be traced somewhere in the settings, and after an hour of digestion, finding out and setting up is possible, I will temporarily approach the result, but the main reason is ... why? Why, if a change in the design has already been made, which can therefore be reversed by complex fixes, why it is not possible to click on keep old look during the transition? Yes, I'm probably very conservative and I hate the changes that someone is forcing me to do. In all probability, I will not use your advice because they are simply complicated, I do not want to look for things and spend precious time on that setup. At the moment I downloaded an older version of FF and I will be on it until, for example, the addon. Probably much longer due to banned updates. But still, thank you for your answer and suggest a solution.

edit : in the end i used your advice and i managed to get the FF design back with a new update. Thank you.

Modified by meister.loj

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Temporary preference was for Firefox 89-90 ONLY

meister.loj said

enlarged spaces in the menu, etc.

The temporary preference related to menu spacing is browser.proton.contextmenus.enabled.

I realize this is a pretty radical departure from the early days when Mozilla invented tabbed browsing and isn't to everyone's taste. We'll have to wait and see how long the older code remains available in the product for these workarounds.


Unofficial Community-Supported Workaround

Firefox users can modify the user interface of the browser using custom style rules. This involves setting up a userChrome.css file. If this is your first time, make sure to set aside 10 quiet minutes to work through it.

The full instructions are in the following reply: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1346577#answer-1435049

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

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I just reverted back to version 88 - I could not use the "new and improved" look of version 89. There may be a number of work-arounds, but I do not have the time or patience to fiddle with what wasn't broken. I just need to know when version 90 comes out, hopefully when you react to the feedback and make the UI more readable.

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New look is terrible normal look almost no diff between the menu bar and rest of screen. People who are color blind really gonna love it ...Duhhhh not!

You need updates to fix bugs and security i understand. pushing a terrible design through our throats cause makes it more look like chrome browser looks for example i do not understand .

Then give us temporary fixes to go around the changes so at-least we have the old look back is ridicules. I totally agree with the person "gordiesmwcoin" from comment somewhere above and i did the same as the person "donald.town" reverted back to 88!!!!

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The above chosen solution is better, the tabs are still above the address bar, but it looks better and is more legible, the tabs are easier to see and use, thank you.

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I love Firefox and it has been my preferred browser for years. However like others I don't like the new 'look'. My main objections are practical: that more screen space is taken up, particularly by the tabs bar, which is not helpful in a laptop setting; and the tabs bar having a light grey color makes viewing tab icons difficult - they stood out much better against black.

The work-around mentioned above - making changes via about:config - no longer works. I've been through the process several times, to no effect.

As a measure of my frustration I decided to go against accepted wisdom and advice and downgrade to a previous version. Unfortunately I chose the wrong version and ended up with the new interface AND lost all my bookmarks , history and form-completes in the process. ;-( I won't do that again.

Please can the developers take my objections seriously and incorporate an alternative. Available Themes do not cut it as far as I'm concerned. I just want my old Firefox back. Barry.

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Hi Barry, the "temporary" workaround no longer works in Firefox 91. I will update the old reply.

Mozilla has received a lot of feedback on the menus, for example, here, on Reddit, and at https://mozilla.crowdicity.com/post/720482

There is work underway to tighten up menu spacing for users who select the Compact mode, but this is just going into testing in Firefox Nightly (future Firefox 93) so we don't know when it will arrive in regular releases of Firefox.

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Thanks jscher, I appreciate your help. I'll hang in for improvements to follow.

Barry