Hmmm, is there a question there?

• To change the position of the tabs, right-click a blank area of the tab bar and uncheck "Tabs on Top". I actually prefer the tabs on top myself.

• You might be able to change the order of context menu items using this add-on (I haven't tried it): Menu Editor.

• You can open a new tab to your home page, but in order to do so, you need to delve into Firefox's about:config preferences editor.

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter. Click the button promising to be careful.

(2) In the filter box, type or paste newtab and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the browser.newtab.url preference and enter the desired value:

(i) Page thumbnails (default)

browser.newtab.url = about:newtab

(ii) Blank tab

browser.newtab.url = about:blank

(iii) Built-in Firefox home page

browser.newtab.url = about:home

(iv) Any other page

browser.newtab.url = full URL to the page

Press Ctrl+t to open a new tab and verify that it worked. Fixed?

You can also middle-click the Home button on the Navigation toolbar to open a Tab with your Homepage.

See also:

• Tools > Options > General > Startup: When Firefox Starts: Show my windows and tabs from last time

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Session_Restore
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Session+Restore

• [/questions/791244?page=2#answer-161497] Context menu - why "open in new window" is second and "open in new tab" is the first?

Thank you all..

to jscher2000: Yes actually Three questions 1) Why do companies like Firefox have to be such lemmings running off the cliff of the bad idea one company has done, just because its touted as "a revolutionary and major improvement."

2) Why has Firefox for so long made finding anything in the help system so difficult. While I've been out of the field for about 10 years on disability, I do have an advance degree in computers, taught CompSci for two local colleges but starting with Win95 help systems have been archaic and have only gotten worse. I can say the same thing with Netscape and Firefox.

3) How do I simply set things things back to the way they were in Firefox BEFORE someone got in their head moving menu options and screen layout around *must be* a major improvement.

To all, thank you for the help... And all your answers proved my point... Firefox has made it very archaic to ferret out how to undo changes and make setting adjustments if you aren't a power user.

oh, jscher2000... your tip for editing in about:config sort of worked... the last one

(iv) Any other page

browser.newtab.url = full URL to the page'''''

doesn't work, instead giving me a "bad address, be sure you are using a / instead of \" message.

BUT! Except for automatically loading my home page when I open a new blank tab, everything else works great.

See this article about the New Tab page (about:newtab):

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/new-tab-page-show-hide-and-customize-top-sites

^^I really wish there was some survey performed before making these changes, at least giving every firefox user the chance to speak up.^^

I take it you were using 3.0.x, 3.5.x or most likely 3.6.x before.

There was feedback actually as for example for the 4.0 Betas https://heatmap.mozillalabs.com/ and recent results are at http://blog.mozilla.org/ux/2012/06/firefox-heatmap-study-2012-results-are-in/

giving me a "bad address, be sure you are using a / instead of \" message

If you have your home page open in a different tab and copy and paste the URL from there into about:config, Firefox shouldn't be able to complain about the format. Does that work?

Yes, I know the difference thank you. In fact to be sure I didn't make a mistake typing the address in, I went to the desired page and copied the URL directly from the address bar (ensuring no leading and/or trailing spaces were added).

James Wrote: "I take it you were using 3.0.x, 3.5.x or most likely 3.6.x before. There was feedback actually as for example for the 4.0 Betas "

This is the first time I've EVER come to these 'forums' and nothing in any update or whatever said "oh come here give us feedback that we're just going to ignore anyway". Well at least not in something that wasn't in those long typically useless pages and agreements that are typical of products today.

Let me be blunt. Masters in Computer Sci, taught programming, SA&D, A+/Net+ Network design and I'm still not such a techno-wonk that I dive under the hood of very program tearing up every single tiny setting trying to tweak the most out of it. Computers are one of my many tools, Computers to *not* rule my life and suck up all my time.

Help > Submit Feedback has been in Firefox since Firefox 4.0, back in March 2011.

Is viewing and learning the menus in a program you are using that hard for someone with your Comp Sci background?

Are you capable of posting without the curmudgeon attitude and derogatory name calling?

The people you are "talking to" here are volunteers, no one that answered you works for Mozilla.

A) I have the background/experience but there is a reason why I retired from the field (actually am completely retired now)

B) The "how hard is it for someone with compsci background..." is actually *****. I have been through menus and options and two small parts of everything I've talked about were in the options/menus. Everything else you had to dive down into the "about:blank"...

Not that I think any volunteer is responsible for this shortcomings, my complaints have said "why does mozilla..." Again my computer is a tool, if I have to go through every program digging with a backhoe to find everything I need so I can effectively use a product (especially when the previous edition was sooo simple)...then how do you think the average person finds it?

It is quite evident with each round of major releases.... Windows, MS Office, Google Chrome, Mozilla to name just a few... the concept is "oh lets move everything around, bury settings, made major UI/Design changes... and dive headfirst into doing it if what someone else did is touted by the media as 'revolutionary' " Hell, why not just toss a ribbon toolbar up there, remove 20 key features, and then give your customers a big "New York Salute" aka "the Bird" what you think of their needs.

Edited by a moderator due to language. See the Rules & Guidelines .

I can only offer my own opinion on this. No matter how logical a UI change is, there is a productivity cost for users in learning something new. UI designers spend a lot of time thinking about how to make the software the best that it can be based on the latest thinking about HDI (and yes, the competition). They should do that; software needs improvement. But when it comes time to decide on defaults, publishers could do a much better job with making as much as possible of the UI change optional or at least make the transition less painful.