Hello Deirdre Young,

I totally agree with you ....

Would you do this please :

Type in the address bar about:config and press Enter. (ignore the warning)

Type in the search bar and look for the preference :

browser.urlbar.openViewOnFocus

and set its value to false

Do the same with these preferences :

browser.urlbar.update1

browser.urlbar.update1.interventions

browser.urlbar.update1.searchTips

Then close and restart Firefox.

(if it's only the Top Sites suggestions that you want to get rid of : setting the value of first preference to "false" will do that).

Thank you!

Hi Arman,

Those instructions did work in version 75.

I have all those settings changed in about:config, and they no longer work in version 77... as I said.

Tell me : did you test this before answering? Just curious.

Deirdre,

Firefox 77 was just released today, it may take a few days to learn what was changed in 77 over 76 to be able to "fix it", again. Personally I haven't gotten the 77 update yet, and with as tired as I am with the constant changes, I am learning to live with the changes as they arrive.

I am so tired of having to "fix" Firefox with every release when it was was at 6 week intervals that now with new versions coming out every 4 weeks I have all but surrendered to Mozilla will.

Hi Deirdre, you can use an optional userChrome.css file to prevent the enlargement of the address bar box. I assume that is the main problem at this point.

It's a little bit involved, so please set aside 10 quiet minutes to work through it.

(For anyone who already has a userChrome.css file set up, you just need to add the rules you downloaded under (A) to your file.)

(A) Download a rules file

https://www.userchrome.org/samples/userChrome-ZeroEnlargement.css

Use the downloads list on the toolbar to open the downloads folder directly to the new userChrome.css file. (See attached screenshot)

Minimize that file browser window for later reference.

(B) Create a new chrome folder in your profile folder

The following article has the detailed steps for that (#1, #2, and I recommend #3)

https://www.userchrome.org/how-create-userchrome-css.html

I have videos for both Windows and Mac in case the text is not clear.

(C) Move the userChrome-ZeroEnlargement.css file you downloaded in Step A into the chrome folder you created in Step B

(D) If you do not already have a userChrome.css file, Rename the userChrome-ZeroEnlargement.css file

Right-click userChrome-ZeroEnlargement.css and choose Rename. Carefully remove -ZeroEnlargement and press Enter to save your change. The final file name needs to be userChrome.css or Firefox will never find it.

(E) Set Firefox to look for userChrome.css at startup -- see step #6 in the above article.

The next time you exit Firefox and start it up again, it should discover that file and apply the rules.

Success?

Once you start tweaking the interface this way, you'll probably find more and more things you want to do. I suggest bookmarking the pages where you get the code for future reference because changes to Firefox may break them and it's easier to request an update if you can find the source.

More info on the bar: https://www.userchrome.org/megabar-styling-firefox-address-bar.html

The mentioned browser.urlbar.update1 prefs are gone in Firefox 77 (they were only there during the development stages).
The browser.urlbar.openViewOnFocus pref still works, but only affects whether to open the drop-down list.
For the urlbar size changes you need to use code in userChrome.css like posted above.

Deirdre, Firefox 77 was just released today, it may take a few days to learn what was changed in 77 over 76 to be able to "fix it", again. Personally I haven't gotten the 77 update yet, and with as tired as I am with the constant changes, I am learning to live with the changes as they arrive. I am so tired of having to "fix" Firefox with every release when it was was at 6 week intervals that now with new versions coming out every 4 weeks I have all but surrendered to Mozilla will.

I suppose they count on that. But it's not simple as that. Why would anyone want to remove the "Most visited sites" from the address bar drop down list? Evan if you got the Top sites feature. It's not the same thing. "Top sites" list is the same all the time, you have to change it manually if you want some site added, but the "Most visited sites" list changes automatically with persons browsing and offers more sites on the drop down list than the "top sites" list. It's such a simple elegant solution. Why remove it? Why would Firefox want to complicate lives of their users?

Anyway, I'll be glad when someone figures out how to get back the most visited sites list in the address bar.

Btw, if you return all the configs from update 75 to true, you get the drop down list, but with top sites, not the most visited sites. I'd like to get back the most visited sites.

Hi VickyEmma, if you double-click the

browser.urlbar.openViewOnFocus

preference in about:config to switch it to false, then you can show the history list using any of these methods:

Original List

• If the address bar is blank, press the down arrow key or press the spacebar key
• If the address bar shows the current page address, delete the address

Similar List

• Type the ^ character in the address bar

Firefox 78-79:

If you double-click the

browser.urlbar.suggest.topsites

preference in about:config to switch it to false, then you can show the history list using any of these methods:

Original List

• If the address bar is blank, press the spacebar key

Similar List

• Type the ^ character in the address bar

Hi VickyEmma, if you double-click the browser.urlbar.openViewOnFocus preference in about:config to switch it to false, then you can show the history list using any of these methods: Original List

• If the address bar is blank, press the down arrow key or press the spacebar key
• If the address bar shows the current page address, delete the address

Similar List

• Type the ^ character in the address bar

---

Firefox 78-79:

If you double-click the

browser.urlbar.suggest.topsites

preference in about:config to switch it to false, then you can show the history list using any of these methods:

Original List

• If the address bar is blank, press the spacebar key

Similar List

• Type the ^ character in the address bar

It helped, thank you.

However, I stand by my previous statement - the down arrow in the address bar itself is simpler, more elegant feature. I hope it comes back with future updates.

Best regards

Please make the default enlarging of the address bar go away, It's a really bad design decision. Detracting, and rather annoying, especially small screens. Gui objects shouldn't change this way.

I Use Firefox in several environments where sync is not an option, and it annoys me every time. Not just me, but several colleagues switch from ff to chromium because of it.

I appreciate the detailed help that is being offered, but requiring the end user to edit CSS code, in practice, does not qualify as a solution.

However, I stand by my previous statement - the down arrow in the address bar itself is simpler, more elegant feature. I hope it comes back with future updates.

As a partial workaround, I created an add-on. It works outside the bar because there's no way to integrate it directly into the drop-down:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/show-history-top-sites-button/

Hi johnzooi and Christopher Ursich, I hear your frustration, but support forum volunteers do not have the ability to change Firefox. We can offer information on settings and workarounds, which you can find here and all over the forum in recent days.

To submit feature change suggestions, you have many choices, depending on your desired style of interaction.

Discussion Sites/Advocacy

• Mozilla Discourse: https://discourse.mozilla.org/
  If none of the categories seem to fit, try https://discourse.mozilla.org/c/firefox-development
• Reddit (monitored by Mozilla): https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/
• I saw someone created a Change.org petition but I don't know who sees those

Limited Length Comments

• Feedback site: https://qsurvey.mozilla.com/s3/FirefoxInput/
• Twitter (Mozilla official): https://twitter.com/firefox

jscher2000, I completely understand. I know that you volunteers are not responsible for these issues. I realize that you are simply providing a solution that can work for someone who really needs it. In fact, your solution is pretty elegant, given the constraints. My hope is simply that the Firefox developers who may read Deirdre's question do not see your workaround and conclude that they therefore have no work to do.

jscher2000, thank you for solution, it works good

I used jscher2000's very useful userChrome.css tip. Thank you!

For my taste, the padding between entries in the search suggestions list is excessive, so I also added this to my userChrome.css:

 .urlbarView-row {
   padding-top: 0 !important;
   padding-bottom: 0 !important;
 }

philipmgrant, I noticed that too. nice addition

Hi, I had applied the settings to disable the new urlbar features, but as of version 77 these no longer work. I absolutely hate this change; it does nothing useful, it interferes with viewing the page, and it very much feels to me like change for the sake of change. If someone can pass this on to whoever makes these unilateral decisions : Don't make changes to the user interface that are not optional. How do they not understand that changing the UI for hundreds of millions of people is not a good idea? So my question is, how do I disable the new urlbar "features" and return to a plain static one?

You can use system restore to go back to previous version then disconnect from internet and go to firefox settings and turn off auto update. It worked for me

this version also has terrible bold font... so many problems after update. it's easier to use another browser or 76 version of ff

The bold font is kind of extra. To emulate the older bolding, someone said to try a weight of 600 (standard bolding is 700):

.urlbarView-title > strong,
.urlbarView-url > strong {
  font-weight: 600 !important;
}

Tnx, have a nice day.