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Menu item spacing

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Hi there! Since FF 91 all menu items have an incredible vertical spacing, the menu item is twice as high as before. This is a nuisance especially in the bookmark menus. I would like to have the narrow menu item spacing back, without being urged to install an AddOn or to learn CSS programming or to file a bug in this peculiar BugZilla system. Think of our family of USERS, not developers.

Yes, I understand the circumstances of free software. Yes, I see it is necessary to keep up with modern UI design and the so-called technical progress. The FF 91 UI changes slightly towards what we expect to get in Windows 11. Fine! Also, it is absolutely clear that the new menu line spacing adds more comfort to the FF usability ... on tablet PCs and smart phones. But NOT for desktop users.

As far as I know, Microsofts plans for Windows 11 still include a setting to keep the old narrow menu item height. Mozilla should do so, too. I hope the developers will take care to not lose contact to their users.

Hi there! Since FF 91 all menu items have an incredible vertical spacing, the menu item is twice as high as before. This is a nuisance especially in the bookmark menus. I would like to have the narrow menu item spacing back, without being urged to install an AddOn or to learn CSS programming or to file a bug in this peculiar BugZilla system. Think of our family of USERS, not developers. Yes, I understand the circumstances of free software. Yes, I see it is necessary to keep up with modern UI design and the so-called technical progress. The FF 91 UI changes slightly towards what we expect to get in Windows 11. Fine! Also, it is absolutely clear that the new menu line spacing adds more comfort to the FF usability ... on tablet PCs and smart phones. But NOT for desktop users. As far as I know, Microsofts plans for Windows 11 still include a setting to keep the old narrow menu item height. Mozilla should do so, too. I hope the developers will take care to not lose contact to their users.

Chosen solution

Just downgraded to FF 88.0.1 - yes I know: not recommended bla bla ... sorry guys; all UI changes since then are completely inacceptable. Come on @all users: Do the downgrade. Then uninstall the newer version. They will ask you for feedback ... maybe then they'll learn they're wrong.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (8)

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Hi,

The people who answer questions here, for the most part, are other users volunteering their time (like me), not Mozilla employees or Firefox developers. If you want to leave feedback for Firefox developers, you can go to the Firefox Help menu and select Submit Feedback... or use this link. Your feedback gets collected by a team of people who read it and gather data about the most common issues.

You can also file a bug report or feature request. See File a bug report or feature request for Mozilla products for details.

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Thank you, I will send a feedback then. Sorry for annoying you.

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The wider menu spacing was introduced as part of the Proton redesign in Firefox 89. There was a temporary preference to roll back the changes, but that has been removed in Firefox 91.

At this point, there is no built-in setting to change the spacing of menu items.

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.

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

Menu Spacing

(A) Select and copy the following style rule code

/*** Tighten up drop-down/context/popup menu spacing (updated 9/7/2021) ***/

menupopup:not(.in-menulist) > menuitem, 
menupopup:not(.in-menulist) > menu {
  padding-block: 2px !important;
}
:root {
  --arrowpanel-menuitem-padding: 4px 8px !important;
}


Some users consider that 4 pixels of space above and below items is still too spacious and prefer a lower value. The third attached screenshot show the difference between 2px, 3px, and 4px. (The 8px refers to the left side and right side, so no need to change that part.)

(B) Generate and download a userChrome.css file

Open the following page and paste the above rules into the editor, replacing the sample rule:

https://www.userchrome.org/download-userchrome-css.html

Then click "Generate CSS File" and save the userChrome.css file to your computer. (See first attached screenshot)

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

Minimize that file browser window for later reference.

(C) 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.

(D) Move the userChrome.css file you generated in Step B into the chrome folder you created in Step C

(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? I have a screenshot showing the expected difference here: https://www.userchrome.org/firefox-89-styling-proton-ui.html#menuspacing

I suggest bookmarking any thread you get userChrome.css code from for future reference (in case the rule stops working).

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

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No it did not solve the problem. What a pity: in the automatic mail I clicked "did not solve the problem"; here I read "solved the problem". WTF ...?

As I told before, CSS programming is not an acceptable solution. You could have read it but it seems you didn't. There has to be a simple option or switch or s.th. like that, which an average John Doe user can handle. Nurturing thousands of users to start hacking in some obscure files is awkward. Seems the developers increasingly losing the needs and desires of their users. Sorry, just my private opinion. Wrong place here.

Modified by Semilynx

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Semilynx said

No it did not solve the problem. What a pity: in the automatic mail I clicked "did not solve the problem"; here I read "solved the problem".

No solution is marked.

As I told before, CSS programming is not an acceptable solution. You could have read it but it seems you didn't. There has to be a simple option or switch or s.th. like that, which an average John Doe user can handle.

As a support volunteer, I can't give you what you want, so I offered you what I can. Dozens of people will be reading all these threads for ideas in the coming days, so in case they find yours, now they'll know that option.

A patch was just checked in to use tighter menu spacing in the optional/unsupported Compact Mode (Compact mode workaround in Firefox). But that will be going into testing in Nightly (future Firefox 93), and I don't know whether the change will be moved up the schedule after testing. We can hope -- there's certainly time to get it into Firefox 92.

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No solution is marked = I agree. Don't know which Fata Morgana I saw yesterday.

The CSS hack is the only way out, at the moment. Roger. Please forgive, I did not intend to harass you or anyone else.

The patch news is really really good news. Though this is only a workaround, this means Mozilla became aware of the issue. Great, thank you!

For every potential reader of this thread, there is a related topic documented here: https://mozilla.crowdicity.com/post/720482 which any supporter of narrow menu item spacing may upvote. Unfortunately a lot of harsh comments there, but I hope the more votes for it, the better the chances that we will get more than a workaround.

Modified by Semilynx

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Chosen Solution

Just downgraded to FF 88.0.1 - yes I know: not recommended bla bla ... sorry guys; all UI changes since then are completely inacceptable. Come on @all users: Do the downgrade. Then uninstall the newer version. They will ask you for feedback ... maybe then they'll learn they're wrong.

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We don't recommend using versions that are no longer receiving security patches, but everyone has to decide for themselves how much risk to take in life. https://www.mozilla.org/security/advisories/