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The windows of the Windows bar are already a form of tabs, so I don't need them in Firefox. How can I disable them completely from Firefox 23?

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  • Last reply by user633449

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RE: TABS ARE WINDOWS! The Windows bar already functions as a tab bar. Those tabs are called "windows." So, I find Firefox tab windows superfluous. How can I disable them completely from Firefox 23? I don't need what is essentially TWO windows bars covering up the entire width of my widescreen monitor's image! I already have a Windows bar at the bottom of my screen and, if I really wanted to, I could change ITS position to the top of the screen, so that it would LOOK like the Firefox tab windows bar. Firefox TABS are, essentially, a superfluous SECOND WINDOWS BAR.

Here are my reasons for why I'd rather use Mozilla's Firefox, than Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Google's Chrome. I love and admire Firefox for Mozilla's intent on good security, for Firefox's Personas add-on, and for Firefox's free use of the Ad-Block add-on which, as you know, has the distinct virtue of reducing screen clutter--the last of which is my motive for wanting to get rid of the SUPERFLUOUS Firefox tabs "windows" bar. I am dreadfully sick of companies forcing miscellaneous bars (mostly representing marketing campaigns trying to sell me something) into my browser (and down my throat) every time I download something. (In case you haven't guessed, I am deliberately referring to your Firefox tabs bar as a "Firefox tabs 'windows' bar," because TABS are WINDOWS!)

RE: TABS ARE WINDOWS! The Windows bar already functions as a tab bar. Those tabs are called "windows." So, I find Firefox tab windows superfluous. How can I disable them completely from Firefox 23? I don't need what is essentially TWO windows bars covering up the entire width of my widescreen monitor's image! I already have a Windows bar at the bottom of my screen and, if I really wanted to, I could change ITS position to the top of the screen, so that it would LOOK like the Firefox tab windows bar. Firefox TABS are, essentially, a superfluous SECOND WINDOWS BAR. Here are my reasons for why I'd rather use Mozilla's Firefox, than Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Google's Chrome. I love and admire Firefox for Mozilla's intent on good security, for Firefox's Personas add-on, and for Firefox's free use of the Ad-Block add-on which, as you know, has the distinct virtue of reducing screen clutter--the last of which is my motive for wanting to get rid of the SUPERFLUOUS Firefox tabs "windows" bar. I am dreadfully sick of companies forcing miscellaneous bars (mostly representing marketing campaigns trying to sell me something) into my browser (and down my throat) every time I download something. (In case you haven't guessed, I am deliberately referring to your Firefox tabs bar as a "Firefox tabs 'windows' bar," because TABS are WINDOWS!)

Chosen solution

You can also have a addon to open all new tabs in a new window.

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All Replies (13)

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Hi haildarklord, a few points:

(1) I do understand your and Arthur's point about Windows task bar previews of your individual Firefox tabs making the Firefox tab bar (somewhat) redundant.

(I say somewhat, because it's not so obvious from the Windows task bar which tabs are in any given window. Maybe that's irrelevant to you because you aren't intentionally grouping related pages together that way.)

It does pose an interesting question: since Firefox has information that you show tab thumbnails on the Windows address bar, why not have the option to suppress the tab bar in that scenario? Perhaps someone has experimented with that (as an extension).

(2) If you want to banish the tab bar unconditionally in all scenarios, a style rule would be an efficient solution:

#TabsToolbar {display:none!important;}

This could be implemented in a userChrome.css file (no extension required) or using the Stylish extension (handy for style tweaks of all kinds).

(3) Based on what I've read, the change in Firefox 23 (tab bar displayed even with only 1 tab) isn't arbitrary and out-of-the-blue, it's a step on the path to the Australis interface scheduled to appear in Firefox 26.

Removal in this version might have been premature, but unless the UI team reconsiders the overall direction, it's inevitable. But let's save that discussion for a different thread.

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It seems like creating that userChrome.css file is working for me. Now I need to repeat the same thing over 3 OS's and on 20 home computers (in just my home alone!) That's not mentioning how many fans saw all this and will want help doing it to their computers. WHY couldn't Firefox just leave well enough alone with regards to customization and the TAB bar?

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I'm having the same issue with the new Firefox as 'haildarklord' is. And while I'm certain that your solutions are both elegant and delightful, neither your solution or Wacka_Flocka_Flame's suggestions WORK ON MY COMPUTER!

Sorry for shouting, but I'm just as pissed as 'haildarklord' and 'arthurblenheim' are, or were. I do not, emphatically and repeated, do NOT want to add another extension or add-on to Firefox unless I absolutely have to.

Using the Windows key+R and entering %appdata% got me to the place where the Mozilla page on finding Mozilla Firefox profiles said I needed to go, and as the page on userchrome.css files stated I might, I needed to create both the 'chrome' folder and the userchrome.css file to go in it.

I used both userchrome.css as well as userChrome.css, neither spelling worked.

I used both Wacka's suggestion--

  1. tabbrowser-tabs{

display:none !important;

}

--and then tried formatting it as--

  1. tabbrowser-tabs{display:none !important;}

--and neither worked, at all, I still had the &#$%#^# tab bar and one single cruddy empty tab displayed when I restarted Firefox. Then I tried replacing the line in userchrome.css with what you suggested--

  1. TabsToolbar {display:none!important;}

--also with both spellings for the userchrome.css file, and nothing, nothing at all, works to take the single empty tab or the tab bar off my screen.

I'm running Win7 home pro on a four year old E-Machine. Please help.

Henry D. Rinehart

BTW, I don't know why this reply page keeps replacing the # with a 1. , but I put the hashtag in front of the lines in userchrome.css and it made no difference, with or without. Do I have to activate Firefox to look for the chrome support file? Aaagh!

Modified by hdrinehart

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The only solution that's worked so far, unfortunately, is the Tab Mix extension.

I'm very unhappy with Firefox developers right now, and if the Australis version of the Firefox browser is aggressively tab-oriented, then version 25 or whatever the previous version is will be my last Firefox ever.

Ever.

I'm going from here to the bug report page, and do my best to convince the people actually responsible for this that they've f$&^ked up severely this time.

If any of you can figure out why the userChrome.css file that I created didn't work, please post your replies here, I'll be checking back from time to time in an attempt to learn what I did wrong.

Until, then, thanks, Wacka_Flocka_Flame for the link to the Tab Mix extension, it worked beautifully, until the folks at Mozilla decide to screw it up even further. . .

TTFN,

Henry D. Rinehart

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Actually you will still be able to hide tabs in Australis with the tabmix addon. Have you used Firefox UX?

That is the preview of Australis and you should check if the addon works (it should).

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Thanks for your reply, Waka_Flocka_Flame, but the issue shouldn't be that we can HIDE the Tab bar and tabs, the issue is that there's no way to turn off tabbed browsing.

The other statements on this page concerning this, in my opinion, are all valid.

The extension you recommended works very nicely, but it is ultimately just a patch for a flawed program.

By a flawed program, all of us posting on this page are referring to the new Firefox and the decision by the devs in charge of the tabbed browsing portion of the browser to ram tabbed browsing down our throats, whether we want to have it, use it, be annoyed by it, or not.

Sorry about yelling. I know you're not a developer, you already said that. And haildarklord was able to get your userchrome.css option to work for him, unlike me. You've been more than helpful, you've been patient with us while we ranted.

But we have enough things rammed down our throat by our government, our 'religious' leaders, our legal system, the businesses who sell us food, power, and other consumer goods, and life itself. The fact that now Mozilla/Firefox feels the need to join all of those aforementioned entities/groups/conditions in ramming things we neither want nor need down our throats anyway is disheartening at best, and deeply depressing for many of us.

Like me. I didn't need this added to the stress I'm already under, which is why I'm going all emo about it.

Even if it's just a tiny little part of a web browser.

sheesh.

Henry D. Rinehart

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Hi henry, about the userchrome.css

This seems to work for me on Nightly and Firefox release.

/*Hide the browser tabs forever.*/

#tabbrowser-tabs {
display:none !important;

}

  • thank you jscher2000 for fixing the # symbol in the css above

and for a easier installation, you can use this use this user style i made below

Modified by kobe

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Hi hdrinehart, this change seems to have unleashed a lot of pent-up dissatisfaction. Tabs were one of the differentiating features of the Mozilla suite even before the birth of Firefox, and over the years, as I'm sure you've noticed, the developers have increasingly converted from pop-up windows (remember the old Add-on manager?) to pages that open in tabs.

There was an extension named Tab Killer that some were using to force these pages into new windows. That was the subject of this thread last December: How do I completely disable tabs? Perhaps that functionality has been incorporated into Tab Mix Plus now; I haven't checked. But either way, I don't think Firefox is going to incorporate that feature into the core code.

Oh, regarding this forum's wiki software, put a space at the beginning of a line to prevent # or * from being turned into a number or bullet.

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This latest decision to remove the tab bar option is about it for me and Firefox. This bonehead decision ranks right up there with the new Download Manager and combining save History and save Download info in the same setting. Firefox is hell bent on becoming a IE/Chrome hybrid no matter what Firefox users want. I went back to version 22 and have turned updates completely off. I am taking no further chances of getting stuck with any more of Mozilla's stupid changes. Offering options to the user is what made Firefox special. Now all Mozilla wants to do is dumb down everything and get away from what it once was. My days of having Firefox as my default browser may be numbered. Problem is I don't particularly like IE and I really don't like Chrome so I have no idea where the hell I'm going to go. Not happy with the Mozilla team at all right now. Mozilla really needs to come up with an option to provide security updates only for people who don't want their settings messed with.

Modified by user6600

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This is a re-post from a simliar thread about this gross misuse of tabs:

It's because by the roll out of V26-27 it will become mandatory and we can all hate Firefox equal to Google and IE. They are making this so integrated in FF because the path was chosen by default when they started adding those crap TABS to every edition afterward. So no, miles down the design road, they are sticking to the idea and as soon as the V27 edition comes to level by years end, you will have no choice, it will become integrated with the address bar. Check the designer notes in the Mozilla forums. It's true! They're planning to bend all our arms to use TABS for everything.

The reason we are made to switch to a Add-On, was to make it easier when the time comes, to say that the Add-On is incompatible with the latest edition (and NEVER EVER AGAIN will be compatible).

I suggest that each and everyone who sees and reads this makes a HUGE Facebook rant and post endlessly (as I have) to inform all those who despise TABS to post on Mozilla and Firefox forums and let them see and know how much of a useless waste and redundant failure a TAB BAR above and a Windows Explorer Bar below are!

Is everyone happy with this progress that technology is making? I thought it would be EASIER to see and hear our voices, not our private lives and ignore our individual preferences. Mozilla/Firefox needs a FLOOD of emails, posts, and group interest to change this. It's extremely important... but I'll most likely end up like the guy carrying the "THIS IS THE END!" sign around NY till it's too late!

PLEASE NOTE: As Waka_Flocka_Flame states, "Also note we are not firefox developers (you will get no attention by devs here), you may get some dev attention if you write a bug or go to Firefox/Help > Submit Feedback"

So any and all should flood "Submit Feedback" with your frustration, besides writing it here where all the rest of us can see how many people there are which hate TABS as well as the few Developers who HAVE responded to me and review this forum.

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So any and all should flood "Submit Feedback" with your frustration, besides writing it here where all the rest of us can see how many people there are which hate TABS as well as the few Developers who HAVE responded to me and review this forum.

If you are very dissatisfied with the change, this is the right way to go is to flood input.mozilla.org/feedback, the hide tab bar was mainly removed for that it was blocking other improvents (after austraius its likely some features will be brought back). So the addon, userchrome.css and the Input should help fight it.

Also note that almost of 98% of firefox users use tabs (hiding the tab bar would be better suited for a addon anyways).

Also note...

The userchrome.css is fixed so, yeah i would try that again.

Modified by kobe

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@Waka_Flocka_Flame I understand that you're being very patient with me, and I appreciate that.

My suggestion is that users of Mozilla Firefox make their complaints known in a massive way. Not that anyone should "flood" a forum or email server in the old technical sense of the term. I suggest that everyone should direct their complaints in 2 ways. #1 is through the HELP>SUBMIT FEEDBACK link in the menu bar. #2 is through as many people forums as possible. Although this may not be a place where developers are supposed to be, that does not mean that as more public news spreads that they won't be able to see the massive sections of comments.

Next, "Also note that almost of 98% of firefox users use tabs (hiding the tab bar would be better suited for a addon anyways)" you said.

That may be true, but as my Father, Mother, Grandparent, Uncles and Aunts all pointed out, they had no idea that they could do away with using tabs! I think the studies are skewed because most older users didn't know they didn't have to use them and most younger users complain but dealt with it rather than expend any effort to complain.

I find it VERY hard to believe that out of 100 people, 98 would say they willingly use tabs and prefer them over just opening everything in windows. Microsoft had a huge hand in development of IE with tabs and their default state setting. Many old people, just didn't know how to change it or even that you could.

So thank you for your answers, but TABS are still useless pieces of redundant tech glitter for children to play with, not for someone who knows what screen space usage is and why it's important.

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This thread has turned to ranting and all support questions have been answered. I'm locking this thread. Please give any feedback on Firefox at the input website. Thanks!

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