Menus are unusable, even to turn off hardware acceleration to fix menus
I am using Firefox under Xmonad on Ubuntu 13.04 on a MacBook Pro Retina. Unfortunately, the menus are completely unusable. If I try to open the "Tools" menu, for example, a tiny floating window appears that is just barely large enough to show up and down scroll buttons, but no other text.
This problem appears to have occurred on and off for numerous people over the last few years. The recommended fix is usually to turn off hardware acceleration...by going through a particular menu. Unfortunately, this does not work for me, since I cannot navigate the menus. I looked in about:config to see if there was an obvious option, but didn't fine anything.
I have a screenshot of what the menus look like, but unfortunately do not know how to attach it.
Chosen solution
For unrelated reasons, I reinstalled ubuntu. I happened to try Firefox again, and the problem is gone! Time to switch back from Chrome to Firefox! Unfortunately, I'm not sure what specifically changed to fix the problem.
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Here is a screenshot of the problem. Look for the tiny gray floating scroll buttons near the menu bar. This is the "Tools" menu.
If you click Tools and then press o (the accelerator key for Options), does that open the dialog?
In about:config, the relevant preferences start with gfx, but I don't know the ones that work on Linux (I use Windows). For Windows, you would toggle this preference to true (at least this one, there might be another):
gfx.direct2d.disabled
Sorry, for Linux, it's Edit > Preferences.
Not sure whether P is the accelerator key for Preferences or Paste... maybe it's E ?
Unfortunately, since my initial email, Firefox has degraded even further. Now I can't see even the top level of menus; the menu bar has been replaced with a single "Firefox" entry to the left of my tabs (see image). Clicking on it does nothing useful, and clicking on it and typing 'e' does nothing.
Can you open about:addons, click into the Extensions category, and disable "Global Menu Bar integration" and see whether that helps? There also might be a tweak needed in Tab Mix Plus (e.g., Options button) if it is responsible for moving the menu into the tab bar.
Ubuntu 11.xx and later displays window menus in the control bar at the top of the screen with the switch to the Unity window manager.
You may also have to disable the "Ubuntu Firefox Modifications" in addition of the "Global Menu Bar integration" extension.
I disabled all the Ubuntu add-ons and Tab Mix Plus, but it didn't affect the problem.
Chosen Solution
For unrelated reasons, I reinstalled ubuntu. I happened to try Firefox again, and the problem is gone! Time to switch back from Chrome to Firefox! Unfortunately, I'm not sure what specifically changed to fix the problem.