Sorry that you don't like the new look in Firefox 4, but at least you can reconfigure it to look like you want it to look - other browsers aren't as configurable as Firefox. I would say the changes are revolutionary, rather then evolutionary, and there are a lot of user's out there who are complaining about Firefox 4.

I doubt is there are going to be any big changes in the future, as far as going back to the old look. The Firefox 5 Aurora alpha version being developed now and the Firefox 6 Nightly version (also in alpha) look just like Firefox 4.

If you can't "go with the flow", it looks like you'll be switching to a different browser. But since IE, Chrome, and Opera all possess similar UI's to Firefox UI, as far as the top section of the browser window, that leaves just Safari among major browsers that have the "old appearance".

BTW, Organize Bookmarks was renamed to Show All Bookmarks. Different name on the menus, but still has the same functions in the Library window.

I can go with the flow, but I don't want to. I beg to differ with your assessment that other browsers aren't as configurable as Firefox 4. Maybe some browsers aren't as configurable, but if I wanted something fast and configurable, I would have switched to Opera a long time ago. If I'm going to have to migrate to something more configurable, I'll probably opt for that over Firefox 4. I simply liked Firefox because it felt more intuitive and familiar. I didn't have to think about it; it just worked.

Thanks for the info -- and the "heads up," regarding upcoming releases. I haven't felt a need to check out other browsers, but I guess I'll have to take a look at Safari. Maybe they will see the value in sticking with something people like, rather than instituting revolutionary changes a lot of users won't like.

You can easily move tab bar to bottom by unchecking [] Tabs on Top.

You easily can move the stop and Reload buttons to some place else with Customize window open. Either keep the top on left of Reload or put a Flexible space in between if you prefer the Stop being on right of Reload, otherwise they will combine again. A lot of people requested this feature overtime and were told to use a Extension.

You can easily move the Home button to wherever you like.

You can also use the left mouse button (hold for a second) for the Back/Forward button history.

Some of the ways it was before that you are used to in say 3.6 was not that way and there were changes in past also.

They did not change just because they felt like it, it was based on various feedback on what people used for example https://heatmap.mozillalabs.com/ and other things.

"Like" being mainly because they were used to it.

James, I wrote in my original post, "I don't like having to rearrange the toolbars." I know how to move it. The question is, why wasn't it just left where it was, then let people know that they can move it if they would like it somewhere else? Same thing with the Stop/Reload buttons -- and the history controls -- and the Home button...

I've already noted that it's configurable. But so is Opera -- even more so, from what I've seen. If configurability were the Holy Grail of browser features, Opera users would have far outnumbered Firefox users a long time ago. It was much faster than Firefox 3.x, too. (I don't know how they compare now, but I don't care, either.)

I shouldn't even be discussing this; it's a further waste of time brought on by changes that shouldn't have been made. Is more available customization a good thing? Sure! The old interface should have been left as the default. If people wanted to take advantage of the ability to change their toolbars and buttons in v4, you could simply have shown them how.

The point is that Firefox has a loyal following because it already was a good product. Why imitate less successful products? Opera, Chrome, et al, may have made inroads because some people liked their features, but the majority stuck behind because they liked Firefox as it was!

Finally, as for the changes to arrive at Firefox 3.6, yes, that's true -- but that wasn't my favorite version; I've grudgingly upgraded from older versions than that.

Some of us just want to surf the web with a simple, fast browser. As I pointed out earlier, I use a browser to get to the content; any time I spend reconfiguring or relearning my browser is time wasted.

Actually Firefox is probably configurable then you may think.

Part of the problem is some people just use the application and barely make any effort to get to know it. If they just took a few seconds to actually look in the Menus or right-click this and that they would learn a lot in a short moment and probably would have omitted more or less half of the support questions I have seen over the last eight years.

Windows got the changes more (especially on Vista/7 with Firefox button) compared to Linux as with a few seconds effort it looks like I am still using Firefox 3.0

I agree with bob60506 I'm getting fed-up with having to reset my layout everytime we have an update. The large green back and forward buttons with the dropdown arrows I had in 3.6 were great, Why change them? They probably get used more than any others. If you must develop new ideas give us the choice to use the old layout components (buttons etc.) and put the new buttons where the old ones where by using the old profile, that way after an upgrade our buttons wil still be in the same place.

Microsoft dosen't get much right but when they brought out XP we had the option to use Classic display, why not Firefox, please. It's a great browser and I don't want to learn some other just because you messed it up.

I've dumped v4 several times already and gone back to 3.6 but it keeps updating itself...

Some people don't like change, it's understandable, but you can't expect the Mozilla to mark time just because it ain't broke. You may not like Firefox 4, a lot of people do, and I bet it will grow on most people, anyway, the great thing about Firefox, it's incredibly configurable. Some would say that Firefox isn't the best out-of-box browser out there, but that's what most users love about it, you can make it your own. You may find it boring to rearrange toolbars but I love to mess around with every function of my Firefox. If you don't want to spend too much time, you can make FF4 look exactly like FF3 by themes or userstyles. No excessive knowledge required. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firefox-3-theme-for-firefox/

I didn't say that configurability is a bad thing -- just that it's overrated. I stand by that statement. If you wanted configurability, you probably should have switched to Opera a while ago. But that's besides the point -- the point being that, if I can configure it to look the way I already had it, I shouldn't have to. Why change things, provide a path to reset the look to the old profile, then make people fiddle with it just to get it back to the way it was if they were already happy with it? Sorry, but that just doesn't make sense. Leave the old settings alone, then let the adventurous user configure it to his heart's content, if that is what he wants.

I agree with Bob on this one, not that I can not change it back, but almost every change was unintuitive and arbitrary. It is like the Vista where I had to do discover the new six or seven steps to get to something previously on the start bar...totally pointless. I personally can't stand the new Word even, although by all means, add a "I want to learn a whole new word processor option" for those who like to fiddle with stuff, and I know a lot of people who love the Word tab system. Windows 7 did even worse with the "You are to stupid to manage or move your own files."

Back to Firefox, I enjoy the browser, but I have spent hours figuring out how to change it all back, and some things I haven't had the hours to browse arou nd and see if I can do such as: 1. Put the urls back on/ the add-on bar. 2. Turn the new addons as a tab and soon to be options as a tab, back to small popups. 3. Not have Firefox alphabetize my search bar sites every time it updates the bar itself, and add the crappy defaults which I have to delete again (A long time Firefox problem). 4. Even the way the addons loaded at first when 4 came out was junky, but I see they have changed that back.

Don't get me wrong, it is still the browser I use, and I am sure there is a way to change all that stuff (Although I have a longer list). I just do not want to do a research project and spend a bunch of time making everything normal every time my browser gets updated unless it is at least an intuitive and logical innovation.

@pacman73

Unintuitive it may be for certain users, but I doubt if any changes were arbitrary. Bugs are filed for some changes, mock-ups of the new UI are done for others, and everything is decided by a committee before work is started. Then other changes might be made due to problems that crop up during development of the new version, and then it is back to the committee as to what's kept in the upcoming version and what's postponed to a later version or just dumped as being "impossible" to do.

You can't hold back progress, you "flow" with it or you stay behind using the older versions. Hell, I have some extensions that were never updated beyond Firefox 2.0.0.20 and still use that old version to view some web sites to this day - and I use it everyday for those websites.

I agree about the changes that have come in Windows. I was using W2K until about a year ago and am using WinXP currently on this PC. If I am going to have to learn something new, as far as an OS goes, it sure a hell ain't gonna be Vista or Win7, it's gonna be Linux - which I have been using on my netbook for 3 years now and a different desktop PC for like 4 years now.

So...progress is getting rid of "Bookmark All Tabs" from the Bookmarks menu? Really? I know it's there via keyboard, but not by mouse. Lame.

How is getting rid of that menu item via mouse revolutionary? Intuition tells us that something as fundamental as "Bookmark All Tabs" should be be in the Bookmarks menu. Period. It may be revolutionary to exclude it, but it's also arrogant and stupid. Don't even see the value in getting rid of it. Declutter? From 4 entries down to 3? Please.

Changing things is not automatically "progress."

Microsoft's major interface revision in their Office products was incredibly unpopular, but they had a near-monopoly on enterprise office software, so they could get away with it.

Mozilla does not have a near-monopoly.

Some people will take whatever they're given. This is not an ideal customer base.

A browser isn't an art project, it's a tool, and tools need to work when you pick them up, not after long digging into about:config and searching internet forums for interface tweaks, only to have your configuration blown away by a revision 12 weeks down the line - that is the planned schedule, no?

I agree, Merovign.

To all of those who have worked without compensation on Firefox over the years, please don't get me wrong; I am grateful for your efforts.

At some point, however, you have to realize that a browser is just a tool used to access and manipulate web content. Metaphorically speaking, it feels like a trusty pocket knife has migrated over the years through the Swiss Army knife stage to something that is beginning (just beginning) to resemble a Rube Goldberg contraption. In your enthusiasm to "improve" this tool, you've made its simplest, most common uses more difficult to employ.

Why not take some of that enthusiasm and redirect it in an effort to make changes that won't alienate happy users? You can still make it configurable and just tell people how to use that customization to give it a new look if that is what they want to do?

Edmeister, I'd love to "stay behind" indefinitely, but eventually I'm sure I'll find that I can't view some sites without a more recent browser. You mention the changes to Windows and how they affect you as a user. I'm encouraged to hear that you've seen the light on UNIX-like OS's. Personally, I prefer the stability of FreeBSD, but they're all a cut above MS offerings (except that software developed in and for the Windows environment is simply easier to run in Windows). I'm sure that the committee members at Micro$oft thought they were improving their product when they came out with Vista, too. In some ways, they did; but in some ways, Vista is a mess.

Personally, I'm getting a similar feeling about Firefox 4 to what I got with Vista -- not quite as aggravating, but aggravating, nonetheless.

dydx:

For "Bookmark All Tabs" you can also:

• right-click on one of the tabs and choose "Bookmark All Tabs"
• pressing the ALT key or the F10 key will temporarily display the old Menu Bar and you can use the commands there, if you are more familiar with them.
• you can install this add-on and customize the Firefox button. I have not installed or used it and I do not know if Bookmark All Tabs is included (bet it is, though):
• https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/personal-menu/

Want a really configurable browser? Then jump on the Sleipnir bandwagon. It's the hottest fully configurable browser in Tokyo these days. You can make it look like the Fox, IE, Safari, Chrome, Opera, Netscape, Avant and even Flocker 2. It gives you the choice of Trident or Gecko for browser engines and has all kinds of stuff with it. A word of caution though- Sleipnir is really for accomplished users not novices or beginners.

Now my problem is that I am running Firefox 7- Aurora and cannot figure out how to import bookmarks from Opera, Chrome, etc. Any ideas? Here's a link to Sleipnir browser for you--

http //www fenrir-inc com/global/sleipnir/downloads/

I cannot use Sleipnir for my survey work as only IE and the Fox are supported.

OK thanks a lot and have a cool evening all- keimanzero