What is the best way to communicate my displeasure with new features?
tl;dr How can I complain to FireFox about the new search bar in new tabs? (Or other new features)
I've seen a question or two here about this new feature already, and it's quite obvious that the developers at FireFox are not exactly interested in what their users think of this particular feature.
The feature I'm referring to is the new search bar in the New Tab.
I've attempted a fix mentioned in a previous post (create a sub-directory 'Chrome' and create a CSS file containing specific style commands) and it did not work. I've tried a couple of other fixes mentioned on third party websites as well, to no avail.
Knowing that FireFox would add something like this without allowing an option to disable it is quite disheartening. I've been enjoying my daily use of FireFox over other browsers I had used in the past because they were cluttered and unclean, and at the time FireFox was not. This search bar has ruined that. My pinned tabs have been squashed to roughly half their original size, and the search bar is unsightly, at best.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't we already have a search bar at the top of the screen? I fail to see any purpose in this, except to annoy users. If there is a further purpose, please inform me (though to be completely honest, it will not change my opinion here, though it may soften the damage done)
As of yet, there have been very few features in FireFox that I have been displeased with, and each of them was shortly followed by an add-on to disable them (Or they had come with an option for disabling upon release)
I'm not here asking for help as to how to remove the search bar, I'm here asking for a link that I can use to directly inform the developers of FireFox of my opinions regarding this update.
On a third party site I read an article that claimed one of the developers made mention of an option for users to disable this search bar... According to the article, he never received a reply. That gets me thinking, if FireFox won't listen to it's own team, should we expect them to listen to us?
I'm quite close to simply leaving FireFox because of this feature, as now it's little better than what I've left behind in the past. PaleMoon was nice, though a bit slower.
I'm not saying that I'm going to stop using FireFox, only that I'm quite put off because of what I've read, and the lack of an option to disable this feature.
If such an option exists already, please give me instruction as to how to do so, and then kindly disregard this query.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and have a nice day, Dillon P.
Réiteach roghnaithe
R.E. - newTab Search Bar
My guess is that by Firefox 34 or 35 the Search Bar on the Navigation Toolbar is going away. But before that happens, some type of 'widget' will need to be added to allow the user to select between their various installed search engine plugins.
After all, how many places does a user need to have a "search bar"? Why waste that space on the Nav Bar when the user can "search" from the Location bar, and the about:home and about:newtab pages.
Create a text file named userContent.css and place that in the newly created /chrome/ folder in the Profile folder.
@-moz-document url(about:newtab) {
#newtab-search-container, #newtab-search-logo
{ display:none !important; }
}
You can also use these to make "user mods" to Firefox:
Stylish - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/stylish/
Or ChromEdit Plus - http://webdesigns.ms11.net/chromeditp.html
Read this answer in context 👍 1All Replies (3)
Sorry I am only another Firefox user and do not really see anyway of helping you with this quest.
You may use feedback and make short comments.
- https://input.mozilla.org/feedback
- And see comments made from the interactive page https://input.mozilla.org
Statistical data from the comments are made available to developers and others.
AFAIK no one from Mozilla is likely to wish to engage in conversations about newly introduced features or deliberate feature regressions. Developers did post on the forum for a day or two after the introduction of Firefox 29 (Australis) but did not hang around and the subject of Firefox development is again considered to be off topic and outside the scope of this forum. The forum manager who will confirm this is off topic is Madalina. (Listing & contact details https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/meet-team )
This is a link /questions/998084#answer-566525 relating to one developers comments from back when it was on topic.
The mailinglists and blogs can be seen here
- https://www.mozilla.org/about/forums/#general-development
- Nearly always closed for comments but https://blog.mozilla.org
if you do discover anywhere where staff welcome discussion and engage with end users please let us know.
I will tag this post as escalate so that at least it is seen by HelpDesk staff maybe they are aware of some method end users may use to engage in dialogue, besides posting one way input comments.
IIRC there was talk of listing any such resources if they were discovered, so that we could post more helpful replies than this one.
We do not specifically deal with hacks to Firefox on this forum but will try to help with advice, mainly saying use addons. Please continue to post if you have direct questions you think we may be able to assist with.
Réiteach Roghnaithe
R.E. - newTab Search Bar
My guess is that by Firefox 34 or 35 the Search Bar on the Navigation Toolbar is going away. But before that happens, some type of 'widget' will need to be added to allow the user to select between their various installed search engine plugins.
After all, how many places does a user need to have a "search bar"? Why waste that space on the Nav Bar when the user can "search" from the Location bar, and the about:home and about:newtab pages.
Create a text file named userContent.css and place that in the newly created /chrome/ folder in the Profile folder.
@-moz-document url(about:newtab) {
#newtab-search-container, #newtab-search-logo
{ display:none !important; }
}
You can also use these to make "user mods" to Firefox:
Stylish - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/stylish/
Or ChromEdit Plus - http://webdesigns.ms11.net/chromeditp.html
@the-edmeister: I mentioned trying something along those lines already, I had assumed that the community would know which fix I had attempted. That's exactly what I did, and it didn't work. As a reminder: I wasn't asking how to remove the bar, I was asking how to submit feedback to Mozilla in regard to the update that brought us the bar, while omitting any front-end option to remove it.
Thank you for the details concerning possible updates. It shows me that I'm better off finding an open source browser or going back to a fan made browser instead of using mainstream. I should have known this one ahead of time, but mainstream is for mainstream.
user mods: Seems like a lot of work, when I could easily take 5 minutes to download another browser and be done with it. If someone makes an add-on that removes the search bar, awesome. If not, I'll probably be leaving. (Also depends on the feedback I get from Mozilla, if any)
@john99: Thank you very much for providing these links!
I will see about finding a place where the developers will invoke in discussion with their users, as there are few other browsers out there that have the wide range of features that we all have grown fond of, without all the clutter.
Submitting feedback as soon as I post this response, thank you once again for taking the time to reply and have a nice day, Dillon P.