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How do I change back to the old interface?

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Ugh. Is what describes my thoughts on this new, flat, blocky, metro-esque user interface. This latest update is fine, go ahead and make the browser as fast as you want but why change the interface? Why? Youtube did the same thing and it at least has the option to change back. And thats my question. How do I change back to the old UI??

Ugh. Is what describes my thoughts on this new, flat, blocky, metro-esque user interface. This latest update is fine, go ahead and make the browser as fast as you want but why change the interface? Why? Youtube did the same thing and it at least has the option to change back. And thats my question. How do I change back to the old UI??

Chosen solution

How about looking at these 2 URL's first : https://www.howtogeek.com/333110/how-to-customize-firefox-quantum-and-remove-the-white-space-around-the-title-bar/ and The name is not descriptive enough : https://www.howtogeek.com/332449/whats-new-in-firefox-quantum/

More information will come out slowly. New extensions are being made and some older ones being updated that can track here : http://bit.ly/2j0Anlj

Going back : unfortunately 56.0.2 is no longer safe to use for every day use, but 52.5.0 ESR is! It will continue to get security updates until May 2018, and you can download and install it from this page: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/all/ Note : Legacy Extensions will be deleted or removed in any version update after May 2018.

You should make a backup of your Profile before going back and just because: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-

Please let us know if this solved your issue or if need further assistance.

Read this answer in context 👍 11

All Replies (10)

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Chosen Solution

How about looking at these 2 URL's first : https://www.howtogeek.com/333110/how-to-customize-firefox-quantum-and-remove-the-white-space-around-the-title-bar/ and The name is not descriptive enough : https://www.howtogeek.com/332449/whats-new-in-firefox-quantum/

More information will come out slowly. New extensions are being made and some older ones being updated that can track here : http://bit.ly/2j0Anlj

Going back : unfortunately 56.0.2 is no longer safe to use for every day use, but 52.5.0 ESR is! It will continue to get security updates until May 2018, and you can download and install it from this page: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/all/ Note : Legacy Extensions will be deleted or removed in any version update after May 2018.

You should make a backup of your Profile before going back and just because: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-

Please let us know if this solved your issue or if need further assistance.

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Thanks, big help. ESR here I come..

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I agree the speed is not bad, but the interface is pants. What was wrong with the existing one which was very good? I do not want to spend forever sorting out changing the interface and just want the old interface with the increased speed. All this superficial tweaking, and the result is ugly to look at and use and is most unwelcome. Old interface with the speed please. The sideways moving miniature bar in light blue compared to the turning circle, which at least tells you something is happening and how far its got was useful. The black bar at the top is horrible and the faded quick location personal tabs are a backward step and the lack of right click for " new window" is a step too far. Safari is far nicer to look at and use. Why go backwards Mozilla?

Modified by hughmoz

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It also is messing with my company's Office 365 interface, changing the whole branding experience. Some 3rd party O365 cloud services are now very sluggish, while some hyperlinks are totally inoperable. Things are still fine in IE and Edge...

LONGTIME user of Firefox, but this may be where we part company.

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DBBrowser said

It also is messing with my company's Office 365 interface, changing the whole branding experience. Some 3rd party O365 cloud services are now very sluggish, while some hyperlinks are totally inoperable.

Hi DBBrowser, since these are not appearance issues, could you start a new question? Scroll down past article suggestions to continue with the form:

https://support.mozilla.org/questions/new/desktop/fix-problems

Please use the Share Data button and provide as much of your Firefox config as you are comfortable with.

And of course, I will mention "the usual":

If a site is generally known to work in Firefox, these are general suggestions to try when it stops working correctly:

Cache and Cookies: When you have a problem with one particular site, a good "first thing to try" is clearing your Firefox cache and deleting your saved cookies for the site.

(1) Clear Firefox's Cache

See: How to clear the Firefox cache

If you have a large hard drive, this might take a few minutes. If you do not see the number going down on the page, you can reload it using Ctrl+r (on Mac, Command+r) to check progress.

(2) Remove the site's cookies (save any pending work first). While viewing a page on the site, try either:

  • right-click (on Mac Ctrl+click) a blank area of the page and choose View Page Info > Security > "View Cookies"
  • (menu bar) Tools > Page Info > Security > "View Cookies"
  • click the padlock or "i" icon in the address bar, then the ">" button, then More Information, and finally the "View Cookies" button

In the dialog that opens, the current site should be pre-filled in the search box at the top of the dialog so you can remove that site's cookies individually.

Then try reloading the page. Does that help?

Testing in Firefox's Safe Mode: In Safe Mode, Firefox temporarily deactivates extensions, hardware acceleration, and some other advanced features to help you assess whether these are causing the problem.

If Firefox is not running: Hold down the Shift key (on Mac, option/alt key) when starting Firefox.

If Firefox is running: You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
  • Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

and OK the restart.

Both scenarios: A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh).

Any improvement?

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hughmoz said

The sideways moving miniature bar in light blue compared to the turning circle, which at least tells you something is happening and how far its got was useful.

You can use a custom style rule to revert that: https://www.reddit.com/r/FirefoxCSS/comments/71vbds/revert_the_tab_throbber_in_firefox_57/

The black bar at the top is horrible and the faded quick location personal tabs are a backward step and the lack of right click for " new window" is a step too far.
  • Black bar -- are you using a Dark theme?
  • I'm not sure what you mean by quick location personal tabs. Where are those?
  • Which right-click context menu is missing "new window"? Is it something different from Open Link in New Window, Open Bookmark in New Window, etc.?

In case some of these problems are caused by the "Activity Stream" design of the new tab page, and how it can bleed over onto the built-in home page:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful or accepting the risk.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste newt and pause while the list is filtered

(3A) To Disable it Completely: Double-click the browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.enabled preference to switch the value from true to false

(3B) To Remove it From the Home Page: Double-click the browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.aboutHome.enabled preference to switch the value from true to false

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Thanks for your reply, however, I am not about to waste a lot of time trying to sort out a load of hassles caused by a new browser ruining what I had in place.

What I find amazing is that users are expected to spend countless hours reconfiguring everything and resetting etc., to use a new version of a browser. This is silly. If there is a browser that works and Mozilla want to speed it up, then why muck everything else around? If anyone buys a new car you take your stuff out of the glove box and trunk and put in the new car and off you go. All this having to alter everything is deeply flawed. A new version of a browser needs to be designed to work with existing settings intact. If people then want to alter things fine, but to get people to upgrade into multiple problems is ridiculous and unreasonable.

I have already sussed out the light theme now and have downloaded Quantum again and have the 'new window' item back in the dock right click menu now, however, I have wasted countless hours trying to sort all of this. If I was working for a company then a boss would be very upset for all the time wasted by everyone trying to get a browser to do what its always successfully done. It seems that we have all become conditioned to an era of continual excuses instead of things being set-up and designed well in the first place. The Tony Blair ideology of 'trying to be everything to everybody' never works and yet Mozilla and Apple both have this lesson to learn. :)

Modified by hughmoz

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jscher2000 said

DBBrowser said
It also is messing with my company's Office 365 interface, changing the whole branding experience. Some 3rd party O365 cloud services are now very sluggish, while some hyperlinks are totally inoperable.

Hi DBBrowser, since these are not appearance issues, could you start a new question?

Uh... no. Blowing up a site's branding IS an appearance issue, in my opionion. I tried safe mode, as mentioned in another post regarding the now non-operative links. Think I'm done - have wasted too much time on this already. I've already uninstalled Firefox. What a shame.

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Hi DBBrowser

I think that a lot of people will follow. Compared to Safari, for example, Quantum is a mess.

Modified by hughmoz

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DBBrowser said

jscher2000 said
DBBrowser said
It also is messing with my company's Office 365 interface, changing the whole branding experience. Some 3rd party O365 cloud services are now very sluggish, while some hyperlinks are totally inoperable.

Hi DBBrowser, since these are not appearance issues, could you start a new question?

Uh... no. Blowing up a site's branding IS an appearance issue, in my opionion.

What does "Blowing up a site's branding" mean?? It sounds like a problem rendering the website itself, and not an issue with the appearance of Firefox's user interface, which was the focus of this thread.