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89.0b2 Revert new tab design

  • 19 uphendule
  • 16 zinale nkinga
  • 222 views
  • Igcine ukuphendulwa ngu Chris Ilias

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Today I updated my Firefox Developer Edition to version 89.0b2 and now I just can not look at this browser anymore, "Inspired new tab design" is taking too much space and now became largest and at the same time least information-dense panel in my entire desktop! I searched around the web for a bit in hopes that I will find a theme or an add-on that will revert this particular change but no luck. I really want to revert to old UI look (at least tabs bar), there should be default theme or option to get back to old style. After some investigation I found userChrome.css but don't really want to install it (maybe this is actually the way of doing this kind of styling). Please help me revert UI design to old one.

Today I updated my Firefox Developer Edition to version 89.0b2 and now I just can not look at this browser anymore, "Inspired new tab design" is taking too much space and now became largest and at the same time least information-dense panel in my entire desktop! I searched around the web for a bit in hopes that I will find a theme or an add-on that will revert this particular change but no luck. I really want to revert to old UI look (at least tabs bar), there should be default theme or option to get back to old style. After some investigation I found userChrome.css but don't really want to install it (maybe this is actually the way of doing this kind of styling). Please help me revert UI design to old one.

Isisombululo esikhethiwe

I understand the remedy is to search for 'proton' in about:config and make relevant settings 'false'. You may still have to use userChrome.css. You get that page by entering about:config in the url bar and accepting the risk.

Funda le mpendulo ngokuhambisana nalesi sihloko 👍 12

All Replies (19)

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Isisombululo Esikhethiwe

I understand the remedy is to search for 'proton' in about:config and make relevant settings 'false'. You may still have to use userChrome.css. You get that page by entering about:config in the url bar and accepting the risk.

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TerryN21 said

I understand the remedy is to search for 'proton' in about:config and make relevant settings 'false'. You may still have to use userChrome.css. You get that page by entering about:config in the url bar and accepting the risk.

Thank you, that's exactly what I was looking for, no more rounded corners! PS new icons and style in general feels rather welcoming than hateful after disabling proton

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The new design marks it hard to me to tell which tab is open. Before I could tell in an instant, now I have to look closely. This might be a pretty change, but it is not usable.

In screenshot attached, my brain keeps telling me the Facebook tab is open.

Please change back to the way it was. I was far more efficient with the old style.

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barkingmad said

The new design marks it hard to me to tell which tab is open. Before I could tell in an instant, now I have to look closely. This might be a pretty change, but it is not usable. In screenshot attached, my brain keeps telling me the Facebook tab is open. Please change back to the way it was. I was far more efficient with the old style.

I think someone else mentioned that the new way container tabs are marked is maybe too similar to the old way the active tab was (or selected tabs were) marked. Maybe that line should be moved back to the bottom of the "tab"/"button".

Do you have Reddit account? The Team will be watching for feedback there, so you can:

(a) Join a discussion of your issue on the r/Firefox subreddit, comment, and vote.

The discussions that get the most comments and votes rise to the top of the filtered list reviewed by the team. (Example proton search)

(b) If your issue is not covered by an existing discussion, start a new one and include Proton in the title and tag it with Discussion or Proton feedback.

If other users add comments and vote up your discussion, then it should come to the attention of the team.

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jscher2000 said

Maybe that line should be moved back to the bottom of the "tab"/"button".


YAS!!!! Has anybody found the setting to make this happen?

Okulungisiwe ngu Akasha Sternberg

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Akasha Sternberg said

jscher2000 said

Maybe that line should be moved back to the bottom of the "tab"/"button".


YAS!!!! Has anybody found the setting to make this happen?

I think I saw one on r/FirefoxCSS a couple weeks ago, but it's very active and I didn't bookmark it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/

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TerryN21 said

I understand the remedy is to search for 'proton' in about:config and make relevant settings 'false'. You may still have to use userChrome.css. You get that page by entering about:config in the url bar and accepting the risk.

Thanks for this! Not a fan of touchpad looking button designs, but more importantly: I have many bookmarks and with the new design they take twice as much space and I have to scroll down which takes time. I changed it back, so now they all fit on my screen again. Great!

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If you don't have excellent vision, this design is extremely hard to use. I've been working on userChrome fixes all day to try and make it work for me. I've used Firefox since it first came out but it's getting less intuitive and more visually challenging every time they redesign it. The Android version is even worse, it's like a game of hide and go seek every time you want to do something. What I don't understand is, why? Why change something that works so well for so many?

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Hi Lisi, if the main issue is color contrast (or lack thereof), you could take a look at alternate themes.

For example, someone created an add-on theme that emulates the colors of the "Default" theme from Firefox 57-88. You can give it a try here:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/photon-colors/


Themes do not change the shape of the buttons or make individual background tabs more distinct. I can give you a quick short-term workaround for that, but a more durable solution will require more work.

Temporary Fix -- Firefox 89-90 ONLY

For testing purposes, there is a preference to switch the tab bar and address bar between new style and old style. This is not expected to continue in Firefox 90, but maybe you want to use it for now.

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

(2) In the search box in the page, type or paste browser.proton.enabled and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the preference to switch between true (new style) and false (old style)

Longer Term Community Workaround

This involves setting up a userChrome.css file. I have a rules builder that will get more features throughout the month. By the time the above preference is removed, it should be mature. If you want to take a sneak peek now:

Okulungisiwe ngu jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

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Thanks, I did look at themes and firefox colors but I'm not interested in redesigning all the colors or look of whole thing, and I never expected to spend this much time on it. I just need some visual demarcation between elements so that it's easy to pick out the one I'm looking for. A border between tabs would be great, or some differentiation between tab color and background color so you can see the separate tabs. And text that is big enough to read would be great, too.

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Okay, I just had a look at your tab styling tool. This is great, thank you so much! Just putting that border between them makes a huge difference. I really appreciate it.

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Lisi said

Okay, I just had a look at your tab styling tool. This is great, thank you so much! Just putting that border between them makes a huge difference. I really appreciate it.

Thank you for testing it. If you notice anything weird/wrong, let me know.

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Dear jscher2000, First, thank you for your quick fix in about:config/ and set proton to false. That works to the most extent (although even with this deactivated I see subtle changes in behaviour of FF) but I´m happy I got away with a black eye so far. Thank you!

You mentioned you don´t think this workaround will make it over the next update, so consequently, I deferred the incoming update suggestions - but that can´t go on like forever. Is there any way to tell what version still supports the workaround, or do I have to start with safety copies?

Thanks again, and kind regards, Gerhard

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Hi Gerhard, it seems the browser.proton preferences will be in Firefox 90, but will be removed in Firefox 91. Unless that is postponed. The recent releases are Firefox 89 point releases with bug fixes:

https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/releases/

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Please keep the old UI design. Don't remove it completely. New design takes too much space in tab bar.

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Just update to v91.0 - insist to force us to accept new tabs design ! So I give up - I am a new Chrome user.

[Profanity removed by moderator. Please read Mozilla Support rules and guidelines, thanks.]

Okulungisiwe ngu Chris Ilias

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Hi Eduardo, if you decide you want to use Firefox, the community can help you with a userChrome.css workaround to restyle the tabs in Firefox 91.

For example, I have a rule-builder here:

https://www.userchrome.org/firefox-89-styling-proton-ui.html#tabstyler

And the steps to set up a userChrome.css file are listed here:

https://www.userchrome.org/

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Hi Jscher2000, I tried setting up a userChrome.css file as instructed in your links. I made sure Firefox would look for it on startup, but it didn't seem to take? There was no change whatsoever. I am currently using Lepton's solution, which you linked to, but I wanted to ask, are there common reasons why the css file doesn't get recognized by firefox?

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Hi , TerryN21's post was marked as the solution by the person who asked the original question. Your issue may have similar symptoms, but it is likely a different cause/solution. For better help, it would be best to use https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/new where volunteers can get more details about your setup.

Because this thread is solved and more people might start using it for their own questions, I'm going to lock it.