URL site doesn't show and there is no way to "back" or "forward". What happened
There is nothing to tell me on the top toolbar what web site I'm on. For instance, if I'm on Yahoo and click on an article and then want to go back to the home page, there is no way for me to do it. The back and forward buttons as well as the URL bar are gray.
Wšě wotmołwy (10)
If you're looking for color on the back/forward, it is replaced by Black and the gray means nothing to back or forward to.l Title bar on Windows has been replaced with an empty bar with the Firefox button. Bring back the menu and fix the titlebar problem (most of it). see item #2 and #4
You can make Firefox 4.0.1 and Firefox 5.0 look like Firefox 3.6.17, see numbered items 1-10 in the following topic Fix Firefox 4.0 toolbar user interface, problem (Make Firefox 4.0 look like 3.6)
First, you should see the Navigation Toolbar. If it's hidden, you can redisplay it as follows:
View menu > Toolbars > check Navigation Toolbar
If you have the orange Firefox button (abbreviated menus), tap the Alt key or press F10 to temporarily display the classic menu bar so you can access the View menu.
If the window you are in has no menus, then it could be a "dialog" style window that was opened with some features disabled. You may have to re-open the page in a new window.
Does that help?
Actually, I had tried most of the above and I finally just restarted my computer and got back on the web. It seems to be working now. WTH (didn't think "F" was appropriate).
You may have been in Full Screen Mode, IF there was no Title Bar, no Toolbars and No Tab Bar showing. You can toggle in and out of Full Screen Mode by tapping the F11 key.
This problem occurs only after I open a new window from Firefox 5. The primary window shows everything and I can navigate with the back and forward arrows. When I enter a site and go to it and then enter another site and go to it, I can't go back to the previous site in that window. If I click on a link in a window and go to that site, the URL of the new site doesn't show up. Only the old link. Very frustrating and not seen before Firefox 5
If I click on the icon at the beginning of the URL, it then shows me the actual URL I'm at. Otherwise it shows a previous URL. I can't navigate in any case.
When I create a new tab it doesn't show up in the tabs unless I turn on "tabs on top". I can create a new window and there are no tabs showing nor a + to create a new tab. I can only create a tab from the menu. Even if the parent window I create the window from has "tabs on top", the new window doesn't have this turned on. I find all of this very confusing and frustrating and inconsistent.
@dwforslund, I think you could have an incompatible add-on causing tab problems. Since you didn't mention your OS, please adjust this as necessary.
Open the Extensions list here:
orange Firefox button or Tools menu > Add-ons > click Extensions
Disable as much as possible, particularly anything relating to tabs, then restart and test again. Does that make any difference?
A theme also can cause this, so if you use a custom theme then try the default theme (Tools > Add-ons > Appearance/Themes)
See also:
I found which add-on was causing the problem and disabled it (Freecorder). It sure would be nice to be able to tell what the problem was without having to use trial and error.