Hi,

We appreciate your feedback on the recently redesigned Firefox browser.

We set out in 2021 to reimagine Firefox's design to be fast, modern and inviting. With the latest 89 release, we’re bringing you a modern new look designed to streamline and calm things down so you have a fresh new web experience every time you use Firefox.

Is there anything in particular that you would like to see improved or fixed?

Hi c13563, old versions of Firefox are always available, but not recommended. There's more info in this article: Install an older version of Firefox.

Can you expand on "this charade" -- it would be helpful in order to know whether we can suggest a workaround. Which changes are bothering you? These are some common complaints:

• the tab bar redesign => change floating buttons back to connected tabs
• the theme => restore dark background behind tabs
• spacing between menu items => reduce to previous spacing
• wireframe graphics style => change the artwork to...
• issues with the built-in new tab page

However, please tell us your specific pain points with Firefox 89.

Since it's a common question, I will mention that there is a temporary preference in Firefox 89 to revert most of the tab bar and address bar changes. However, this was retained just for testing and will be removed in some future update.

(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 UI) and false (old UI)

Hi J and thanks for taking the time to get back to me. For starters, I want control of the colors on the menu bar, the open tabs, and the tool bar. That might be the theme issue that you mentioned. The spacing between menu (bookmarks) items is another issue. Last, it certainly seems like many of the login credentials are not being picked by the new version when I try to log in to different sites although in settings, they are indeed saved.

Last, in your kind reply, you mention going to config etc. and re-establishing the old UI. Is that what you meant by temporarily being able to revert?

I will end by saying that I, as a user, cannot ever be given too much ability to customize whatever to something that works best for me.

Thanks one more time,

Bruce

Hi Bruce, all of the volunteers who reply here wish that customizing were easier and more flexible. But we work with the toolkit we have, so...

For theming of the toolbars, Firefox has the usual Light and Dark, and it's not completely clear what System is for (it seems to be Light for most people). There are add-on themes that are more similar to the old "Default" theme if you don't use the above temporary preference. For example:

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

If that color doesn't suit you, the Firefox Color extension lets you create your own theme:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/firefox-color/

Now, about the menus, if you are use that add-on theme, the menus will be white-on-black, which doesn't match the toolbar buttons, because it seems based on my limited experimentation using the Firefox Color extension that Proton's menu theming keys off the brightness of the color of the text for the inactive tabs. If that text is fairly dark, you get light themed menus, and if it's brighter then you get dark themed menus. So that is something which surprises some people.

If you want to override the new menu theming and stretched layout, I can give you a quick short-term workaround, but a more durable solution will require more work.

Temporary Fix

For testing purposes, there is a preference to switch between new style and old style menus. It helps with the spacing, but might be a tad bit glitchy:

(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.contextmenus.enabled and pause while the list is filtered

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

In my test, the Bookmarks menu on the optional top Menu Bar was messed up in the existing window, but looked okay in a new window.

Longer Term Community Workaround

For the spacing, this involves setting up a userChrome.css file. The full instructions are in the following thread: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1337841

I'm sure we'll refine that during the course of the month so when the temporary preference is removed, it will be airtight.

For the colors, I don't yet know the optimal approach. If there is one.

Hi J --

The temporary fix worked but I could not get the other one to work. When I downloaded the suggested item, I opened it with a double click and all it did was open the notepad with a bunch of commands in it.

Also, with the new version, my passwords are no longer working. When I review them in settings, they are all still there but when I go to login to one of the saved items, it will either show me just the user name and password boxes with no entry, or show me the two boxes with only the user name populated. The password box is now no longer populated.

Thanks for all of your help, I do appreciate it.

Bruce

Hi Bruce, for the userChrome.css file, you don't open the file, you move it to a new chrome folder (full details in the other thread) so Firefox can find it at startup.

Also, with the new version, my passwords are no longer working. When I review them in settings, they are all still there but when I go to login to one of the saved items, it will either show me just the user name and password boxes with no entry, or show me the two boxes with only the user name populated. The password box is now no longer populated.

That is odd. If you click the password box, does a menu of saved logins appear, so Firefox is aware of a match but just isn't filling it?

Hi J -- My issue with the logins continues. Even logging into my Mozilla account, I had to click for my user name to come up and the password never did come up.

Now, I have encountered another issue. I have attached a file showing two snapshots of the exact same web page. The one that is overpopulated with data is from Firefox; the other is the exact same page from MS Edge. Do you have any idea as to what might be causing this?

Thanks,

Bruce

Now, I have encountered another issue. I have attached a file showing two snapshots of the exact same web page. The one that is overpopulated with data is from Firefox; the other is the exact same page from MS Edge. Do you have any idea as to what might be causing this?

Hi Bruce, it looks like the Google web font "Material Icons" is not loading. Please see the following thread for suggestions:

https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1324292