[HN Gopher] Firefox 89 Tab Appearance
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Firefox 89 Tab Appearance
        
       Author : ibobev
       Score  : 231 points
       Date   : 2021-06-04 11:55 UTC (11 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (amitp.blogspot.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (amitp.blogspot.com)
        
       | thangalin wrote:
       | Revert to the older, compact tab style using:
       | 
       | 1. Visit about:config
       | 
       | 2. Set browser.proton.enabled to: false
       | 
       | 3. Set browser.uidensity to: 1
       | 
       | 4. Optionally, set browser.proton.toolbar.version to: 3
       | 
       | No userChrome.css edits necessary.
        
         | kbrosnan wrote:
         | This pref will not work in future versions.
        
           | ocdtrekkie wrote:
           | Sure, but my hope is that if every discussion of Firefox
           | talks about how we all prefer it, Mozilla might realize it's
           | in their best interests to review their decisions, before
           | they annoy the last vestiges of their userbase away.
           | 
           | We can only hope, anyways.
           | 
           | The first day 89 was out, I got a call from a user wondering
           | what the heck happened to Firefox, and if I did something.
        
             | castorp wrote:
             | There about 10 issues logged with Bugzilla regarding this.
             | All closed as "wontfix"
        
       | 0xcoffee wrote:
       | Thanks, just adding                   .tabbrowser-tab[selected] {
       | background: #fcb731 ! important;          }
       | 
       | Already makes the active tab visibility so much clearer.
       | 
       | I just did a check, they use #FFFFFF for active tab and #F0F0F0
       | for non active tab.
       | 
       | Using https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/
       | 
       | Gives a contrast ratio of 1.13:1
       | 
       | A big fat fail
        
         | kevincox wrote:
         | Note that these numbers are intended for text readability. They
         | don't directly relate to the visibility of a rectangle.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | stronglikedan wrote:
       | Anyone know how to get my title bar and window border colors
       | back? The "system" theme doesn't seem to honor my system's
       | setting, despite the name. I had a nice bright red title bar and
       | window border on my focused window before yesterday. Now
       | everything's a drab gray, with no way to know which window has
       | focus. Small rant: I try to make FF my daily driver each time a
       | new update is released, but each update brings some new
       | boneheaded thing to make me more and more hopeless that will ever
       | happen.
        
         | handoflixue wrote:
         | Firefox Color should let you customize those:
         | https://color.firefox.com/
        
         | genpfault wrote:
         | > Anyone know how to get my title bar and window border colors
         | back?
         | 
         | Set browser.proton.enabled to false in about:config. That makes
         | Firefox 89 use the Windows 10 accent color in the titlebar
         | again on my system.
        
           | castorp wrote:
           | Only helps until the next release. Then all customization
           | options where you can turn off Proton will be removed.
        
       | Ucak wrote:
       | I really loved the new colorful theme, IMO it looks just so
       | modern and fresh.
        
       | multiplegeorges wrote:
       | I quite like the new design. I think the need for them to look
       | like actual "tabs" like in a folder is overblown. Let's drop the
       | skeuomorphism.
       | 
       | The customizability in Firefox is great, but the example in the
       | link is... well, to each their own.
        
         | Shorel wrote:
         | I'm with you.
         | 
         | It looks and feels FAST!
        
         | pdpi wrote:
         | I don't like how skeuomorphism turned into a dirty word.
         | 
         | A skeuomorph is just an unessential design cue a derivative
         | takes from the original. They can be entirely ornamental (like
         | the dumb faux leather of some of the latter day Jobs-era iOS
         | apps), but they're quite useful as affordances.
         | 
         | There's no particular technical reason why you'd prefer any one
         | particular graphic design for tabs over another, but the
         | separator-style tabs make the association between tab headers
         | and contents much clearer than the new design.
         | 
         | Likewise, there's a lot of value in the Numi/Soulver style of
         | calculator apps for power users, but common users are better
         | served by the skeuomorphic physical calculator design, which is
         | perfectly functional and much more familiar to most (though
         | this may change as younger generations are less and less
         | exposed to traditional calculators).
        
         | zamadatix wrote:
         | I don't consider Photon a skeuomorphic design really. It was a
         | grid based flat functional design with razor sharp edges.
         | Australis on the other hand was absolutely skeuomorphic, color
         | gradients to give pop-out with curved tabs to mimic real folder
         | tabs and so on.
         | 
         | If "the element is connected to the content it represents" is
         | enough to make a design skeuomorphic then so be it but either
         | way I don't think it's desired "because that's how real folders
         | work" vs "I want to know which UI elements are related".
        
         | anoncake wrote:
         | A tab bar should look like a tab bar. Even if that look
         | historically is skeuomorphic. In the same way that a save
         | button isn't labelled with a floppy disk icon anymore, but with
         | the save icon.
        
         | SavantIdiot wrote:
         | Linking two related UI elements isn't a "skeuomorph". It is an
         | element of design. A skeuomorph is when you try to make a UI
         | look like a physical object: adding paper grain to the
         | background of a word processor, or making a time app look like
         | a stopwatch.
        
           | multiplegeorges wrote:
           | > A skeuomorph is when you try to make a UI look like a
           | physical object
           | 
           | Agreed, and the linked article specifically themes their tabs
           | to look like a file folder, with a reminiscent color and
           | rounded corners.
           | 
           | The very concept of a tab that contains related information
           | in it is a replication of the physical tabbed file folder.
           | 
           | It's pretty much this: https://imgur.com/a/u2WgESW
           | 
           | And that is largely a hold over from the concept of a
           | physical desktop in an office. See:
           | https://onezero.medium.com/the-document-metaphor-desktop-
           | gui...
           | 
           | It'd be nice for some new concepts to be introduced and
           | refined.
        
             | layer8 wrote:
             | IMO this is more about _affordance_ than about
             | skeuomorphism. The traditional tab strip UI is already an
             | abstraction, because it has only two levels of depth
             | (instead of each tab having a different depth like physical
             | tabs) and you don't see the stack of individual edges of
             | each tab page. (There were skeuomorphic versions that
             | actually did this.) The new Firefox design is lacking any
             | clear affordance that would connect the tab button to the
             | respective tab contents.
        
           | jakelazaroff wrote:
           | More generally, a skeuomorph is when a derivative uses design
           | elements for decoration that were functionally necessary in
           | the original. Paper grain in the background of a word
           | processor is one example of a skeuomorph -- but so are spokes
           | on hubcaps, electric lights shaped like candles and the
           | shutter sound your phone plays when it takes a picture.
        
         | handrous wrote:
         | Tab-look isn't skeuomorphism, the way it's used most places in
         | computer UI--it indicates to the user which parts of the UI are
         | associated with the tab, and so may be expected to change when
         | the tab is switched.
        
           | pjerem wrote:
           | Which is not the case of the UI element right under the tab
           | bar ... because it's the toolbar / address bar. In earlier
           | versions of Firefox, tabs used to be located under the
           | toolbars hence they made sense as tabs.
           | 
           | Only Safari kept this UX. I never understood why everybody
           | copied this Chrome thing.
        
             | handrous wrote:
             | I can see reasons why a lot of things would go under the
             | tab, like the address bar. FF's biggest UI-sensibility sin
             | I know of (at least on the last design--I've not used the
             | new one yet) is the damn hamburger menu. On desktop! That's
             | a real WTF.
        
               | DonHopkins wrote:
               | Pie menus are better than hamburger menus!
               | 
               | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMcmQk-q0k4
        
             | pseudalopex wrote:
             | The address bar does change. The status of tool bar items
             | can change.
        
               | pjerem wrote:
               | That's right, I've never thought about it.
               | 
               | You've changed my mind on this.
        
             | playpause wrote:
             | It is a different location bar for every tab. Try typing
             | some text into it and then switching tab and then back
             | again.
        
               | pjerem wrote:
               | Yup. I've been wrong for years.
        
       | keeganjw wrote:
       | Alternatively, if you want to flip back to the old UI in Firefox
       | 89, you can go to about:config, search for
       | browser.proton.enabled, set it to false, and then restart. That
       | should do it too.
        
         | wackget wrote:
         | For how long, until they remove it? Honestly, I hate Firefox
         | now. It's going backwards.
        
           | gruez wrote:
           | Hopefully after the next esr comes out so I don't have to
           | deal with this for another year
        
           | smoldesu wrote:
           | I think you can safely assume they won't throw it away
           | instantly. Unless they introduce some new feature that is
           | _only possible_ with the new UI, Mozilla will probably just
           | keep it around to appease fans until they redesign it again.
        
             | orthecreedence wrote:
             | No, they are confirmed throwing it away in the next
             | release.
        
         | csdreamer7 wrote:
         | Huh, on Arch GNOME it does not go back to the old interface,
         | but it does make the new one more compact for me. That is far
         | more workable for me.
        
       | FlyingSnake wrote:
       | Any power user using Firefox without TreeStyle Tabs1 is simply
       | wasting their time.
       | 
       | [^1]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/tree-style-
       | ta...
        
       | Kim_Bruning wrote:
       | As long as tree style tabs still works , it's all good.
        
         | iamalive wrote:
         | Do you use it along with the regular tabs ?
         | 
         | I liked the tree style tabs but didn't want to have two
         | components basically doing the same thing taking up my screen
         | space. I don't know if there was a way to hide the regular
         | tabs.
        
           | ncann wrote:
           | I can hide the whole tab bar when using TST, but doing so
           | will also hide the window buttons (minimize/maximize/close),
           | which is annoying.
        
             | shrikant wrote:
             | It's been a while since I used a Mac so I can't speak to
             | that, but this is categorically NOT the case on my Linux
             | (Kubuntu) and Windows machines.
             | 
             | I have TST enabled with the "regular" tab bar disabled, and
             | can very much still see/use the window buttons.
        
               | ncann wrote:
               | Can you share your style? This is what I use on Windows
               | #TabsToolbar {            visibility: collapse;         }
               | #titlebar {             visibility: collapse;         }
               | 
               | and the result:
               | 
               | https://i.imgur.com/0DxPCvE.png
        
               | shrikant wrote:
               | Sure, this is what I use on both machines:
               | #main-window[tabsintitlebar="true"]:not([extradragspace="
               | true"]) #TabsToolbar > .toolbar-items {
               | opacity: 0;           pointer-events: none;         }
               | #main-window:not([tabsintitlebar="true"]) #TabsToolbar {
               | visibility: collapse !important;         }
               | #sidebar-
               | box[sidebarcommand="treestyletab_piro_sakura_ne_jp-
               | sidebar-action"] #sidebar-header {           display:
               | none;         }
               | 
               | It's probably worth noting that I've also set
               | "browser.tabs.drawInTitlebar" option to "false" in
               | about:config.
        
             | rcthompson wrote:
             | I think there's a standard Firefox preference to un-merge
             | the tab bar and window bar. Maybe that would help?
        
               | ncann wrote:
               | I can't find that option, do you know where it is?
        
               | paol wrote:
               | A checkbox labeled "Title Bar" at the bottom of the
               | customize window
        
               | frosted-flakes wrote:
               | Menu - More Tools - Customize toolbar
               | 
               | Then click the "title bar" checkbox at the bottom left.
        
           | mcintyre1994 wrote:
           | I used to use tree-style tabs with the normal tab bar hidden.
           | I've moved off Firefox so no guarantee the new big update
           | hasn't broken this, but I used the following userChrome.css
           | (if you're unfamiliar with that then check out
           | https://www.userchrome.org)                   /* Hide tab bar
           | in FF Quantum */         @-moz-document
           | url("chrome://browser/content/browser.xhtml") {
           | #TabsToolbar {             visibility: collapse !important;
           | margin-bottom: 21px !important;           }
           | #sidebar-box[sidebarcommand="treestyletab_piro_sakura_ne_jp-
           | sidebar-action"] #sidebar-header {             visibility:
           | collapse !important;           }         }
           | 
           | I think I probably got it from here:
           | https://www.reddit.com/r/FirefoxCSS/comments/d4hx49/ff69/
           | 
           | Edit: More authoritative source shared in the comments which
           | is probably a better starting point (and has loads of other
           | configuration too):
           | https://github.com/piroor/treestyletab/wiki/Code-snippets-
           | fo...
        
             | luxurytent wrote:
             | I just tested this on the newest release and it works! I
             | was looking for something like this. Thank you :)
             | 
             | (It does seem to hide the min/max buttons on the left, but
             | I don't use those anyways)
        
               | jgauth wrote:
               | A great deal of customization can be done. The TST GitHub
               | wiki has a nice page dedicated to these tweaks, you may
               | be able to find what you need there:
               | 
               | https://github.com/piroor/treestyletab/wiki/Code-
               | snippets-fo...
        
               | mcintyre1994 wrote:
               | Nice! I edited that link into my comment higher up the
               | thread too, definitely a better starting point for
               | someone than the random reddit thread I linked!
        
         | pletnes wrote:
         | This is the feature firefox needs to be in the default browser.
         | All these tweaks to the top tab thingy is just a band-aid on
         | the fire.
        
         | josteink wrote:
         | Works but looks differently with less emphasis on the current
         | tab.
         | 
         | I haven't gotten used to it yet, but oh well.
        
           | Aachen wrote:
           | Isn't that a user preference? I remember after some upgrade a
           | few months (maybe a year?) ago that the current tab was also
           | de-emphasized and I changed the highlight color as it didn't
           | seem to be changing itself back in the next release (i.e. not
           | just a bug) although it never manifested on my private laptop
           | which runs the same setup.
           | 
           | Edit: Apparently you need to set custom CSS for this. You
           | might need to enable Expert Options at the top of the
           | preferences screen. I've got:                   .tab.active {
           | background-color: #371737;         }         .tab:hover {
           | background-color: #600;         }
           | 
           | These colors are I think slightly more obvious than the
           | default was; just toy with the values a little (lower is less
           | color / darker and vice versa). Not sure if this part of my
           | CSS is also relevant / needed to work well with these colors:
           | #tabbar {           background-color: #000;         }
           | .tab {           background-color: #171717;         }
        
         | mixmastamyk wrote:
         | If only tabs were the only design problem with the last two
         | releases.
        
       | butz wrote:
       | Remember, when software UI was customizable? Developers somehow
       | managed to build amazing customization options while adhering to
       | OS design and QA had it all tested without any fancy "automated
       | testing tools" we have today.
       | 
       | Firefox needs to figure out how to expose UI customization to all
       | users, not only those who are comfortable enabling user styles
       | and hacking CSS. Most UI styles probably are using CSS variables,
       | so how about starting to expose them in some easy to use
       | interface, with simple textbox or spinner? Of course, they should
       | plop a huge banner, that customizations are not supported, but in
       | the end this should help users to quickly fix their personal
       | annoyances. It is impossible to make single UI that will satisfy
       | all users, but such customization tool surely will turn more
       | grumpy users to happy users. Imagine, how disabled person must
       | feel, when they need to go through 10 steps of browser
       | customization just to adjust a single color.
        
         | nfoz wrote:
         | > Remember, when software UI was customizable?
         | 
         | I liked the old philosophy that a desktop should have
         | "consistent look & feel". If all your apps use the same UI
         | toolkit, that toolkit can be made to work well and with things
         | like accessibility in mind, and can be themed/customized to the
         | user's preference.
         | 
         | My old-hat way of thinking goes so far to say that "tabs"
         | should be done by the window-manager, not the browser.
        
         | handoflixue wrote:
         | Firefox Color offers the ability to remap most (all?) colors
         | used in the UI. It's hardly "10 steps just to adjust a single
         | color", and I'm not aware of any browser that makes it easier.
         | 
         | More advanced customization is obviously harder to put in to a
         | UI, but exposing the underlying CSS means that anyone can just
         | copy from a blog post like this fairly easily. That seems like
         | a decent compromise to me. I certainly don't recall being able
         | to edit any pre-CSS application with that level of refinement.
        
       | danpalmer wrote:
       | Looks like this might only be an issue with dark-mode. In regular
       | mode the active tab is very visually distinct.
       | 
       | I think this is a more general problem with dark-mode interfaces.
       | Contrast of content is usually easy to achieve (e.g. light text
       | on dark background) but getting contrast between UI elements like
       | tabs is quite difficult.
       | 
       | Apple had a great talk about the design challenges at WWDC 2019.
       | One of the ways they do this is by integrating ambient colours
       | from things like the desktop wallpaper which Firefox doesn't do.
        
         | MauranKilom wrote:
         | The problem that tabs no longer look like tabs (and that the
         | active one has this weird button look) is not exclusive to dark
         | mode.
         | 
         | In one word: Why?
        
           | swiley wrote:
           | >In one word: Why?
           | 
           | In two words: Why not?
        
             | [deleted]
        
           | kergonath wrote:
           | Tabs are so 2010s
           | 
           | (Joking, it _is_ a textbook example of ergonomic regression
           | for the sake of change).
        
       | antihero wrote:
       | I thought I'd hate the new tabs but it turns out, I really like
       | them!
        
       | poidos wrote:
       | This hasn't affected me at all; thankfully I use tree style
       | tabs[0] with some CSS a friend shared:
       | /*Collapse in default state and add transition*/
       | #sidebar-box[sidebarcommand="treestyletab_piro_sakura_ne_jp-
       | sidebar-action"] {             overflow: hidden;             min-
       | width: 40px;             max-width: 40px;             transition:
       | all 0.2s ease;             border-right: 1px solid #0c0c0d;
       | position: absolute;             left: 0px;             z-index:
       | 20;         }              /*Expand to 260px on hover*/
       | #sidebar-box[sidebarcommand="treestyletab_piro_sakura_ne_jp-
       | sidebar-action"]:hover,         #sidebar-
       | box[sidebarcommand="treestyletab_piro_sakura_ne_jp-sidebar-
       | action"] #sidebar {             min-width: 260px !important;
       | max-width: 260px !important;             margin-right: -220px;
       | }              #sidebar-
       | box[sidebarcommand="treestyletab_piro_sakura_ne_jp-sidebar-
       | action"] + #sidebar-splitter {             display: none;
       | }              #sidebar-
       | box[sidebarcommand="treestyletab_piro_sakura_ne_jp-sidebar-
       | action"] > #sidebar-header {         visibility: collapse;
       | }              /* hides the native tabs */         #TabsToolbar {
       | visibility: collapse;         }         #titlebar {
       | visibility: collapse;         }
       | 
       | This provides the benefits of tree-style tabs without constantly
       | taking up horizontal space.
       | 
       | [0]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-
       | ta...
        
       | _ph_ wrote:
       | I hate the new tabs. I am struggling with my eyesight, so not
       | having any border between the tabs makes it very difficult to
       | recognize them. The only indication left is the icon. But
       | everytime I try to selectd a tab I have to squint to see where I
       | have to click. Very unpleaseant and inconsiderate. I wished they
       | had run some testing program before imposing such a technically
       | unneeded modification. I am all for progress, but for heavens
       | sake, please check with users before making their life miserable!
        
         | hnarn wrote:
         | Have you tried using a different theme? Or does that not help
         | with making the tabs more obvious?
        
       | Ayesh wrote:
       | Firefox, despite its questionable UI design choices, is heavily
       | customizable with the userChrome.css file. The author mentions
       | having to figure out the correct ID/class names, but you can do
       | it yourself just by inspecting the whole browser chrome as if it
       | was part of an HTML DOM.
       | 
       | Browser Tool Box (open fly out menu -> More Tools, or
       | Ctrl+Alt+Shift+I). This opens a remote debugging session, and you
       | can freely select and customize any part of the chrome.
        
         | wvenable wrote:
         | I have a pretty customized userChrome.css as the main feature I
         | use in Firefox is multi-row tabs. This used to be provided by a
         | XUL extension but now it possible in a somewhat less fantastic
         | way with userChrome.css.
         | 
         | The problem is that every major UI change breaks the
         | userChrome.css and I have to spend a while tweaking it or
         | waiting for someone else to design it up. It's frustrating.
         | 
         | Since I knew this update was coming I disabled automatic
         | updates for the first time ever. It might be a while before I
         | decide to upgrade.
        
           | yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
           | It sounds like you should be using the ESR releases?
        
             | Zancarius wrote:
             | Especially since there are some potential RCEs in Firefox
             | 88 as far as I can remember.
             | 
             | ESR is definitely a safer option.
        
           | Zardoz84 wrote:
           | You know "Simple Tab Groups"? It's far better that having
           | multiple rows of tabs.
        
             | wvenable wrote:
             | It doesn't fit my workflow. I open almost every link in a
             | new tab and if I'm doing research that can be a lot of
             | tabs. I don't want to spend any time organizing these
             | temporary tabs; I just want a way to quickly see and move
             | between them.
             | 
             | If you use a lot of tabs in most browsers, the tabs end up
             | being just tiny icon-sized. That's no good. I also don't
             | want to go through another layer to find them.
        
               | vasac wrote:
               | Before switching to Tree Style Tab extension I was quite
               | happy with customizations from
               | https://github.com/Izheil/Quantum-Nox-Firefox-Dark-Full-
               | Them... - they use Firefox beta to adjust css so once new
               | Firefox version is released everything is ready from the
               | get-go.
        
               | SAI_Peregrinus wrote:
               | I do the same thing (and by default each new tab opens in
               | a new temporary container). I use Tree Style Tabs to be
               | able to organize them. It's particularly nice with a
               | wide-screen monitor, since vertical space is at a premium
               | but there's extra horizontal space. It just makes more
               | sense to use that for the tab bar. I do have
               | userChrome.css to hide the main tab bar though.
        
         | jehlakj wrote:
         | That's pretty neat, but it doesn't justify their UX decisions.
         | Why change something that seemed to work well? Do they have
         | constant feedback on their previous design?
         | 
         | I'm still confused why the tabs look like this. The active tab
         | is so different than the inactive that it's hard to make a
         | connection between them. Most people already have an
         | association with typical tab UIs. Why change this fundamental
         | perception into something more generic and ambiguous?
        
           | WorldMaker wrote:
           | A reasoning given for the change in tabs was a lot of user
           | feedback that people didn't know you could drag and drop to
           | rearrange tabs, but also kept requesting that ability
           | (despite it already being supported). I can almost see the
           | reasoning behind "the attached tab looks far too attached and
           | 'fixed' to the rest of the window so floatable buttons would
           | appear less so and 'easier' to move" and I don't entirely
           | fault it for bad logic, though I also think they could have
           | found a better alternative that didn't feel so drastic a
           | departure from decades of tab UIs (in Firefox previously and
           | elsewhere).
        
             | drw85 wrote:
             | Says a lot about the users, when they request an existing
             | feature without trying to do it. I mean it's a simple drag
             | and drop. How do you not try that before? :D
        
               | kyleee wrote:
               | Partly because due to a decade (or maybe decades?) of
               | constant UI/UX churn in software, operating systems, etc.
               | people are scared to try things for fear of breakage and
               | inability and/or ignorance of how to undo unwanted
               | changes. Speaks to the overall terrible and continuously
               | worsening state of software UI/UX
        
           | capableweb wrote:
           | > but it doesn't justify their UX decisions
           | 
           | It doesn't justify shitty UX decisions, no. But it does
           | alleviate the pain you experience when companies (inevitably)
           | do fuck up something you depend on.
           | 
           | If the same happened in Chrome or Safari you would have the
           | same chance of adjusting the browser UI as you have adjusting
           | the UX of your toaster (none [or with a lot of work]).
           | 
           | Instead, Firefox lets power users be power users, installing
           | extensions that completely changes the UI or adding your own
           | stylesheets for customizations like the ones mentioned in
           | this submission.
           | 
           | So booo to the team doing the UX change, yay to Firefox for
           | letting me fix their own mistakes without having to wait for
           | it to be deployed.
           | 
           | > Most people already have an association with typical tab
           | UIs. Why change this fundamental perception into something
           | more generic and ambiguous?
           | 
           | This was probably said about tabs vs windows when tabs first
           | appeared in browsers as well. Why introduce a different
           | concept when you can already have many windows?! People seem
           | to prefer tabs today, so sometimes going against the wind is
           | a good thing. Problem is that you don't know what will be
           | good until you throw that thing at people and they tell/show
           | you their reaction.
        
             | citrin_ru wrote:
             | > This was probably said about tabs vs windows when tabs
             | first appeared in browsers as well
             | 
             | Tabs is a way to group related so windows which useful if
             | you have many of them. And AFIR tabs in browsers was very
             | welcomed by users, unlike today's nonstop UI churn.
        
             | ivanche wrote:
             | You can still have many windows, nobody stops you from
             | doing that.
        
             | birksherty wrote:
             | > This was probably said about tabs vs windows when tabs
             | first appeared in browsers as well. Why introduce a
             | different concept when you can already have many windows?!
             | 
             | You can justify any bad changes this way and "probably"
             | means you don't know but you just made it up to justify.
             | Tabs made things better we all new when that happend. What
             | good thing the designers thought to introduce this change
             | like in the tabs?
             | 
             | These designers have nothing to do at office if they don't.
             | Basically we all are lab rats with every new shiny device
             | or app version that hits now a days. Anyone having fun re-
             | learning new gestures on mobile devices every 2 years?
        
               | stkdump wrote:
               | I like the new tabs. They don't confuse me. And they look
               | less noisy/calmer/less crowded. The Windows task bar also
               | works nicely without a tab design.
        
             | jehlakj wrote:
             | I applaud the Firefox team to make it possible to customize
             | the UI at such level and I hope that it spawns a lot of
             | beautiful plugins.
             | 
             | My biggest gripe is that the default UI doesn't look like a
             | typical default UI. It looks like a third party plugin
             | that'll most likely confuse more people than with a plain
             | boring UI.
        
           | swiley wrote:
           | > Do they have constant feedback on their previous design?
           | 
           | Why listen to feedback when you have telemetry. (edit: /s for
           | clarity. My point is that telemetry is probably a net
           | negative for many projects.)
           | 
           | There's probably a telemetry -> spreadsheet -> powerpoint ->
           | jira workflow that people are doing full time at most
           | companies.
        
             | [deleted]
        
             | mixedCase wrote:
             | Taking your comment at face value: because telemetry can
             | lie even more easily than users, pointing the finger at
             | entirely the wrong thing in the worst possible way: with
             | cold, hard numbers to convince most people who don't want
             | to deal with the issue.
             | 
             | Telemetry complements feedback, it should never replace it
             | entirely.
        
         | chrismorgan wrote:
         | You've got to enable that first: dev tools - Settings - Enable
         | browser chrome and add-on debugging toolboxes.
        
           | skywal_l wrote:
           | And Enable remote debugging.
        
         | weaksauce wrote:
         | one caveat is that you need to both enable remote debugging and
         | enable browser chrome debugging toolboxes in the settings.
         | fairly easy to do cmd-option-i then f1 or click the three dots
         | and settings. then under advanced settings there are two
         | checkboxes to check one for remote debugging and the other for
         | browser chrome
        
         | kitsunesoba wrote:
         | Didn't they say that userChrome.css customization is going away
         | soonish?
        
           | noisem4ker wrote:
           | I don't remember Mozilla saying that. There were voices of
           | suspicion, though, following the decision to disable loading
           | of userChrome.css by default, allegedly for performance
           | reasons.
           | https://www.ghacks.net/2019/05/24/firefox-69-userchrome-
           | css-...
        
           | NoGravitas wrote:
           | If it does, they'd better provide another way to hide the tab
           | bar.
        
       | pentagrama wrote:
       | I'm loving the UI refresh!
       | 
       | I was waiting for some days of use to make my opinion. My
       | _personal_ experience was great! All feels more cohesive and
       | friendly.
       | 
       | And seeing all the styles and components making sense together, I
       | think that this is the start of a good direction. Is a measured
       | refresh, not a change of paradigm or something like that, a good
       | decision of the design team.
       | 
       | I understand the backlash that UI changes has on users, sometimes
       | is justified, sometimes is Old Man Yells at Cloud.
       | 
       | This new look and experience is also good to compete with Chrome
       | and Edge, a design that works well but _also_ looks attractive
       | for the times, is a way to get new users.
       | 
       | Good work Firefox team!
        
         | mixmastamyk wrote:
         | What is "cohesive" about a custom theme and unique widgets?
         | That don't match anything else?
        
       | Andrew_nenakhov wrote:
       | I have found myself to like this new style of tabs, despite not
       | liking it in previews in the announcements.
        
       | justusthane wrote:
       | My only big issue with the redesign is that it no longer shows
       | you at a glance when a background tab is playing audio. You have
       | to mouseover each tab to show the audio icon.
        
         | trnglina wrote:
         | It displays for me, in place of the favicon (but I'm on
         | nightly, so this might be a more recent change). Here's what it
         | looks like for me: https://imgur.com/a/EwaKsNt
        
           | Macha wrote:
           | The difference is compact mode. In compact mode it replaces
           | the favicon, in normal/touch mode it adds an extra line with
           | the "PLAYING" text.
        
             | crtasm wrote:
             | > an extra line with the "PLAYING" text.
             | 
             | If anyone knows how to turn this off, or prevent it moving
             | the tab title up and down please let me know.
             | 
             | Pausing a video in one window then a second later having my
             | attention drawn back to it by the movement is very
             | annoying. I'm on xubuntu.
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | justusthane wrote:
           | Interesting, here's what I see now on 89.0:
           | https://imgur.com/a/bItmejF
           | 
           | I swear the "PLAYING" text wasn't there when I first updated.
           | Seems like maybe they're still ironing out how to handle it.
        
             | kzrdude wrote:
             | FWIW, the playing text is longer in the localization I use,
             | and when cut off (many tabs) it's not really readable. :)
        
         | lights0123 wrote:
         | Do you not have "playing" in small caps under the title?
         | https://i.imgur.com/9qUz5zT.png It's also shown in various
         | articles about the redesign:
         | https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/1/22463321/firefox-design-re...
        
       | mrob wrote:
       | I'm using ESR, so this hasn't impacted me yet, but there's a
       | large userChrome.css file that reverts the worst of the changes
       | at:
       | 
       | https://github.com/black7375/Firefox-UI-Fix/
       | 
       | It's well commented enough that you should be able to cherry-pick
       | individual fixes.
        
         | andrei_says_ wrote:
         | Would userChrome.css get overwritten with each update?
        
           | Macha wrote:
           | No, but your changes may break in a future update
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | kzrdude wrote:
         | Thank you. With just the fix to connect the "button" to the tab
         | below, it feels good again. The other interface with the
         | floating buttons is a bit too unspatial for me (I always had a
         | thing for spatial interfaces).
        
         | vxNsr wrote:
         | It would be pretty cool if someone could create a package
         | management-like tool where I could easily browse and install
         | these little customizations...
        
           | mixmastamyk wrote:
           | Perhaps an extension or plugin of some sort... maybe call
           | them add ons? ;-)
        
       | bityard wrote:
       | When are we just going to admit that "flat design," while looking
       | great in UX designer portfolio screenshots, is really a
       | usability/accessibility nightmare?
        
       | canada_dry wrote:
       | Every time they release changes to the UI, one of the most basic
       | things I'm desperate to get back is tabs moved to the bottom,
       | I.e. in order of the menu bar, address bar, quick links, then
       | tabs.
       | 
       | As I frequently mouse between the browser content window and tabs
       | it just seems to be more efficient IMHO.
       | 
       | Perhaps they've added back the option for tabs on the bottom, but
       | it inexplicably vanished many versions ago.
        
         | DonHopkins wrote:
         | Why restrict yourself to one side, especially the top or
         | bottom, or even the same side for all windows?
         | 
         | You should be able to independently drag tabs around to any
         | edge of the window you prefer: top, bottom, left or right.
         | 
         | So, for example, you can lay out your many source code tabs
         | along the right, so they stack vertically and you can read all
         | their titles, and lay out your several shell tabs along the
         | bottom, where they're easy to find. Or whatever you want!
         | 
         | Tabbed windows:
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_(interface)
         | 
         | >Large numbers of tabbed windows scale better with the tabs
         | along the left or right edges of the window, instead of the top
         | or bottom edges. That is because tab labels are usually much
         | wider than they are tall, and because it is now common to use
         | displays which are considerably wider than needed for
         | displaying documents and web pages. The NeWS version of the
         | UniPress Emacs text editor placed tabs along the right window
         | edge, and laid windows out in a vertical column, so each tab
         | was initially visible, and the user could use them to raise and
         | lower the windows, drag them around in the column, or pull them
         | out to anywhere on the screen.
         | 
         | >Tabbed window interfaces can give the user the freedom to
         | position the tabs along any edge, so all four edges are
         | available to organize different groups of tabs as the user or
         | application sees fit. The PSIBER visual PostScript programming
         | environment for NeWS had tabbed views that the user could stick
         | onto the stack (represented as a "spike"), and the user could
         | move the tabs to any edge.[3] The NeWS pie menu and tab window
         | manager enabled users to position the tabs anywhere along any
         | edge, and the tabs popped up pie menus with window management
         | functions, to uncover and bury windows, etc.
         | 
         | Emacs with tabbed windows and the HyperTies hypermedia browser:
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_(interface)#/media/File:Hy...
         | 
         | PSIBER Space Deck visual PostScript debugging environment with
         | tabbed object windows that you can impale on the PostScript
         | stack "spike":
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_(interface)#/media/File:Ps...
         | 
         | The Shape of PSIBER Space, Tabbed Windows:
         | 
         | https://donhopkins.medium.com/the-shape-of-psiber-space-octo...
         | 
         | >Tab Windows: The objects on the deck are displayed in windows
         | with labeled tabs sticking out of them, showing the data type
         | of the object. You can move an object around by grabbing its
         | tab with the mouse and dragging it. You can perform direct
         | stack manipulation, pushing it onto stack by dragging its tab
         | onto the spike, and changing its place on the stack by dragging
         | it up and down the spike. It implements a mutant form of "Snap-
         | dragging", that constrains non-vertical movement when an object
         | is snapped onto the stack, but allows you to pop it off by
         | pulling it far enough away or lifting it off the top. [Bier,
         | Snap-dragging] The menu that pops up over the tab lets you do
         | things to the whole window, like changing view characteristics,
         | moving the tab around, repainting or recomputing the layout,
         | and printing the view.
         | 
         | Tabbed windows for The NeWS Toolkit 3.0 / OpenWindows 3:
         | 
         | https://www.donhopkins.com/home/archive/NeWS/tab-3.0.2.ps.tx...
         | 
         | NeWS Tab Window Demo:
         | 
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMcmQk-q0k4
        
       | Sunspark wrote:
       | I can't deal with 89's appearance right now. Downgraded to 88.0.1
        
       | aldanor wrote:
       | Just use TreeStyleTab and have all your tabs on the left, and
       | style them any way you want if needed (my main reason for using
       | Firefox has always been TST).
        
       | PascLeRasc wrote:
       | Slightly off-topic, but does anyone here know how to make the
       | fonts better on Firefox? Here's an example of what I mean:
       | https://i.imgur.com/QY7NyMm.png
       | 
       | I think the old Chromium's fonts are so much nicer, I get a lot
       | less eye strain reading long documents with it. Regular up-to-
       | date Google Chrome looks the same as Firefox to me, both fonts
       | are too thick. I've messed around with font settings but haven't
       | been able to find anything that makes them look as crisp as
       | Chromium does.
        
       | detay wrote:
       | I wish we could customize tabs like we did with favicon. Imagine
       | each site having its own styled tab.
        
       | ddtaylor wrote:
       | I like some of it but really wish they would just add a
       | connection graphic to the page so they are actually tabs again.
       | 
       | Also I know some people are mad the menus are too tall.
       | 
       | ProTip don't try to disable the new "proton" menus its all
       | whacky.
        
       | tcfunk wrote:
       | I think the purple theme is pretty so I enabled it.
        
       | apocalyptic0n3 wrote:
       | I didn't think I would like the new tab layout but after using it
       | for a few days, it doesn't bug me one bit and I think I may
       | actually prefer it.
       | 
       | I don't know what theme the OP is using, but the default dark
       | theme's active tab color is noticeably lighter than any other
       | element in the chrome without any changes. EDIT: I see now.
       | They're using one of the custom Firefox Color themes. I haven't
       | really dug into those; usually the default dark theme is good
       | enough for me.
       | 
       | It's easy to navigate, provides more information in some cases (I
       | _really_ like the second line of smaller text indicating things
       | like a video playing or autoplay being blocked), and I don 't
       | feel like anything of value was lost, just reorganized a bit.
       | 
       | I also prefer the Container color bars at the top than at the
       | bottom where they used to be as it gives them more prominence.
       | The only thing I would probably change is I prefer the "+" button
       | to be static on the right hand side. But that's minor and if I
       | truly cared enough, probably super easy to fix in the
       | userChrome.css.
       | 
       | Note: This is mostly on macOS, which is what I spend most of the
       | day running at work. My experience on my Windows PC at home has
       | been mostly the same, though.
        
       | mario_lopez wrote:
       | Funny enough, just a few posts above this one on the front page
       | is another blog post entitled "Want a killer product? Become more
       | opinionated". Found that to be a nice coincidence.
       | 
       | I think allowing customization of the UI is a great feature set
       | to provide, and it aligns quite well with the imagine Mozilla has
       | set up for itself as an organization. Though, I can see how the
       | teams behind these decisions would want to stray away from having
       | their 'product identity' be something you can easily turn off.
        
       | wensley wrote:
       | I quite like the new look. They also changed the style of select
       | menus which look much better now in dark mode.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | amjd wrote:
       | I mostly liked the new UI, except for the changes in the tab bar,
       | the major one being reducing the tab width to mirror Chrome's.
       | When you have more than a few dozen tabs open in Chrome or the
       | new Firefox, it becomes near impossible to know which is which.
       | Fortunately, I found an about:config property to change it:
       | 
       | Visit about:config and update browser.tabs.tabMinWidth to 100 or
       | 110, whichever looks better to you.
        
       | silicon2401 wrote:
       | Changing designs is what made me realize the need to push for
       | free software and appreciate people like Stallman. I don't want
       | to use the modern, awful designs for Firefox or Android. I prefer
       | firefox as it was before this update, the original skeumorphism
       | of iOS, and Android around the galaxy S3 era. It's incredibly
       | frustrating that my user experience has to continuously degrade
       | over the years just so managers and UI designers at these
       | companies can justify their promotions. I immediately disabled
       | the firefox proton changes and will continue to use the old UI or
       | switch browsers when it's no longer possible.
        
         | jraph wrote:
         | What is the link between free software and changing designs?
        
       | arc-in-space wrote:
       | I've also been sticking with ESR for a while, and wondering how
       | much time I have until the apparent trainwreck that is current
       | Firefox development catches up with me. Android browsers have
       | already gone to unusability hell ever since the firefox redesign,
       | to the point that I've given up on browsing from mobile entirely.
       | I can't even imagine dealing with the same levels of brain damage
       | on desktop. What's the next step, giving up and switching out to
       | Chromium?
       | 
       | Every time I have to use either Chrome or a recent version of
       | Firefox(or any version with default settings, really) it's a
       | terribly frustrating experience.
        
       | yewenjie wrote:
       | So is there a bug-free userChrome.css rule for auto-hiding the
       | navbar in Firefox 89?
        
       | jack-bodine wrote:
       | Can anyone explain why companies like to make unnecessary design
       | changes? It seems to be that there's no benefit to this tab
       | change. Other products like Discord and Google Meet have also
       | been making slight UI changes recently and I find it nothing but
       | a nuisance.
        
         | scoutt wrote:
         | There is a certain amount of allowable "thumb twiddling" time.
         | 
         | My educated guess is that someone working in a private company
         | has to justify their salary, even when there is nothing to do.
         | So they come up with "absolutely necessary work to do" by
         | inventing themselves solutions and "improvements" for problems
         | nobody has.
         | 
         | Now we have a team of +10 people doing meetings, colorful
         | charts, analysis, etc. Including writing blog posts like
         | "changing the world and fighting a pandemic by changing the
         | size of the tabs". Bosses raise the head and see all the
         | cubicles busy. Everybody is happy.
         | 
         | Now that it's released it's time to think about the changes for
         | the next version.
         | 
         | PS: I'm a happy Firefox user since it was just "mozilla".
        
         | Workaccount2 wrote:
         | I don't know if I'll ever forgive Google for killing blob
         | emojis
        
           | vb6sp6 wrote:
           | you can get them as a sticker pack. "the blobs live on"
           | 
           | https://9to5google.com/2018/07/17/google-blob-emoji-
           | gboard-s...
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | handrous wrote:
         | 1) actually-necessary design work on a product is very boom-
         | and-bust.
         | 
         | 2) for years now, tech companies have hired enough designers
         | for the boom periods, rather than contracting or just dealing
         | with longer design cycles--I suspect this is Apple's influence
         | leading to much larger design budgets and resultant empire-
         | building.
         | 
         | 3) bust-period design work doesn't get one promotions or look
         | as impressive in a portfolio as boom-period design work, so
         | design departments or individuals are heavily incentivized to
         | create artificial "booms" both so they have enough work to do
         | and so that the work is helping everyone advance their career.
         | These align well with product manager career advancement
         | incentives (everyone loves screen shots) so they get green-lit.
         | These are the unnecessary and often ill-advised redesigns that
         | we see so often.
        
         | allyourhorses wrote:
         | Because they retain oversized permanent UX teams with
         | insufficient work to go around. The result is endless user
         | punishment. Mozilla could improve their browser and save money
         | in one simple step
        
           | mixmastamyk wrote:
           | First they'd need to revert all the oddities of the last few
           | years, like the growing url bar, now weird tabs, and
           | hardcoded colors in about.
        
         | layer8 wrote:
         | UI visual design has a propensity for bike shedding.
        
       | pronik wrote:
       | I have a neighbor living above me, an about 80-year-old man, who
       | needs help with his PC on a regular basis. One of the most
       | regular cries for help is when Firefox changes its UI yet again,
       | which seems to happen about every three months. This is deeply
       | confusing for "normal" people just using their PC and also deeply
       | infuriating for people like me who need to answer the whys of
       | those changes. Looking at Chrome's main UI, it hasn't radically
       | changed since the first version and we are currently on version
       | 91. In Firefox' case, even running a LTS version does help in the
       | long run, since you just postpone the pain.
       | 
       | I just hope this endless tinkering with things that aren't broken
       | ends someday -- users don't need an A/B-calculated productivity
       | increase of 2%, come back when you can increase it by 200%. But
       | in that case, just make another product and leave existing
       | working ones alone.
        
         | teitoklien wrote:
         | Just install Firefox ESR for the old man , he won't get the UI
         | changes shipped but will still get the security fixes
        
       | neiman wrote:
       | Is there a way to separate UI/UX from functionality/security?
        
       | kevincox wrote:
       | I also made my own tweaks https://kevincox.ca/2021/06/03/firefox-
       | proton-tweaks/
       | 
       | - I changed the "button" to be a simple rectangle the entire
       | height of the tab-bar.
       | 
       | - I removed extra space between the pinned tabs and the regular
       | tabs.
        
       | partiallypro wrote:
       | I'm not a fan of the new tab appearance, but I think the thought
       | was perhaps that it looks more like a taskbar?
        
       | mixmastamyk wrote:
       | It's a bit ridiculous. I chose a system theme for a reason, ...
       | because I like it. I don't want unique widgets. Certainly don't
       | want tabs that look like buttons. Or color tinges or stripes
       | added to things to distract from the content. Reminds me of the
       | bad old skinz craze of the late 90s.
       | 
       | They also removed the icons in the menu that helped me navigate.
       | Now I have to read the menu more carefully to see what I'm doing.
       | Definitely slower than a few days ago.
       | 
       | Final insult, they _hard coded_ the highlight colors in about:*
       | to cyan! I hate cyan. Dark mode panels have a blue tinge to them.
       | Is this amateur hour or what? I use warm colors with my dark
       | mode, on purpose. Not anymore.
       | 
       | I had to disable the also ridiculous animated expanding url bar
       | in the previous release with userChrome. I'm done with that.
       | Designers, please go experiment on some other app, not the one I
       | rely on every day.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | allyourhorses wrote:
       | The solution at this point is Microsoft Edge. RIP Firefox,
       | 2004-2021. The new UI on desktop AND Android is a total disaster.
       | You won't be missed
        
         | throwaddzuzxd wrote:
         | Dramatic much?
         | 
         | They changed the style of the tabs. That's it. People really
         | can act like spoiled children sometimes, it's ridiculous.
         | 
         | It's not a disaster, lots of less vocal people love how it
         | looks now. I love it.
        
           | allyourhorses wrote:
           | This is some of the disastrous Android rewrite leaking out
           | into desktop, it's no small issue. Check out the Play Store
           | reviews for evidence by now Mozilla's primary mission appears
           | to be self-destruction
        
       | leiserfg wrote:
       | Until now about:config browser.proton.enabled false works fine.
        
       | darkmuck wrote:
       | Has anyone compared the battery performance of Firefox vs Edge
       | (chromium) vs Chrome on windows in the past month or two?
        
       | 0-_-0 wrote:
       | This is how I imagine it should look like:
       | https://i.imgur.com/fXIWUDM.png                 /\* Make the tabs
       | not blend into the background \*/      .tabbrowser-
       | tab:not([selected]) .tab-content {          background:
       | #58506040;          border-radius: 4px 4px 4px 4px !important;
       | margin-bottom: 4px !important;          margin-top: 4px
       | !important;      }
       | 
       | Setting transparency on the _background_ element doesn 't cover
       | up the container color.
        
       | rammy1234 wrote:
       | Only thing is inactive tabs are blending back into the
       | background. Sometimes it's hard when you are in dark system theme
       | in Mac.
       | 
       | Also I would also like to know the reason behind on this new tab
       | design. What was it trying to solve that was a problem before ?
       | More of a curious question
        
       | Shorel wrote:
       | Despite all this criticism (because negative 'insightful'
       | comments are what drive clicks nowadays), I just switched back to
       | Firefox from Edge BECAUSE I love the new tabs' appearance.
        
         | rapnie wrote:
         | It is a bit hard for me to form an opinion on the UI design as
         | yet. But this release has been forced on me by their auto-
         | update feature (no choice to wait with updating), and since
         | then after opening FF it freezes my entire Ubuntu 18 to the
         | point where I have to restart. In app reviews I saw I wasn't
         | the only one with this issue.
        
         | jraph wrote:
         | That is good to know, because what I am most afraid of is this
         | new look driving away people, or making people not switch to
         | Firefox.
        
         | chuckdotis wrote:
         | As someone who uses Firefox as their daily driver consistently
         | for the past several years, when I first heard that compact
         | tabs were going away I was pretty disappointed and a little
         | annoyed. However, I installed Firefox 89 just to give it a try
         | and I actually rather like the new interface.
        
         | rrradical wrote:
         | I also like the new design, but I switched back to Safari after
         | a day because Firefox kept taking 150% CPU. It was actually
         | really snappy at first. I'm not sure what happened. But yea it
         | wasn't just a one time thing.
        
           | stjohnswarts wrote:
           | I use firefox all day long on apple with zero issues. Sure it
           | wasn't something on your system? like an errant plugin? (yeah
           | I have a memory/cpu graph running 24/7)
        
         | orthecreedence wrote:
         | I actually love the tab design, which is odd, because I hate
         | anything new. What I did NOT like is the vertical spacing,
         | which stank of the superfluous header bars from the late
         | 90s/early 2000s.
         | 
         | I applied a browser CSS change to fix it, and now I think it's
         | great.                   /*          * remove dead space in
         | browser tabs bar          *          * Source: https://www.redd
         | it.com/r/firefox/comments/nq6kto/if_you_dont_like_the_new_desig
         | n_you_can_disable_it/          */         :root { --tab-min-
         | height: 30px !important; }         :root #tabbrowser-tabs {
         | --tab-min-height: 30px !important; }
        
           | magikaram wrote:
           | I also am in this camp, and used the "compact" UI theme
           | previously. With editing the-
           | 
           | about:config
           | 
           | I have the new tab theme, and the compact UI once again.
           | 
           | And if anyone is also trying this route - change
           | `browser.uidensity` to 1 will restore the compact theme.
        
             | rahen wrote:
             | This indeed looks much better. Unfortunately this will be
             | removed starting FF90, according to the reddit link above.
        
               | magikaram wrote:
               | Oh, well looks like I'll need to delve into editing the
               | browser's .css now to adjust it to my liking.
        
           | falsaberN1 wrote:
           | I'm in agreement with you here. I do like the design, just
           | loathe the excessive useless margins. It's a web browser, not
           | a web _site_. I don 't know why everything needs massive
           | margins/padding nowadays. I like condensed.
           | 
           | Anyway looked a lot worse in screenshots, with my system
           | theme and tweaks I am actually liking how it looks. What I
           | don't like very much is the new shield icon inside the
           | address bar, looks more like a weird hexagon than a shield,
           | but that's rather minor.
        
         | drvdevd wrote:
         | I mostly like it, especially along with container tabs.
        
         | conradfr wrote:
         | Are you on macOS? It seems most of the people liking them are
         | on this OS (despite the article's author). I wouldn't be
         | shocked to learn that all these Mozilla designers are using
         | macs :)
         | 
         | Personally it's unusable on my Windows 7 computer. I know it's
         | a dead OS but still.
        
           | chuckdotis wrote:
           | I'm using LMDE4 and it's working well for me.
        
           | falsaberN1 wrote:
           | I'm in Linux and I like it, although some userChrome tweaks
           | applied to it already, and it's respecting my system
           | theme/colorscheme, so it looks actually kind of good.
        
           | Shorel wrote:
           | Windows 10 here.
        
         | edgarvaldes wrote:
         | I used to browse with FF and Google Chrome. But now FF is so
         | similar to Chrome that I hate to Alt + Tab and be unable to
         | tell them apart.
        
         | trts wrote:
         | I think it's a bit of a nice improvement, or just different in
         | a way I don't mind. Which is a sentiment that doesn't provoke
         | me to make forceful statements about the change being good or
         | bad.
        
         | wccrawford wrote:
         | I'm in the middle ground. When I first heard the complaints, I
         | thought I was going to hate it.
         | 
         | After using it, I simply don't care. It's fine either way to
         | me.
        
           | mrec wrote:
           | I don't care that much about the tab change, but the contrast
           | against the background for the URL and search boxes has gone
           | waaaay down, to the point where I'm finding it noticeably
           | slower to acquire them. (I have to look for the text in the
           | box now, rather than the box itself, because the latter is
           | nearly invisible.)
        
             | lemoncucumber wrote:
             | I used to use Safari, until Big Sur came out and ruined its
             | UI by making the contrast way too low -- I was having
             | trouble even distinguishing where the page content ended
             | and the browser chrome began at a glance.
             | 
             | So I switched to Firefox a few months back... It's
             | disappointing that they've now made exactly the same
             | mistake, but at least there's Firefox Color [1] that allows
             | me to easily restore some contrast without spending time
             | writing my own CSS.
             | 
             | [1] https://color.firefox.com/
        
           | benhurmarcel wrote:
           | Exactly. First impression is meh, but I'll get used to it.
           | Whatever.
        
         | rjzzleep wrote:
         | I like to bash Mozillas new direction, and I was fully prepared
         | to jump on the UI refresh hate bandwagon.
         | 
         | But I don't know why I hardly noticed a difference. I mean sure
         | it does look like a button, and I don't really get the point of
         | it, but the thing I was worried about was the increased screen
         | estate. Maybe it's because of my gtk theme, maybe it's related
         | to fixes in hidpi UI scaling, but it actually seems to use less
         | screen estate to me.
         | 
         | Am I crazy? Or are there other people that feel like its using
         | less screen estate?
        
           | Macha wrote:
           | They fixed some things partway through the process with the
           | compact theme - the address bar is now shorter while the tabs
           | + their padding is taller than the tabs in old compact mode.
           | I haven't done a side by side but I think compact -> compact
           | ends up being a wash in vertical real estate. There were some
           | older images where new compact was taller than old normal and
           | new normal was taller than old touch when it was in firefox
           | beta however.
        
       | ddon wrote:
       | Anybody knows how to enable multiple rows for tabs? May be this
       | can be set in userChrome.css?
        
         | noisem4ker wrote:
         | https://github.com/Izheil/Quantum-Nox-Firefox-Dark-Full-Them...
         | 
         | It's a little more work, but it's doable. It's been stable and
         | surviving updates without needing maintenance for many months
         | now.
        
       | crazygringo wrote:
       | It's funny... Firefox was the first software to popularize
       | browser tabs (though it didn't invent them)... and now it's the
       | first to "destroy" them.
       | 
       | Though I must admit, I am utterly baffled at their decision to
       | turn tabs into buttons visually, though the behavior is the same.
       | 
       | Tabs are now a universally understood UI element, as common as
       | checkboxes or menus or folders. This is like... deciding to make
       | checkboxes round instead of square, so now they're confused with
       | radio buttons.
       | 
       | What possible reason did the Mozilla UI team have for deciding to
       | make _tabs_... look like _buttons_?
        
       | nashashmi wrote:
       | I never knew that Firefox chrome was customizable thru CSS. Know
       | that I do know I'm super excited but what I can do with it. And
       | I'm also beginning to think that window desktop and start menu
       | should be written in CSS and HTML.
        
         | falsaberN1 wrote:
         | I remember there was a point in time where you could use HTML
         | and such to customize some parts of Windows, but I recall it
         | was considered a security nightmare.
        
       | Hamuko wrote:
       | I basically just replicated the old look through userChrome.css.
       | It was pretty easy to ballpark it like 90% way there although
       | it's gonna take a bit more finesse to get it looking pretty
       | throughout.
       | 
       | https://twitter.com/Mailia/status/1399776195345006593
        
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