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Firefox 4.0.1 UI badly flawed

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Sorry to its creators, but it just doesn't work at all. Four problems: 1. The X on each tab looks way too similar to the X used to stop a page loading and they often end up being located very close to one another. It's way too easy to hit the wrong one by mistake. 2. Similarly, the Home icon looks way too similar to the Create a New Tab icon which is just below it. 3. The controls for a tab spread all over the place. To kill it is on the tab, to stop it or reload it is at the end of the URL and to go back or forward is way over at the left. You end up bouncing around all over the screen. 4. Worst of all though is the fact that Reload and Stop share the same location (at the end of the URL). This totally ignores the case of a slow loading page which has been trying for a long time. In this case you need to do a Reload to get the OS to give this process higher priority again so that it will actually finish, but now you can't because only the X/Stop icon is showing. 5. A fifth, lesser problem is that add-ons like AdBlock now put their icons on the same line as the URL and search box. They're stealing too much space! There's plenty of space on the next line (next to the Create New Tab icon) and they should go there.

How can I get these fixed or regress to the earlier edition?

Sorry to its creators, but it just doesn't work at all. Four problems: 1. The X on each tab looks way too similar to the X used to stop a page loading and they often end up being located very close to one another. It's way too easy to hit the wrong one by mistake. 2. Similarly, the Home icon looks way too similar to the Create a New Tab icon which is just below it. 3. The controls for a tab spread all over the place. To kill it is on the tab, to stop it or reload it is at the end of the URL and to go back or forward is way over at the left. You end up bouncing around all over the screen. 4. Worst of all though is the fact that Reload and Stop share the same location (at the end of the URL). This totally ignores the case of a slow loading page which has been trying for a long time. In this case you need to do a Reload to get the OS to give this process higher priority again so that it will actually finish, but now you can't because only the X/Stop icon is showing. 5. A fifth, lesser problem is that add-ons like AdBlock now put their icons on the same line as the URL and search box. They're stealing too much space! There's plenty of space on the next line (next to the Create New Tab icon) and they should go there. How can I get these fixed or regress to the earlier edition?

All Replies (7)

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  1. Place the cursor anywhere in a tab you want to close and either press the middle mouse button (the wheel), or right click and choose "Close tab".

  2. Right click a blank part of the Tab bar and choose Customize. A panel will open and while it remains visible, you can rearrange the layout by dragging elements around. So drag the Home button somewhere else. You can also drag anything you don't like into that panel, or add to the existing layout by dragging it out.

  3. Rearrange the layout as above.

  4. Press F5

  5. In the Customize menu, checkmark "Use small icons".

Also, right click a blank part of the tab bar and click "Tabs on top" to move them to below the location bar.

To reinstate the text links at the top, click "Menu bar" in the same menu.

However, the text links can be toggled on and off by hitting ALT.


To revert to the previous secure version of Firefox, do the following.

Go to Download Firefox v3.6.17 and download it to the desktop.

Then go to Add/Remove Programs, scroll down to "Mozilla Firefox" and remove it, choosing to keep your bookmarks, customizations etc., (don't checkmark the box).

Then reboot and delete the folder called "Mozilla Firefox" at this location: C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox

Finally run the installation file you downloaded to the desktop earlier.

Your bookmarks, customizations etc., are maintained in a different location and will become available to you again once you complete the installation.

After you complete the installation, go to the Plugins Check page and update those where necessary.

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I'm thoroughly disgusted with Firefox 4. I cannot use it without becoming extremely annoyed. It's slow, has decided not to show my staples in the task bar, the whole layout has changed. Sometimes my add-ons show up, sometimes they don't. I hate not having a home button to easily click or a stop button when I'm tired of waiting for something to show up on the screen. Firefox 4 is unacceptable in every way. I decided to revert back to Firefox 3, but discovered on the download page there that Mozilla will only support it for a short time longer. What???? I see that other consumers of this product are upset as well. This program is riddled with errors. Totally unacceptable.

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Returning to Firefox3 solved all of my scroll and slowdown problems, which were never encountered before I "upgraded" to Firefox4. And it is very disturbing to hear that Firefox3 will not be supported much longer.

Let me know when Firefox4 is an upgrade that doesn't screw up my system and skip the hyperbole advertising bigger and better.

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Try to disable hardware acceleration in Firefox 4.

  • Tools > Options > Advanced > General > Browsing: "Use hardware acceleration when available"

If disabling hardware acceleration works then check if there is an update available for your graphics display driver.

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Slow, clunky, unusable. Rubbish Mozilla! Taking it off and going back to Safari.

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Why Firefox WHYYYYYY. Your slow and becoming useless. Agree with number 3. You end up bouncing around all over the screen, things are not better when refresh, reload and back and forward and shortcuts are not short to get to. The address bar is a GIANT divider, don't put things on both sides of it that are related!

Most important FIX THE SQL BUG THAT SLOWS BOOKMARK SEARCHES!