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Change Menu & Tab Font Characteristics

  • 21 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 9 views
  • Last reply by Chris Ilias

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I'd like to know why my previous question on this matter was deleted.

How do I change the font and line spacing characteristics?

Specifically, my tabs are now 4 pixels too high and the menu font spacing is also 4 pixels too high.

This has made the dropdowns for my bookmarks bigger than my screen (for example) and I find that I'm needing to move the mouse excessively from the extra space introduced when I right click on a page for menu options there as well.

I'd like to know why my previous question on this matter was deleted. How do I change the font and line spacing characteristics? Specifically, my tabs are now 4 pixels too high and the menu font spacing is also 4 pixels too high. This has made the dropdowns for my bookmarks bigger than my screen (for example) and I find that I'm needing to move the mouse excessively from the extra space introduced when I right click on a page for menu options there as well.

All Replies (20)

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Hi Colin, I feel like I replied to you in another thread, so I'm probably repeating myself here...

There is more padding in the tabs and menus.

For the tabs, you could use Compact mode, but it doesn't make a huge difference to my eyes. I have a discussion/screenshot here: https://www.userchrome.org/firefox-89-styling-proton-ui.html

For the menus, I can give you a quick short-term workaround, but a more durable solution will require more work.

Temporary Fix -- Firefox 89-90 ONLY

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. You might need to do a regular exit/restart of Firefox to clean that up.

Longer Term Community Workaround

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.

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

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Colin WG said

I'd like to know why my previous question on this matter was deleted.

Hi Colin, You can find a list of your previous questions here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/user/Colin.Warren/questions

Is your previous question not listed? If not, you may have posted it as an answer to someone else's question

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jscher2000 said

Hi Colin, I feel like I replied to you in another thread, so I'm probably repeating myself here...
Nope, other question did vanish.
There is more padding in the tabs and menus. For the tabs, you could use Compact mode, but it doesn't make a huge difference to my eyes. I have a discussion/screenshot here: https://www.userchrome.org/firefox-89-styling-proton-ui.html (2) In the search box in the page, type or paste browser.proton.contextmenus.enabled and pause while the list is filtered

browser.proton.enabled=false Works WAY 2,000% better.

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Chris Ilias said

Is your previous question not listed? If not, you may have posted it as an answer to someone else's question

Must of walked through a doorway, could of sworn I posted it as an independent question. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1338457#answer-1418318

Modified by Colin WG

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I have this problem too and it is just plain miserable -- hateful!!!!! I truly appreciate you techs' reponses, I truly do, but I am stymied by reading about fixes, that might be glitchy, and I am an Ivy League graduate but have no clue what some of the terms mean that you are using. I am afraid to even try something because of possibly making it worse.

I really really truly wish that FF could somehow give us users (who have been devoted to it and thankful for it) a way to tweak it that we could use and understand instead of computer-speak. I do not know how to program or write. I do know how to click on desired boxes in "Settings". Why can't we have some kind of choices there ? We PC users are not dinosaurs. We are truly tired of being forced into problems because so much of the programming now is changing in favor of mobile devices.

Thank you for letting me vent. The sprawly, too much white space / double lines instead of single / lightweight type is just getting to me after a little while trying to use the way Firefox looks now.

Modified by timestreasures

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timestreasures said

I have this problem too and it is just plain miserable -- hateful!!!!!

Which ones? Which parts are bothering you?

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Sorry, I believe what is bothering me is the same as Colin. 1. My drop down list of bookmarks has changed from single space to double space, it is horrible. My bookmark drop down takes at least twice as much space as it did before and I have to scroll and scroll to get to the bottom one(s). I keep dozens of them in one drop down. 2. I cannot get rid of the "separator" bars between bookmarks. There is no more DELETE separator bars. 3. "Delete" has been removed so to get rid of a Bookmark the only choice is "Remove bookmark" (which is tolerable because it's easy. 3. The color has been wiped out of the "folder" graphic to the left of a bookmark.

What is really bothering me is all these drastic changes with no apparent warning (at least I didn't see any) and no way for us PC/desktop users who dislike them, to be able to change anything. I am not a computer tech, and I am highly concerned that if I go fooling around changing programming I am going to really mess things up worse than before.

Thank you for stepping in. You were so helpful before. I did use the fix to put "Print Preview" back the way it was before (one click and I could see what would print) instead of the new "improved" way that created a bunch of clicking around before I could see what would print. That worked.

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timestreasures said

Sorry, I believe what is bothering me is the same as Colin. 1. My drop down list of bookmarks has changed from single space to double space, it is horrible. My bookmark drop down takes at least twice as much space as it did before and I have to scroll and scroll to get to the bottom one(s). I keep dozens of them in one drop down. 2. I cannot get rid of the "separator" bars between bookmarks. There is no more DELETE separator bars.

I see you have separate threads for those issues:

1. https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1338516 2. https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1339349

3. The color has been wiped out of the "folder" graphic to the left of a bookmark.

There's no easy way to change the "wire frame" graphics to other graphics. There are non-easy ways, which I've outlined here:

https://www.userchrome.org/what-is-userchrome-css.html#colorbookmarkfolder

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jscher2000, Thank you for further assistance. I did post the earlier questions/other threads and then realized I still had questions about other things - like the loss of color in the little folder "icon" by a bookmark, which I can learn to live with, but I have so many bookmarks the color has been a big help to look quickly through the list. The change is an annoyance, rather than an impossible hurdle. Being a wannabe tech with only low level knowledge I simply do not want to risk a "not-easy" anything.

I also understand making changes to improve security and prevent hacker infiltrations into a system that may have weak spots - these little things likely may be vulnerabilities that need to be addressed, so I learn to live with changes.

It is just that it is more than frustrating when the format -- one of the major reasons WHY I chose FF in the first place and have stuck with it -- is changed so it makes more actual work for me and/or forces me to use something that creates a problem for me, and then I had no idea it was going to happen; let alone get any kind of notice explaining why this was being done. I do have a FF account and thankfully that is free, so I really can't complain too terribly hard, but I would hope common courtesy would be emailing account holders with a heads up about what is about to happen and why. And include some possible options to customize if it is possible for us to do so.

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I have this problem and none of the suggestions about about:config and proton work.

I have every proton thing set to false, and it's still showing up double spaced.

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ray69 said

I have this problem and none of the suggestions about about:config and proton work. I have every proton thing set to false, and it's still showing up double spaced.

They broke it again so that users have no choice in the matter.

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Hi Colin, The preference setting was created as a toggle for developers when building the new design. Now that the new interface has shipped, the preference was removed. I'm sorry that others didn't make that clear to you.

If you have any issues with the new design, please let us know what it is you don't like, and we can try provide more permanent solutions depending on the issue.

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Chris Ilias said

Hi Colin, The preference setting was created as a toggle for developers when building the new design. Now that the new interface has shipped, the preference was removed. I'm sorry that others didn't make that clear to you. If you have any issues with the new design, please let us know what it is you don't like, and we can try provide more permanent solutions depending on the issue.

See attached screenshots also posted https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1346740#answer-1434148

There is too much space in the font kerning and the tabs are not attached to the browser toolbars.

Modified by Colin WG

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This is where we are in Firefox 91:

jscher2000 said

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) Longer Term Community Workaround This involves setting up a userChrome.css file. The full instructions are in the following thread: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1337841

In the other thread, I gave 4px of blank vertical space above and below. I can't edit that thread now (it got locked), so I wanted to mention that if you want your items even closer together, you can reduce 4px to 2px. (The 8px refers to left and right padding, so you can ignore that, it doesn't affect vertical spacing.)

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jscher2000 said

This is where we are in Firefox 91:

jscher2000 said

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) Longer Term Community Workaround This involves setting up a userChrome.css file. The full instructions are in the following thread: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1337841

In the other thread, I gave 4px of blank vertical space above and below. I can't edit that thread now (it got locked), so I wanted to mention that if you want your items even closer together, you can reduce 4px to 2px. (The 8px refers to left and right padding, so you can ignore that, it doesn't affect vertical spacing.)

Had to crank it down to 2.

And now I am going to have to do this for a few hundred people who are going to ask me to "fix their firefox!" because mozilla borked it on them.

I'd just do it as a script file except for THE NEED TO TURN ON USER CSS!

Spacing to explain why the new layout is a stupid idea.

MOVE YOUR MOUSE.

You are USED to moving your mouse a distance of X to get from point A to point B.

Mozilla just cranked off and broke everybody's kinesthesis and will require relearning how to move the mouse in a browser that no longer matches their desktop.

There, there's too much space inside the browser window.

Modified by Colin WG

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Colin WG said

I'd just do it as a script file except for THE NEED TO TURN ON USER CSS!

It's possible to set a preference by dropping a user.js file into the user's currently live profile folder. The file would need to contain this:

user_pref("toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets", true);

Firefox will merge that file into the main prefs.js file at startup.

That might ease the scripting, although perhaps you wouldn't want to automatically overwrite any existing user.js file.

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Colin WG said

jscher2000 said

And now I am going to have to do this for a few hundred people who are going to ask me to "fix their firefox!" because mozilla borked it on them.

Are you an IT administrator? If so, you should probably be use the Enterprise version - How is Firefox for Enterprise different from normal Firefox?

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Chris Ilias said

Colin WG said

jscher2000 said

And now I am going to have to do this for a few hundred people who are going to ask me to "fix their firefox!" because mozilla borked it on them.

Are you an IT administrator? If so, you should probably be use the Enterprise version - How is Firefox for Enterprise different from normal Firefox?

If I was an IT manager for all the people who are asking me for help, I would just lock their version of Firefox to the last user friendly version and inhibit updates until the ocular bearing appendages were removed from the posterior hiding location by the development team.

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I'll take that as a "no". ☺️

If you're not an IT admin, what do you mean by "I am going to have to do this for a few hundred people"?

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Chris Ilias said

I'll take that as a "no". ☺️ If you're not an IT admin, what do you mean by "I am going to have to do this for a few hundred people"?

My meaning of IT is that not that I'm one of those people who's full time occupation is IT, I work with radio automation which is loads more fun. But because of the intensive amount of geek that needs to be used in running radio, everyone knows me at the "Fix It Person".

So I get the call, "Are you free this weekend to fix my laptop?" frequently, ...

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