Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Is there a way in FF4 that I can change the screen layout so I can have the tabs immediately above the pages, just as in FF3.6.18?

  • 9 replies
  • 4 have this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by askrobisch

more options

Hi,

I've run FireFox (FF) for years and love it. I'm currently running FF 3.6.18 and am thinking of upgrading to FF4. However, a friend upgraded to FF4 and I notice that the tabs for the various pages are high up on the screen, away from the pages they relate to, instead of right above the page being shown, where they are more easily found and used. Having the tabs at the top is really inconvenient and this is a change that should never have been made.

My question is this: Is there a way in FF4 that I can change this so I can have the tabs immediately above the pages, just as in FF3.6.18?

Many thanks, Al

Hi, I've run FireFox (FF) for years and love it. I'm currently running FF 3.6.18 and am thinking of upgrading to FF4. However, a friend upgraded to FF4 and I notice that the tabs for the various pages are high up on the screen, away from the pages they relate to, instead of right above the page being shown, where they are more easily found and used. Having the tabs at the top is really inconvenient and this is a change that should never have been made. My question is this: Is there a way in FF4 that I can change this so I can have the tabs immediately above the pages, just as in FF3.6.18? Many thanks, Al

Chosen solution

Yes! Right-click the new tab button ("+") or a blank area after the last tab and uncheck Tabs on Top from the right-click menu.

If Tabs on Top does not appear there, you can use the View menu:

View menu > Toolbars > uncheck Tabs on Top

If you have the orange Firefox button (abbreviated menus), tap the Alt key or press F10 to display the full classic menu bar to get to the View menu.

(Oh, this will make more sense after you install Firefox 5 than it does looking at Firefox 3.6)

Read this answer in context 👍 3

All Replies (9)

more options

Chosen Solution

Yes! Right-click the new tab button ("+") or a blank area after the last tab and uncheck Tabs on Top from the right-click menu.

If Tabs on Top does not appear there, you can use the View menu:

View menu > Toolbars > uncheck Tabs on Top

If you have the orange Firefox button (abbreviated menus), tap the Alt key or press F10 to display the full classic menu bar to get to the View menu.

(Oh, this will make more sense after you install Firefox 5 than it does looking at Firefox 3.6)

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

more options

Right-click any toolbar, untick "tabs on top".

more options

Many thanks. I didn't have it downloaded onto my computer, so I couldn't play with it. I just wanted to make sure before I upgraded.

Before I upgrade, one further questions if I may: Are there many incompatibilities between FF4 and various addons? I know that there are hundreds of them and you can't know about every one, but I guess what I'm asking is, has FF4 been out long enough that the major addon developers have upgraded their addons to work with FF4? I'd love to update, but there are some addons that I use many times a day and are just too valuable to do without.

Thanks again, Al

more options

Actually, as long as you still have 3.6, you can check using, what else, an add-on.

Extension Manager Extended :: Add-ons for Firefox

The range of compatible versions will be listed for each extension. Not sure about plugins.

more options
more options

Thanks. That "Extension extension" worked well. However, I don't think I'll be upgrading to FF4, based on what I've read. See later post.

more options

Thanks for the link to http://www.computertechtips.net/64/make-firefox-4-look-like-ff-3-6/

After reading that, there isn't a chance of my upgrading to FF4. It sounds as though a lot of users are really upset with FF4 and want to either make FF4 look and work like FF3.6.18, or else just dump FF4 and reload FF3.6.18. If there are that many who feel that way about FF4, then FF has probably created the FF version of the Edsel.

FF3.6.18 isn't broken, so I can't imagine why the FF folks felt they had to fix it. It works like a charm for me, so until the FF developers get their collective act together and make FF look like FF again, instead of trying to imitate other (less desirable) browsers, FF3.6.18 is it for me.

Many thanks to all of you for all your help.

Al

more options

I understand that user interface preferences are very personal. That's why Firefox is so configurable. But it isn't always easy to guess how to change things, so it's handy to have articles to guide you and add-ons with dialogs that make the process more visual.

There are benefits to using Firefox 5 even if it takes an extra few minutes to tweak the UI to your tastes. Hopefully by the time the security updates for 3.6 end, you'll be ready to switch.

more options

Thanks for your reply. Please understand, I'm not against FF ever changing the user interface; after all, that's how FF evolved to be a better browser (the best, in my humble opinion). Nor am I against having to tweak the UI a bit to make it fit my needs; again, that's fine too. However, after reading both the article at http://www.computertechtips.net/64/make-firefox-4-look-like-ff-3-6/ and the many unhappy FF4 user comments that followed, I just don't see the point in upgrading to a version that is going to require a lot of my time to change to something that will try, but not really succeed, in giving me the superb layout and functionality I now have with 3.6.18.

I'm not against upgrading from FF3.6.18, but just as I don't like to buy a car during the first year that model comes out, in order to let the bugs get worked out, I'll let FF5 get any early issues sorted out, then I'll give it a look.

Again, many thanks for your very helpful posts.

Al