Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

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

This thread was closed and archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Can't move refresh button over to the left with customize?

  • 11 replies
  • 148 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by John99

more options

Ever since Firefox update (which removed ability to have tabs on bottom for whatever reason which I really enjoyed having), I'm unable to move the refresh button over to the left of the address bar, near the Home and Back/forward button which is where I want them. How can I fix this? Can I?

Thank you for your time.

Ever since Firefox update (which removed ability to have tabs on bottom for whatever reason which I really enjoyed having), I'm unable to move the refresh button over to the left of the address bar, near the Home and Back/forward button which is where I want them. How can I fix this? Can I? Thank you for your time.

Chosen solution

sorry, but having to install a third-party add-on to resolve an anti-intuitive new UI feature is just not acceptable (even if it works).


Please scroll to see adjacent posts

answer-559138 , answer-58929 And specifically about individual buttons post /questions/995529#answer-589745 Note we are not developers here and cannot change development decisions only try to offer help and support.

Comment from a forum moderator ~J99

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (11)

more options

You can install the Classic Theme Restorer extension to restore some functionality that was lost with the arrival of the Australis code in Firefox 29.

more options

Chosen Solution

sorry, but having to install a third-party add-on to resolve an anti-intuitive new UI feature is just not acceptable (even if it works).


Please scroll to see adjacent posts

answer-559138 , answer-58929 And specifically about individual buttons post /questions/995529#answer-589745 Note we are not developers here and cannot change development decisions only try to offer help and support.

Comment from a forum moderator ~J99

Modified by John99

more options

Some toolbar icons have been moved to the location bar container and can only be moved as one block. The CTR extension makes extra icons in the Customize palette available that you can place on a toolbar.


You can move the tabs to the lower position just above the browsing area without using an extension with code in userChrome.css as basically you only need to give the Tab bar a higher -moz-box-ordinal-group value (most toolbars have a default -moz-box-ordinal-group:1 to show them in DOM order). Add code to the userChrome.css file below the default @namespace line.


@namespace url("http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul"); /* only needed once */

#TabsToolbar{-moz-box-ordinal-group:10000!important}


The customization files userChrome.css (user interface) and userContent.css (websites) are located in the chrome folder in the Firefox profile folder.

You can use this button to go to the currently used Firefox profile folder:

  • Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
  • Create the chrome folder (lowercase) in the <xxxxxxxx>.default profile folder if this folder doesn't exist
  • Use a plain text editor like Notepad to create a (new) userChrome.css file in this folder (the names are case sensitive)
  • Paste the code in the userChrome.css file in the editor window and make sure that the userChrome.css file starts with the default @namespace line
  • Make sure that you select "All files" and not "Text files" when you save the file via "Save file as" in the text editor as userChrome.css. Otherwise Windows may add a hidden .txt file extension and you end up with a not working userChrome.css.txt file
more options

How about it be made super easy and let me drag and drop the refresh button like it used to? I think easy solutions are the best ones.

more options

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/classicthemerestorer/

That addon even makes it worse! Now I have 2 refresh button. The refresh button on the far right of the address bar is NOT removable. So even though I used this addon, it does not remove the refresh button on the right side of the address bar.

This is the worst Firefox design ever! When you have successfully made things modular in previous version, don't change them. Modularity is GOOD in any given case. Making some UI component permanently attached to another is the worst idea you could ever come up with.

more options

I don't know what you're seeing, but I am using the add-on and I only have 1 refresh button. The only problem is that the refresh button can't be combined with the 'cancel refresh' button, but I think that's Mozilla's fault.

I do agree that this is a dumb idea, and I don't know why Mozilla seems to be abandoning the "browse the web how you want". Even if Mozilla feels it's a dumb way, it's our way, and there was nothing wrong with how things were before.

more options

You can drag the refresh and stop buttons that CTR provides out of the Customize palette on the Navigation Toolbar to have the buttons appearing as separate buttons and not in the location bar container. If you want to have a combined Stop/Reload button then you need to place them in that order and also place a tick on this feature in the CTR Options/Preferences.

more options

Have firefox already fixt that big mistake with the refresh button at the wrong postion in combination weith "firefox 2,the theme, reloaded" ? Still stuck on version 28 because firfox mistake.

and again , NO, the "Classic Theme Restorer extension" dont work ! because its interfering with "firefox 2,the theme, reloaded" add-on.

more options

Disaster-666 Why not try with only one of the addons enabled. They have similar aims and it could be expected they will interfere with one another

Both of those should allow button separation and customisations.

I will close this thread it is already marked solved.


Firefox 28 and other out-dated versions Feel free to use any software you wish on you own computer. Please however note using outdated software is normally NOT considered good practice and it is certainly not recommended to use old, slow, unsafe versions of Firefox

Remember once a fix is out and publicised the bad guys are more likely to exploit them. That increase the risks to your System and Personal Data.


Firefox 29 and later Try the new design, if it does not grow on you there are ways to make it more like the previous version.

One of the developers recently posted this explanation

MikeDeboer said

Each setting you see in a computer program you use requires work; when a developer wants to build something new or improve something, he or she has to go through each related (hidden) setting and test if it still works like before and do that on each platform Firefox runs on. That's Apple's Mac OSX, various flavours of Linux and various flavours of Windows, including Windows XP. This costs time, lots of it, and that amount grows exponentially with each setting that's added. This comes on top of our work to continuously fix, improve and innovate Firefox. 

That's why we also removed the tabs.onTop preference. Awesome community members, who were unhappy about that change, created the Classic Theme Restorer add-on. They deserve our collective hugs.

Are you having any particular problem ? We may be able to suggest a workaround. Please start your own thread by asking a question /questions/new OR make a short comment using https://input.mozilla.org/feedback if you just wish to object to changes.

more options

Talcon

I am presuming you have solved the problems as best you can given the changes. Please send me or another moderator a private message if you need to comment further in this thread.