Please also read my comments in https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/997009 for more information.

And here is a screenshot on how my main browser window looks now. Sure, it's a personal taste, no question about that.
But for me it works 1000% better then the FF29 default lay-out.

@ John99 Thanx for the edit in the links, didn't notice the local nl in it :)

Forget the addons I mentioned, how about another browser?
Just found a browser called PaleMoon. It is actually FF based but with the older, normal lay out. I really think this is the browser for all those who are disliking or having trouble with FF29.
I am using it right now and it is just great (no, I have no ties with PaleMoon ;) )
Info and download on http://www.palemoon.org/. The page itself maybe does look not slick but the browser is great! It uses the same addons as Firefox. Using for example NoScript addon now and works great + the addon-bar is at the bottom where is should be by default :)
For me (and many other FF users I think) PaleMoon has that same intuitive feeling FF once had but where they now decided to let that go with FF29.

Thank you!

The new interface of Firefox 29 is just awful, such a rip off of Chrome.

Royally annoyed me that the add on bar was disabled, that's vital for my Firefox browsing experience!

http://i.imgur.com/JpoL9mU.png

If Firefox wants to get back its market share and back to the glory days, it needs to make it faster and finally reduce memory usage, not copy Chromes less practical interface!

Interestingly enough, i've been trailing Waterfox for the past week (Firefox but 64 bit version) and i've been amazed at how fast it is, easily on par with Chromes speeds with the advanced functionality of Firefox, finally the perfect browser (nearly)!

It's a memory hog (worse than Firefox 32 bit), i left it open for 5 days and it was consuming 4gb of ram, lmao

A quick restart (and i mean really quick), back down to a more manageable 1gb.

I have 16gb of ram at home but i could never run Waterfox on a work PC which only has 2gb still, lmao

Never heard about Waterfox. Checked it out and looks interesting. But not for me since it is 64bit only and I really want to keep an add-on like NoScript.
But all is fine now again: I upgraded from FF 29 to 28.

No script and the majority of plugins work for Waterfox like they do in the regular Firefox, it's the same engine / browser just optimised for 64 bit systems (which the majority now are since the first 64 bit CPU was released in 2004).

Firefox doesn't care about anybody or what its users think. Consider them AOL, they'll do what ever the hell they want to do even if it's shooting themselves in the foot (eventually killing it self off, just like AOL).

That's the same for 99% of all organisations and companies, lol

Only Firefox is not a company but the third name of the web browser. The company is Mozilla. ;)

I feel your pain, dude. However, clutching onto FF28 will only last for so long until an exploit or new bug comes along and kicks us in the shins. To clarify; I don't think it's 'fair' that FF29 has been revamped with no 'factory/OEM' options of simple reverts like the all time favorite TABS ON BOTTOM!!!!!!! I don't understand why we should be 'directed' into adding extensions into FF29 to make it sort of look like FF28. I've donated to the Moz cause and now I have to donate some more money for an extension add-on to revert my browser back and it still doesn't look right?? Gee frickin' whiz! Ah, well, RIP FF28, RIP! Windows 8.1 and FF29 stickin' it right to the end user. Sorry, but there's no duct tape over my mouth and I'll vent about it as I see fit because I'm also someone who matters and I'm a TABS ON BOTTOM patriot! Anyhow, thanks, Meegja, for your tips and voicing out your dismay. Googzilla has made me into a sad panda; to forgive and forget are hard to do when they bite the hands that feed them. ;p

It looks like Google agents torpedoed Opera 10-11, causing them to make stupid "improvements" and not listen to users' feedback. Opera died. And now they have FF.

Here's what Mozilla dev's say (and my comments):

> Mozilla felt it was necessary to create a user interface that was the same for both mobile and desktop versions of Firefox.

How did it feel THAT? My desktop will suddenly turn into a mobile??? Am I Harry Potter or who?

> We came up with this new look after thorough testing, user interviews and usability studies for over four years.

If the result is BS, then probably something's wrong with that testing... or testers.

> The idea is that you put the icons/ buttons you want to see all the time on the top toolbar.

Totally wrong idea. First, I never want to see ANYTHING "all the time". (Do you? Really? o_O) Second, if I want to see buttons, I want to see almost all of them on the bottom toolbar! Or wherever I put them.

Don't you, with all your "researches", realize that clever users ALREADY customized all that they wanted?

So don't BS us saying that it's "in our interests". Just admit that you made a stupid thing, and correct it, before it's too late. Or you do only what Google tells you, because they pay?

...You say we don't understand you developers. Oh, that's for sure! But YOU should understand us, users, that's what matters.

> The fact that you're looking down all the time to find something that is not there anymore is called muscle memory and it will take a bit of time to get used to the new situation.

Exactly! If you want to kill some time, do that with your life, not mine. I'm not so young as you boys AND I JUST DON'T WANT to lose days and days to revert the interface or to learn how to use BS instead. I'm still unable to work in new Windows, XP has last acceptable Start panel for me.

> You didn't hear or see any of us say 'GET USED TO IT', only 'please, give it a try first'.

And if I don't want to?

I'm just tired of "giving a try" to every of your stupid "innovation". You never make them optional, do you?

Why don't I, writer, invent a new ABC every few months? Why don't you learn new ABC's again & again, if your life is too dull? Don't make my life more "interesting", I don't need that.

> ...You didn't hear or see any of us say 'GET USED TO IT' ... > The web evolves and so do we.

In other words, GET USED TO IT.

(That's the worst kind of demagogy I ever heard. Evolution is improvement, not degradation. Justifying degradation by evolution means you think we are idiots. Thanx, very much).

> Additionally, we only have a relatively small team of engineers working on Firefox; much of our progress depends on the work of volunteers!

Don't tell me that you don't want to code twice: all the code for the old interface is already done.

What you should do is make it faster and less memory eating. (But not at a cost that torpedoed Opera). So save you time and save us time. Leave the UI alone, and make your "improvements" as add-ons. Otherwise that once-great browser is just dying, too.

All Mozilla have done is hasten Firefox's death which is a real shame as it is STILL the most powerful browser on the market.

To be fair, if Firefox didn't have an plugin system, it would already be dead, the community have made the browser what it is today!

This radical Firefox interface redesign is not just insane; it's unacceptable. I may have used different language, but I have to 100% agree with the essence of AQ21's comments.

How many years have FF users spent becoming familiar with the previously stable, slowly evolving interface we had all enjoyed so much? Many years, thus meaning everyone is already quite comfortable with it.

To make radical, revolutionary changes that a tiny, tiny minority thought might be better is total insanity. It's like taking your automobile in for a tune-up and oil change, and when the mechanic returns your keys to you, he says, "Oh, knowing you'd enjoy the latest, futuristic changes, we've reversed the placement of your brake and gas pedals, and gear selection is now accomplished by the new dash-mounted mouse device we installed without you even needing to ask."

Do you not understand this, Mozilla? Did you not learn anything from witnessing Microsoft's Windows 8 debacle??? Likewise with Yahoo's year-old Groups redesign. Hundreds of millions of Yahoo users are still fuming over that one. Microsoft eventually got wise. Will Mozilla and Yahoo eventually get wise, too??? I surely hope so.

Why must radical, revolutionary interface re-designs be forced down users' throats?

Note this analogy, please ... Consider your drive home from work. You know where all your turns are, you're familiar with all the speed limits, the lane merges, the one-way streets, etc. You don't even need to read the street signs and you can almost get to your destination even with your eyes closed. But here comes Mozilla's Firefox team deciding the old, totally familiar way has GOT TO GO, and they're going to turn your world totally upside down citing some imagined, miniscule time savings.

Compare the drive home to the way computer users are acquainted with using their computers. We don't have to even think the gas pedal is on the right, the brake is on the left. It comes to us almost instinctively. And likewise with performing familiar computer operations. As we're thinking of needing the Start button, we begin to aim our mouse pointer to our display's lower-left corner. With ALL the familiar, repetitive operations we perform, even before the familiar dialog boxes and notifications appear, our mouse pointer is already headed in the correct, anticipated direction, ready to click on the appropriate, once-familiar icon/button needed to complete the requested function.

Ah, but because a small number of people on the development team felt like changing everything around, now previously seasoned, comfortable, confident users are being INSTANTLY transformed into annoyed, lost, frustrated and angry novices.

For sake of the argument, I'm going to assume there MIGHT be a miniscule advantage to reversing the once-familiar position of our browser's brake and gas pedals. But how about making that change just a recommendation? How about making it optional?? How about letting the users make the adjustment if and when they feel like it???

Isn't using computers challenging enough??? I rest my case. FF version 29 may be the best version ever. But making experienced users feel lost will NEVER be good advice.

Thus, despite the possible hazards, I'm hanging onto version 28. And all the while, as every day passes, realizing I might SOME day be forced to reverse the placement of my brake and gas pedals, I'll be hating that mechanic -- read "Mozilla" -- more and more every day.

Sorry to be so forthright, but I felt the need to be just as blunt as your revolutionary, unwanted, radical interface redesign. With all due respect, thanks for nothing, Mozilla.

Tony

I agree, why so ugly???

This thread has outlived its usefulness - tips for dealing with the changes that came in Firefox 29. Locking it.

You may provide feedback to Mozilla here: https://input.mozilla.org/en-US/feedback