We could all do with a bit of empathy in our systems, says Mozilla as it ships Firefox 75 in the thick of global pandemic

Mozilla has squeezed out version 75 of the Firefox browser, crediting "empathy" in its systems for an ability to continue emissions even as Microsoft and Google hit the pause button on their Chromium-based apps. The release came hot on the heels of fixes aimed at plugging holes in both version 74 and the Extended Support …

[DJV]

I wish they'd stop messing with things that don't need "fixing"!

Version 75 certainly made a mess of the address bar on my PC! Not sure if that's because I use the Custom CSS fixes from https://github.com/Aris-t2/CustomCSSforFx to put Firefox back the way I prefer it or something else.

If you are having the same issues or just prefer the way it used to work then try this which disables the new address bar settings:

Put about:config into the address bar and press return to get at the internal Firefox settings (click past the warning). Then search for the following four settings and double click each one to change it from "true" to "false":

browser.urlbar.openViewOnFocus

browser.urlbar.update1

browser.urlbar.update1.interventions

browser.urlbar.update1. searchTips

You may need to close and restart FF in order to make it all work.

(Disclosure: I found this on Ars Technica where lots of people were complaining about the "new address bar goodness" - when will they learn - sigh!)

[Sleep deprived]

Re: I wish they'd stop messing with things that don't need "fixing"!

As a Firefox enthusiast and advocate, I'd be much tempted to make them a donation, but if it's to support constant unwanted UI "improvements" like this not-so-awesome address/search, I'll think twice. Maybe they still have too many engineers with too much spare time on their hands.

[gobaskof]

Re: I wish they'd stop messing with things that don't need "fixing"!

I might have to give that a go. I can't see any benefit to the God-awful new bar.

[Geoffrey W]

Re: I wish they'd stop messing with things that don't need "fixing"!

I'm not being snarky here, but I've been using the new Firefox and didn't even realise the address bar was different, in fact I'm still not sure what's different about it since I don't have the old version anymore. Perhaps you could be explicit about whats different, and particularly what's wrong with it, coz I'm durned if I can see it.

[ThatOne]

Re: I wish they'd stop messing with things that don't need "fixing"!

> be explicit about whats different

If you open a new (empty) tab, the address bar gets all swollen up, and when you click on it, it spills a dropdown menu of search suggestions - Even if you specified in the settings that you'd very much like to do search in the separate search bar, thank you very much.

What's bothering me is that they don't take "no" for an answer. I do not want to start a search on the URL I typed in the "address" bar, I want to go there, is that so hard to understand?

[bombastic bob]

Re: I wish they'd stop messing with things that don't need "fixing"!

MEGA THUMBS UP!

[e^iπ+1=0]

Re: I wish they'd stop messing with things that don't need "fixing"!

browser.urlbar.openViewOnFocus

browser.urlbar.update1

browser.urlbar.update1.interventions

browser.urlbar.update1. searchTips

Hmm, I checked and already had all those set to false; my address bar still looks a bit strange compared to a couple of weeks ago.

When I clear the address bar I get a drop-down list of sites (from history?) which I wasn't plagued with until recently.

[ThatOne]

Re: I wish they'd stop messing with things that don't need "fixing"!

> I checked and already had all those set to false; my address bar still looks a bit strange compared to a couple of weeks ago

Strange. I put them in one after the other and did immediately see the difference, except for the address bar swelling which persisted until I restarted Firefox. So, did you restart Firefox? As for the dropdown list, it didn't even require a restart, just switching "browser.urlbar.update1" (or "browser.urlbar.update1. searchTips" - sorry, can't remember witch) to "false" instantly deactivated this annoying behavior for me.

Which makes me think there is something strange going on with your about:config settings, especially if you already found them on "false" (How comes?). I'd suggest to switch them all back to default ("true"), restart Firefox, then toggle them back to "false" and restart Firefox again.

[Gene Cash]

Mozilla lays off developers

So how can you tell? They remove fewer features in the next release?

[bombastic bob]

I do NOT like *search* from within the ADDRESS BAR

If this "feature" (which I absolutely CANNOT STAND IN CHROME) is NOT the WORST for YOUR PRIVACY, I do not know what COULD be...

(in previous versions I could SHUT THIS OFF, but maybe NOT completely)

a) you type in a URL improperly, IT GETS SEARCHED ON

b) if you type in a local LAN URL, and for some reason it's not resolved correctly, IT GETS SEARCHED ON

c) if you forget an 'http' or spell it wrong, IT GETS SEARCHED ON.

This is AS BAD AS or WORSE THAN CORTANA, if you ask me...

And it's like a FORM of SPYWARE!!!

I'd much rather visit the search engine web site and type stuff into their UI, if there is NO OTHER ALTERNATIVE.

How about a "SHUT THIS CRAP OFF" feature for the NEXT FIREFOX ???

[ThatOne]

Re: I do NOT like *search* from within the ADDRESS BAR

about:config, keyword.enabled -> false?

[RobThBay]

I'm glad I decided to go with the ESR version. No unneccessary "improvemrnts", just security updates.

[airbrush]

Should be number one

Not sure why it's not more popular, I find it far less of a memory hog than Chrome and handles every site with aplomb as well as excellent privacy by default. Had one or two shopping sites with issues on my phone but nothing like the issues with Safari.