How to make Firefox more usable

[anon]

user.js

user_pref("accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar", 0);
user_pref("browser.aboutConfig.showWarning", false);
user_pref("browser.ctrlTab.recentlyUsedOrder", false);
user_pref("browser.download.animateNotifications", false);
user_pref("browser.newtab.preload", false);
user_pref("browser.onboarding.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "about:blank");
user_pref("browser.stopReloadAnimation.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.tabs.closeWindowWithLastTab", false);
user_pref("browser.uidensity", 1);
user_pref("browser.urlbar.formatting.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.urlbar.speculativeConnect.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.urlbar.trimURLs", false);
user_pref("findbar.highlightAll", true);
user_pref("general.smoothScroll", false);
user_pref("general.warnOnAboutConfig", false);
user_pref("keyword.enabled", false);
user_pref("media.videocontrols.picture-in-picture.video-toggle.enabled", false);
user_pref("network.prefetch-next", false);
user_pref("security.insecure_field_warning.contextual.enabled", false);
user_pref("toolkit.cosmeticAnimations.enabled", false);
user_pref("toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets", true);
user_pref("toolkit.scrollbox.smoothScroll", false);
user_pref("ui.prefersReducedMotion", 1);
user_pref("xul.panel-animations.enabled", false);

Append these to enable dark mode.

user_pref("ui.systemUsesDarkTheme", 1);
user_pref("browser.in-content.dark-mode", true);
user_pref("widget.disable-dark-scrollbar", false);
user_pref("devtools.theme", "dark");
user_pref("extensions.activeThemeID", "");

userChrome.css

/* REMOVE MEGABAR START
 * VERSION 1.0.4
 * CODE AT: http://userchrome.wesleybranton.com/megabar
 * RELEASE NOTES: http://userchrome.wesleybranton.com/notes/megabar */
@-moz-document url(chrome://browser/content/browser.xhtml) {
    /* DISABLE EXPANDING START */
    #urlbar[breakout][breakout-extend] {
        top: calc((var(--urlbar-toolbar-height) - var(--urlbar-height)) / 2) !important;
        left: 0 !important;
        width: 100% !important;
    }
    
    #urlbar[breakout][breakout-extend] > #urlbar-input-container {
        height: var(--urlbar-height) !important;
        padding-block: 0 !important;
        padding-inline: 0 !important;
    }
    
    #urlbar[breakout][breakout-extend] > #urlbar-background {
        animation-name: none !important;
        box-shadow: 0 1px 4px rgba(0, 0, 0, .05) !important;
    }
    /* DISABLE EXPANDING END */
    
    /* REMOVE URL RESULT PADDING START */
    .urlbarView {
        margin-inline: 0 !important;
        width: 100% !important;
    }

    .urlbarView-row {
        padding-block: 0 !important;
    }
    /* REMOVE URL RESULT PADDING END */
    
    /* MOVE URL RESULT TYPE ICON TO LEFT START */
    .urlbarView-type-icon {
        min-width: 16px !important;
        height: 16px !important;
        margin-bottom: 0 !important;
        margin-inline-start: 0 !important;
    }
    
    .urlbarView-favicon {
        margin-inline-start: 20px !important;
    }
    /* MOVE URL RESULT TYPE ICON TO LEFT END */

    /* DISPLAY GO BUTTON WHEN TYPING START */
    #urlbar-input-container[pageproxystate="invalid"] #urlbar-go-button {
        display: block !important;
    }
    /* DISPLAY GO BUTTON WHEN TYPING END */

    /* ALWAYS SHOW PAGE ACTIONS START */
    /* DISABLED BY DEFAULT - UNCOMMENT TO ENABLE */
    /*#pageActionButton {
        display: block !important;
    }*/
    /* ALWAYS SHOW PAGE ACTIONS END */
}
/* REMOVE MEGABAR END */

...then disable all "One-Click Search Engines" and turn off open tab, history and top sites suggestions for the address bar. You can get the old about:config at chrome://global/content/config.xhtml, by the way, until Mozilla kills that too.

[anon]

Updated the first post. The new dark mode is very good

[yoco]

I just updated FF. Holy smokes, the space between bookmarks is insane. Anyone knows if it can be changed back?

[anon]

The new Proton design is as awful as it was during beta? History repeating itself for Mozilla, I'm afraid. Anyway, I haven't updated yet, but I'd look at /r/Firefox for any userChrome code or addon that reverses this.

[yoco]

Yea, I googled a bit, and found a way of disabling everything. I hope they won't force it on us in future. It was really bad.

[anon]

I hope they won't force it on us in future.

I have bad news for you.

Anyway, browser.proton.enabled=false and/or https://github.com/black7375/Firefox-UI-Fix apparently fix this for now.

[alpacino]

I completely stopped using this piece of shit when they got woke.

[anon]

Well, you can still disregard Mozilla's politicking and use Firefox as a browser, instead of a tool for social justice. Tor Browser or Librefox are also good forks.

If you want to boycott them by completely disavowing their stuff, that's admirable, but Google basically makes the only other browser that exists these days and doesn't exactly have a flawless record either.

[yoco]

So my power went out for a second, PC shut down. Turned it on, open FF and this shit is back again! It's so ugly! I looked my "proton" settings and they're all "false" but the spacing between bookmarks and tabs is still insane. My FF version is 91. Does this mean I can't change it back?

[Renk]

So my power went out for a second, PC shut down. Turned it on, open FF and this shit is back again! It's so ugly! I looked my "proton" settings and they're all "false" but the spacing between bookmarks and tabs is still insane. My FF version is 91. Does this mean I can't change it back?

For FF 91, some tricks here .

[anon]

I hope they won't force it on us in future.

I have bad news for you.

Psychic Anyway, all pre-Proton code is gone from Firefox 91, and that includes those configuration parameters. CSS hacks and addons should still work.

[yoco]

Is it "safe" to update FF? I'm afraid it will break everything again!

[anon]

Don't look at me, I'm still using the last pre-Proton version. Every time Mozilla changes something in the interface, it's for the worse and makes me burn several hours trying to put things back the way they were. This thread will be updated once I get around doing that.

[yoco]

Do you get those annoying popups "update available"?

[anon]

No, and neither will you if you make some changes (where to place policies.json is left as an exercise for the reader).

user.js

user_pref("browser.policies.testing.disallowEnterprise", false);

policies.json

{
	"policies": {
		"AppUpdateURL": "http://0.0.0.0/",
		"DisableAppUpdate": true,
		"DisableFirefoxStudies": true,
		"DisableSystemAddonUpdate": true,
		"DisableTelemetry": true,
		"ExtensionUpdate": false
	}
}