Computerworld -
Some Firefox users, cranky about the overhaul of the browser's user
interface, have scrambled to find ways to make the latest version look
more like older editions.
Two weeks ago, Mozilla launched Firefox 29, the first production-grade version that sported the new "Australis" UI. The visual redesign,
the most dramatic for Firefox since March 2011, was Mozilla's attempt
to both streamline the browser's look and feel and standardize it across
all platforms, from desktop to mobile.Many of Australis' visual changes were subtle, such as more rounded tabs, inactive tabs that faded deeper into the background and a revamped customization panel. Australis also dumped the orange-colored Firefox menu in Windows, an element that first popped up in Firefox 4.
Some people balked at the changes.
"This is useless, please do not copy the Google Chrome," someone identified as imdawe said yesterday, also on MozillaZine. "WE DO NOT WANT GOOGLE CHROME UI. If we want that then we would use Google Chrome."
The this-looks-a-lot-like-Chrome complaint against Firefox's Australis has been widespread, and predated its appearance in Firefox 29.
Others cited more specific gripes, all tied to changes in Firefox's UI and a desire to restore older visual and navigational elements, like the page-reload button, the tab bar's position -- now above the address and search fields, not below them as before -- and the from-one-side-to-the-other relocation of the Firefox menu.
Some were quite explicit in their criticism. "Please add function to restore UI prior to 29.0 ... new UI is horse****," said bokstav on MozillaZine on May 9. A few compared Mozilla's redesign, which they felt was forced on them, to Microsoft's radical renovation of Windows with 2012's Windows 8. Those were not compliments.
Many commenters on MozillaZine, and on Mozilla's official support discussion forum, suggested installing Classic Theme Restorer, a Firefox add-on that spins back the clock by reverting many of the Australis changes.
Others recommended grabbing SeaMonkey, an open-source, volunteer-created suite of programs, including a browser; or Pale Moon, a Firefox-based browser for Windows and Linux. Both look much more like earlier versions of Firefox.
Some users weren't hearing any of that, and said they are moving on. "Control Panel, Uninstall, gone," said Ray-in-Kingwood of yanking Firefox from Windows. "Used Firefox for many years and loved it. The new update was a total cluster****. So ... I am on Chrome now. At least it works."
Firefox 29 defenders weren't absent from the discussions. They alternately chided others for being Luddites and pointed to resources that explained how to customize the new UI -- Mozilla trumpeted those features when it shipped the browser April 29 -- to restore an older feel.
One of those resources, a message on MozillaZine titled "Australis Guide for Normal People," was recommended by several users who said they're sticking with Firefox.
It's not unusual for users to howl at UI changes to long-familiar software -- as Microsoft knows better than most after Windows 8 -- but Mozilla can little afford to lose large numbers of users because of Australis. Firefox, which once had a solid lock on the No. 2 spot in Web metrics company Net Applications' measurements of browser user share, slipped behind Google's Chrome in March. At the end of April, Firefox accounted for 17% of all desktop browsers in use, while Chrome had a user share of 17.9%.
Firefox has lost 3.3 percentage points of user share in the past 12 months, representing a decline of 16% from its April 2013 standing.
The Classic Theme Restorer add-on will return
some, but not all, of Firefox 29's UI elements to their previous
positions, including the main menu that had lived on the left side of
the windows since 2011.
@gkeizer, and on Google+, or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed 
. His email address is gkeizer@computerworld.com.
Source: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9248310/Firefox_UI_revamp_sparks_complaints_searches_for_alternatives
Classic Theme Restorer (Customize Australis)
It is recommended
to switch to a new clean profile (or at least delete 'localstore.rdf'
from profile folder) to avoid UI issues after upgrading from Firefox 28
(and older) to Firefox 29 (and newer).
This add-on restores squared tabs, appbutton/appmenu (known from Firefox for Windows), bookmarks menu button, bookmarks sidebar button, history sidebar button and other buttons from Firefox 4-28 (non-Australis) on Firefox 29+ (Austalis UI - Windows, MacOSX, Linux). All buttons are fully optional. Some of them have to be moved to toolbars manually using browsers 'customize' area.
Features & Settings (options window)
Features (not on options window)
Squared tabs
Classic tabs option replaces 'curved default tabs' with 'squared classic tabs'.
Tabs on MacOSX look more like Windows tabs with MacOSX colors than previous Mac tabs.
Australis tabs (experimental, Windows Aero only)
Squared classic tabs colors combined with curved tabs.
Tabs 'not' on top
Simulates the removed 'tabs.onTop=false' setting from about:config and places tabs below navigation toolbar. On MacOSX these tabs have reverse appearance like on pre-Australis builds.
Application button / application menu settings
Application menu titlebar button [Windows only]
The appmenu titlebar button is fixed on titlebars left side like on it was since Fx 4. It is enabled by default on Windows systems.
Application menu toolbar button
The appmenu toolbar button is a default toolbar menu button and can be placed on any available toolbar.
If it is moved to tabs toolbar while the menubar is disabled, the appbutton appears on browsers titlebar (Windows only). Otherwise it appears like a default toolbar button placed on any toolbar.
Application button colors
On tabs toolbar and on titlebar the appbutton can be colored orange, blue (Aurora), black (Nightly), transparent, blue (Palemoon), red, green and gray [in normal browsing mode] and purple [in private browsing mode] like on previous Windows browser versions.
Note
The new appmenu is not an exact copy of the old one, but looks as original as possible. Some elements like 'splitmenu' are not available in Firefox Australis anymore, so menuitem and a submenu are placed in a row now. The appmenu also misses some non-cloneable menuitems inside developer- and options submenus.
Small nav-bar buttons
Navigation toolbar buttons get alternative margins and paddings to simulate small icon view.
Hide 'Navigation Toolbar'
Hiding nav-bar might be interesting after its items get moved to other toolbars.
'Add-on Bar'
A toolbar at windows bottom simulates the 'old' add-on bar. All movable buttons and items can be placed on it. Add-on bar can be accessed through toolbars context menu (right-click on an existing toolbar) or can be toggled using 'Ctrl+/' (Windows/Linux) btw. 'Cmd+/' (MacOSX).
'Additional Toolbar'
Another toolbar below top toolbars, where buttons and items can be moved to. It can be accessed through toolbars context menu (right-click on an existing toolbar).
Findbar on top or at the bottom
Forces findbar to be displayed on top or at the bottom.
Icons + text
Display text below toolbar buttons.
Text only
Replace toolbar button icons with text.
Bookmarks menu button
The bookmarks menu button is a default 'toolbar menu button'. On personal toolbar its label and icon are visible.
Bookmarks sidebar button
The bookmarks sidebar button toggles the bookmarks sidebar.
History sidebar button
The history sidebar button toggles the history sidebar.
Back-forward, reload and stop buttons
Browsers default buttons got merged with urlbar and cannot be moved to different toolbar positions or to different toolbars. CTB recreates these buttons.
Combined reload-stop button
Place stop and reload buttons in that order on any toolbar and enable the corresponding option on CTRs preference window. Hover the option on options window to get extra information.
Toolbar: [something]...[stop-button][reload-button]...[something]
Spaces and flexible spaces
A couple of toolbar items simulate spaces and flexible spaces. They can be moved to toolbars like toolbar buttons using browsers customize menu.
Windows - Linux - MacOSX
This add-on was tested on Windows 7 (AeroBasic, AeroGlass, Classic) & 8 & XP (Classic, Luna-Blue/Silver/Olive, Zune, Royale), Linux Mint KDE, Ubuntu and MacOSX 10.8/10.9. On other Systems or non OS-default themes tab colors may look wrong. Bookmarks, history, stop, reload, back and forward toolbar buttons use default OS icons (Firefox Windows icons on Windows systems, Firefox Mac icons on MacOSX and Firefox Linux icons on Linux systems).
Known 'issues'/'glitches'/extra info
1) Application menus 'cut', 'copy' and 'paste' buttons do not always work like they should.
2) Switching between AeroGlass and AeroBasic on Windows 7/Vista can change application buttons position, if the menubar is disabled. Maximizing/restoring browsers main window or restarting Firefox reslves the problem. This glitch is caused by MS Windows and titlebars behavior and not by this add-on.
3) Tab colors on MacOSX fit to current ui instead of using pre-Australis colors. This is intended and not a bug.
Notes
1) Do not install this add-on on pre-Australis Firefox (4-28). It is not intended to be used with older versions and will certainly break some parts of the UI or not work correctly at all.
2) This add-on was made for browsers default theme and will certainly break parts of the UI especially tabs, if used along with Firefox themes or Personas, but additional buttons and their options could work fine (untested!).
Classic Theme Restorer (Customize Australis)
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/classicthemerestorer/
It is recommended
to switch to a new clean profile (or at least delete 'localstore.rdf'
from profile folder) to avoid UI issues after upgrading from Firefox 28
(and older) to Firefox 29 (and newer).This add-on restores squared tabs, appbutton/appmenu (known from Firefox for Windows), bookmarks menu button, bookmarks sidebar button, history sidebar button and other buttons from Firefox 4-28 (non-Australis) on Firefox 29+ (Austalis UI - Windows, MacOSX, Linux). All buttons are fully optional. Some of them have to be moved to toolbars manually using browsers 'customize' area.
Features & Settings (options window)
- Tabs
- Curved tabs (Australis default)
- Squared tabs (classic)
- Squared tabs (classic) (v2)
- Squared tabs (australized)
- Curved tabs (alternative)
- Curved tabs (alternative Windows Aero)
- Tabs on top "true/false"
- Tabs on top, no [tabsontop] attribute (default)
- Tabs on top + [tabsontop="true"] attribute
- Tabs not on top + [tabsontop="false"] attribute
- Tabs in titlebar (Firefox about:config switch)
- Tabs max-width settings
- Tabs min-width settings
- Application button / application menu
- appbutton hidden
- appbutton on toolbars
- appbutton on toolbars (text only)
- appbutton on titlebar [Windows only]
- appbutton on titlebar (icon only) [Windows only]
- Application button / application menu color
- orange
- blue (Aurora)
- black (Nightly)
- transparent
- blue (Palemoon)
- red
- green
- gray
- purple
- Alternative icons (if appbutton on toolbar)
- Higher button position (if on tabs toolbar) (Windows only)
- Hide appbutons background color and borders
- Add [iconsize="large"]/[iconsize="small"] attributes to #nav-bar
- Small navigation toolbar buttons
- Hide navigation toolbar
- Movable back-forward button
- Movable fullscreen controls (Windows)
- Star-button in urlbar
- Movable status-bar panel (CTR 1.1.8b3+)
- Hide urlbars stop & reload buttons
- Combine stop & reload buttons
- Findbar
- Findbar (default position)
- Findbar on top (forced)
- Findbar at the bottom (forced)
- Findbar on top (forced) (alternative)
- Findbar at the bottom (forced) (alternative)
- Icons / Text
- Show icons only
- Show large icons (experimental)
- Icons + text
- Icons + text v2 (less space between buttons)
- Text only
- Custom colors for tab backgrounds, text and text shadow
- Classic appmenu appearance for panel ui button on tabs toolbar
- Remove tab toolbars background fog (Windows AeroGlass)
- White color for some tab buttons (Windows)
- White color for tab text (Windows)
- Hide add-on bars close button
- Fix urlbars border-radius, if needed
- Alternative tab throbber animation images
- Hide bookmarks menu buttons animation
- Hide tab closing/opening animation (about:config switch)
- Hide 'downloads complete' animation (about:config switch)
- Always show 'tab close button'
- Compact panel menus (bookmarks, history...)
- CTR option buttons on customizing mode
Features (not on options window)
- Enable/disable Add-on Bar (toolbar context menu)
- Toggle Add-on Bar using 'Ctrl + /' btw. 'Cmd + /'
- Add-on bars close button
- Enable/disable 'Additional Toolbar' (toolbar context menu)
- Spaces
- Flexible spaces
- Separators
- Bookmarks menu button
- Bookmarks sidebar button
- History sidebar button
- Reload button
- Stop button
- Reduced urlbars min-width
- Reduced browser windows min-width
- Movable urlbar
- Movable PanelUI button
- Movable alltabs-button
- Movable webrtc-status-button
- Movable social-share-button
Squared tabs
Classic tabs option replaces 'curved default tabs' with 'squared classic tabs'.
Tabs on MacOSX look more like Windows tabs with MacOSX colors than previous Mac tabs.
Australis tabs (experimental, Windows Aero only)
Squared classic tabs colors combined with curved tabs.
Tabs 'not' on top
Simulates the removed 'tabs.onTop=false' setting from about:config and places tabs below navigation toolbar. On MacOSX these tabs have reverse appearance like on pre-Australis builds.
Application button / application menu settings
Application menu titlebar button [Windows only]
The appmenu titlebar button is fixed on titlebars left side like on it was since Fx 4. It is enabled by default on Windows systems.
Application menu toolbar button
The appmenu toolbar button is a default toolbar menu button and can be placed on any available toolbar.
If it is moved to tabs toolbar while the menubar is disabled, the appbutton appears on browsers titlebar (Windows only). Otherwise it appears like a default toolbar button placed on any toolbar.
Application button colors
On tabs toolbar and on titlebar the appbutton can be colored orange, blue (Aurora), black (Nightly), transparent, blue (Palemoon), red, green and gray [in normal browsing mode] and purple [in private browsing mode] like on previous Windows browser versions.
Note
The new appmenu is not an exact copy of the old one, but looks as original as possible. Some elements like 'splitmenu' are not available in Firefox Australis anymore, so menuitem and a submenu are placed in a row now. The appmenu also misses some non-cloneable menuitems inside developer- and options submenus.
Small nav-bar buttons
Navigation toolbar buttons get alternative margins and paddings to simulate small icon view.
Hide 'Navigation Toolbar'
Hiding nav-bar might be interesting after its items get moved to other toolbars.
'Add-on Bar'
A toolbar at windows bottom simulates the 'old' add-on bar. All movable buttons and items can be placed on it. Add-on bar can be accessed through toolbars context menu (right-click on an existing toolbar) or can be toggled using 'Ctrl+/' (Windows/Linux) btw. 'Cmd+/' (MacOSX).
'Additional Toolbar'
Another toolbar below top toolbars, where buttons and items can be moved to. It can be accessed through toolbars context menu (right-click on an existing toolbar).
Findbar on top or at the bottom
Forces findbar to be displayed on top or at the bottom.
Icons + text
Display text below toolbar buttons.
Text only
Replace toolbar button icons with text.
Bookmarks menu button
The bookmarks menu button is a default 'toolbar menu button'. On personal toolbar its label and icon are visible.
Bookmarks sidebar button
The bookmarks sidebar button toggles the bookmarks sidebar.
History sidebar button
The history sidebar button toggles the history sidebar.
Back-forward, reload and stop buttons
Browsers default buttons got merged with urlbar and cannot be moved to different toolbar positions or to different toolbars. CTB recreates these buttons.
Combined reload-stop button
Place stop and reload buttons in that order on any toolbar and enable the corresponding option on CTRs preference window. Hover the option on options window to get extra information.
Toolbar: [something]...[stop-button][reload-button]...[something]
Spaces and flexible spaces
A couple of toolbar items simulate spaces and flexible spaces. They can be moved to toolbars like toolbar buttons using browsers customize menu.
Windows - Linux - MacOSX
This add-on was tested on Windows 7 (AeroBasic, AeroGlass, Classic) & 8 & XP (Classic, Luna-Blue/Silver/Olive, Zune, Royale), Linux Mint KDE, Ubuntu and MacOSX 10.8/10.9. On other Systems or non OS-default themes tab colors may look wrong. Bookmarks, history, stop, reload, back and forward toolbar buttons use default OS icons (Firefox Windows icons on Windows systems, Firefox Mac icons on MacOSX and Firefox Linux icons on Linux systems).
Known 'issues'/'glitches'/extra info
1) Application menus 'cut', 'copy' and 'paste' buttons do not always work like they should.
2) Switching between AeroGlass and AeroBasic on Windows 7/Vista can change application buttons position, if the menubar is disabled. Maximizing/restoring browsers main window or restarting Firefox reslves the problem. This glitch is caused by MS Windows and titlebars behavior and not by this add-on.
3) Tab colors on MacOSX fit to current ui instead of using pre-Australis colors. This is intended and not a bug.
Notes
1) Do not install this add-on on pre-Australis Firefox (4-28). It is not intended to be used with older versions and will certainly break some parts of the UI or not work correctly at all.
2) This add-on was made for browsers default theme and will certainly break parts of the UI especially tabs, if used along with Firefox themes or Personas, but additional buttons and their options could work fine (untested!).
