The organization plans to remove the Compact option from the customize menu and migrate users who use Compact to the Normal mode once the change happens. The preference browser.uidensity will remain for the time being, but it is possible that it will get removed at one point in time as well or that the compact mode value won’t change it anymore at the very least.
This is a terrible decision. I obviously use the compact layout everywhere, because not only does it look better and use less space, it also doesn’t have that insanely oversized back button. This change makes absolutely no sense to me, and I can’t wait until we get a hack to bring it back.
I don’t really care. Options like these stink of poor UI design as well as redundant hacks to please people. UI customization is probably still possible via CSS files, though I haven’t checked that since the move away from XUL years ago.
They should revert to vanilla GTK look-and-feel and let theme designers alter the appearance for those who want to screw up their user experience.
Move away from XUL ? The 160 MB dll is still there last time I checked.
(Disclaimer, I work for Mozilla)
The shared library is still named XUL, but that’s an anachronism.
Hear hear! I would say we need more customization, not less.
Too much customization can be cumbersome too. Not only having to deal with the code that must support said customization (bug prone), the configuration file might get corrupted (gui glitches) but also when looking for help on the internet, you don’t recognize what is what due to the diversity of “customization”. Just look for some functionality in Word/Excel, you’ll get several pages ranging from Office 97 to Office 365 with a large change in UI, you cannot take for granted one would stay the same across a large number of versions. Not even counting in the changes in the UI with internationalized versions (some buttons are there or not). Keep it simple…
“This is a terrible decision. I obviously use the compact layout everywhere, because not only does it look better and use less space, it also doesn’t have that insanely oversized back button. This change makes absolutely no sense to me, and I can’t wait until we get a hack to bring it back.”
Maybe it’s just me, but I just checked (on laptop) but I don’t see a big difference (between compact and normal). Maybe it is a big deal on the phone.
I didn’t know the option existed. Now that I’ve tried it out, I like it… lol
I have used the compact option on the pinephone. It’s a shame there isn’t an option to switch to a mobile version.
Oh great. This is how I learn about this setting. I just tried it, and I instantly want to keep it