Why Users are not Happy with New Firefox Proton Design UI? I Tried to Understand
Recently with the release of new Mozilla Firefox version 89 web browser, the developer team introduced a brand new redesigned UI which has been named as “Proton UI“.
Proton UI was under development and testing since a few months and finally the new UI has been implemented in public stable version of Firefox.
People who upgraded to latest Firefox version 89, automatically received the new Proton UI activated and enabled.
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New Proton UI brings clean, modern and refreshing look-n-feel to Firefox browser. It comes in 2 variants: Light and Dark.
Following screenshots show new Proton UI live in action in Firefox version 89 and later:
Proton Light Theme in Firefox:
Proton Dark Theme in Firefox:
Ever since Mozilla released Firefox 89 version to public, many people are very upset with the new user interface or theme. I have received so many emails and comments from readers who are not happy with the new design of Firefox browser.
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According to many users, both new themes of Firefox are either too light or too dark on eyes.
It’s possible to disable new Proton UI and restore old classic UI in Firefox 89 and later versions. There is a hidden secret preference/flag which can be modified to bring back old UI in Firefox. Also we have shared CSS codes to disable floating tabs and restore classic UI in Firefox. We shared the tricks in following exclusive tutorials:
[Tip] Restore Old Classic Theme and UI in Firefox 89 and Later Versions
[Tip] New Working Method to Restore Classic Theme and UI in Firefox 91 and Later Versions
I tried to find out why people are not liking the new Proton UI in Firefox and I found 2 major points which might be the culprit.
1. No Colorized Title bar or tab bar
I think it’s the major culprit which is making lots of Firefox users unhappy. In previous versions, Firefox used to come with a dark title bar or tab bar and if we turned on accent color on title bars option in Windows 10, Firefox also used the same color in its titlebar.
Following image shows it very clearly:
Now in newer versions i.e. 89 and later, Firefox doesn’t follow the colorized feature in Windows and always displays light grey title bar.
On the other hand, other popular web browsers such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge respect Windows 10 colorization feature.
Following images show both Chrome and Edge browsers following Windows colorization feature in title bar or tab bar:
Google Chrome default as well as colorized title bar:
Microsoft Edge default as well as colorized title bar:
If Mozilla team implements or corrects this behavior in new Firefox Proton UI and if Firefox starts showing colors in its titlebar, I think a major issue will be resolved.
Following screenshot shows what will happen if the new Proton UI starts showing colors in the titlebar in Firefox:
I hope Mozilla team will fix or implement it.
2. Floating Tabs
The second major complaint from Firefox users is the addition of floating tabs. Now the tabs are not connected to the toolbar and work like floating tabs.
People are saying that it’s a major accessibility issue and finding it very annoying and hard to read.
It’s just a UI issue not a functionality issue. It can be easily fixed by modifying the UI elements.
Following screenshot shows my concept of connected tabs with colorized title bar in Firefox Proton UI:
I’m sure if Mozilla team fixes these 2 major issues in new Proton UI of Firefox, it’ll definitely please lots of Firefox users.
I’m also working on a CSS theme for Firefox which will fix some UI issues in new Proton UI. It may take time in finishing the theme. I’ll announce the release of theme as soon as I complete it.
What’s your opinion about the above mentioned points? Feel free to share your feedback and suggestions about new Proton UI in comments section.
Also Check:
[Tip] Restore “Compact Mode” Density Option in Firefox Customize Window
[Fix] Restore Real Working Search Box on New Tab Page in Firefox 89 and Later
[Tip] Restore Old Classic “New Tab Page” Customize UI in Mozilla Firefox
So far I like the new interface since even web element has been updated. I just had to restore compact mode and install a nice theme. Voila <3
Couldn’t agree more.
The new Firefox UI looks amazing in last image. +1
I have problem to find active tab and inactive tabs, Light Theme or Dark Theme.
And, just a little annoying problem. You now have to use the Remove Bookmark item or the letter E from the drop down when you right click a bookmark. There was always a Delete item and the letter D. Been using the D for years and years. Somebody has nothing better to do then come up with these changes. And, there are more but I won’t bore you with them.
The new UI is horrible. To say it is “just ” a UI issue ignores how bad it really is. I will not use it. It may drive me away from Firefox, to alternatives which are even worse!
The main complaint seen in Firefox and Mozilla forums is “padding” or space between drop down menus, eg. bookmarks, rt click menus, other bookmarks and overflow bookmarks. add that to the developers insistence to put the tabs above the address bar in the last several years of updates is driving people away.
I’ve been using Firefox since before it was called “Firefox” and about 10 years ago it had evolved into an amazing browser.
Since around 2010, I’ve had to battle at each and every update to make it functional. Addons have stopped working and have had to be replaced with new ones that never quite do what I want.
Changes in the app itself seem to have steadily reduced functionality and I’ve had to keep adding code to my user chrome file to undo the “upgrades”.
I’ve just spent another couple of hours making the latest “upgrade”, v.89, work sort-of properly but it’s still worse than it was before the so called “upgrade”.
A good example is the Colorful Tabs addon. This made each tab a different colour, making it easy to see the active tab. Then Mozilla changed to web extensions and the addon stopped working. It’s still available but now colours the whole background in the address bar and tools which is better than nothing but it’s still ugly and unnecessary. If Mozilla wants to change stuff then they should have picked up on the huge demand for this addon and made its function a native feature. Not only did they ignore the demand, they managed to break an elegant solution provided by a third party. That is the antithesis of customer service.
Another example… a year or so ago, I was suddenly unable to drag URLs from the address bar to the desktop. There was no option to turn this “feature” back on and I was forced to find a fix which involved using the “-no-deelevate” argument in the launch shortcut.
Just recently with the “upgrade” to 89, I’ve had to completely disable the Proton interface, which seems to be a redesign to emulate a mobile phone display on a desktop PC.
Firefox is like a once healthy patient that has been stabbed repeatedly and had the wounds covered up with sticky plasters. It still lives, but only just.
I’ll stick with it for a while longer because even though it is nowhere near as good as it was last week or even 10 years ago, it’s still better than Chrome, but I’ve put hours of my life into fixing each update to get it to behave and I’m just not prepared to continue doing that. I fear each and every update now and I really shouldn’t have to feel that way should I?
The next time it’s broken by an “upgrade”, I will switch browser and give a long wave goodbye to Firefox. I still have my memories after all.
LOL! After writing this, I decided I’d turn off updates altogether, which I’ve always been loath to do, but I discovered that the option to do so has been completely removed. Instead of three update options, I have two… to update automatically and to notify. I’ll have to go with “notify” and ignore the annoying update messages I suppose. It’s so arrogant of Mozilla to deprive me of this choice. It’s also arrogant of happy Proton users to say that folk like me are just whinging cry babies. A browser is an important app and to effectively destroy the UI and so much functionality with a so called “Update” must have been very inconvenient for many.
@Ben I’m with you 100% on all of that. Tired of using 70 add-ons to undo the damage of “modern” Firefox. This kind of behavior is destroying so much software out there that I’ve begun to debate whether I want to be in the tech industry anymore, 17 years now.
what about the separator between tabs ( and other UI elements) Rightnowthinsaredifficulttoreadinfirefox.
I’m hoping you are more responsive than the “Firefox Non-Help” volunteer team. I wasted many hours with them. They do not understand that I am not very computer-savvy and really am not comfortable messing with the about:etc stuff.
The problem seems to be that the new UI is aimed at smart-phone users. I do not have one and likely never will. I cannot use a touchscreen. I have a PC.
The old v88 UI showed my bookmarks all on one screen. V89 with its extra “padding” takes THREE screens to show the same info. (It no longer matters, since I lost all of them.) Someone mentioned having carpal tunnel syndrome. I am tired of scrolling!
I suggest Mozilla (which cannot be contacted) instead make two versions of the UI: one for phone/tablet users, with all the padding they want, and a separate UI for those of us using PC who don’t want wasted real estate on our screens.
^^ I agree with your opinion but I’m afraid that’s going to happen in near future. Since smartphone users are increasing day by day, companies are trying to make their product suitable for both screen sizes.
I agree that it’s very annoying. In the meantime, you can use following tutorial to restore classic UI:
https://www.askvg.com/tip-restore-old-classic-theme-and-ui-in-firefox-89-and-later-versions/
@Ben, if you see this, try Waterfox Classic. I’ve been using it for some time in order to keep older add-ons, plus the UI is what we grew up with—normal.
To the author, you mention fixing the floating tabs can be easily done, but you don’t provide any link or more info on how to do this. And for the record, it is not ‘just UI’ as if UI is minor. “UI” stands for User Interface, and changing from a 20 year old metaphor of Tabs to ‘buttons’ that are supposed to be draggable, (who drags buttons?) is a serious Interface Design error, egregious even. It completely disconnects the ‘tab’ from the active content and contrast alone will not fix this. Tabs *are not* buttons, ever. They might have some minor shared functionality, but they are not the same thing and one cannot be substituted for the other.
If Mozilla would hire the Nielsen Norman Group to critique their Proton UI, they’d fail miserably.
^^ The article link is mentioned in the beginning of the article:
https://www.askvg.com/tip-new-working-method-to-restore-classic-theme-and-ui-in-firefox-91-and-later-versions/
My major frustration is that tab bar is too high and takes too much vertical space on my 15″ laptop since I don’t use FF elsewhere. Why do they care about tablets only?
Firefox makes their tabs worse with every update–if we weren’t living it, I wouldn’t believe it is even possible, but they do!
I do think you put your finger on the biggest flaw in the usability of the v. 91 tabs: no effective title bar contrast or accent
Microsoft remains ahead of Mozilla on this point —by NOT changing things that work well
The latest changes to UI are infuriating and create a huge hit in productivity. I cannot see which of my tabs is selected. Going to the settings menu, many of the icons are gone, so you can’t quickly see at a glance and have to read through all the words to find the item you are looking for. The design is so blank it’s as if the design has gone back to an early beta of a homemade project. For example, you could previously see the cog icon instantly before and know where “settings” was.
The UI designers really have no idea how much of a negative impact it has on people that don’t have 20/20 vision (and even those that do but don’t have their nose pressed up to the screen). The icons on the task bar have been getting smaller and less distinct too. I’ve used Firefox for over a decade and while some changes have been mildly annoying there have been few that have actually had a huge negative impact on productivity and usability. This has taken time out of my work day, which of the UI designers should I send the bill to? For the people that say move to another browser, no thanks that is not a sensible suggestion.
It is ridiculous that Firefox prevents reverting to an earlier version so that you have to “buy in” to the new settings. Things are really going down the pan. People often use the letters FF to refer to Firefox but for me now FFS is a more appropriate acronym.
@Ben I agree with you 100%! “I’ve put hours of my life into fixing each update to get it to behave”
I have spent countless hours in the past tweaking my CSS to make Firefox look/behave exactly as I wanted and now it’s all out the window. After trying the fixes on this site I realized that they don’t work well with the code I had and had to choose between the fixes here or the fixes I’ve done for FF 89 and previous versions and I finally chose my own and downgraded back to FF 90. Being able to make style changes was the reason I am a decades-long FF user but if they want the browser to look like Chrome I might as well make the switch.
I am trying hard to get some kind of reasonable answer to my problem. It may be related to the updated software. Twice I have started up Firefox (two separate days) and it has decided I was a new user and asked me if I want to download bookmarks, etc. from my old browser. I have been able to fix the problem both times but it was very time-consuming and I don’t have that time to waste. I have been a Firefox for years and never had this problem before. I am using a PC with windows O/S.
Thanks for the article. It would be nice if it included a graphical example of “floating tabs” alongside “connected tabs.” But I must say that Mozilla takes the lead with Change-For-No-Reason, Breaking-User-Familiarity, Software Arrogance, Playing-With-Version-Numbers, Political-Bias, Inventing Useless ‘Features’, Refusing To Fix Long Standing Issues, LIMITED NATIVE UI Customization (it is non-granular), Dumbing-Down the Product, Offending the Most-Educated Users, Removing Important Configuration Flags, I could go on. You will never see a level/fair survey from Mozilla asking users “How Do You Like Our Interface Changes.” That sums it up right there. Arrogant software outfits like Mozilla should be criticized as much as possible. What “version” is Firefox THIS week … 100? LOL.
AVOID FIREFOX
AVOID SOFTWARE ARROGANCE