topic Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page in Discussions

Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

FrancisLS — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 21:19:27 GMT

After updating to Firefox 136.0 I saw a new UI for the Home Page where the shortcut icons are now too small, more spaced out, and with the recommended Pocket stories now peeking out of the bottom of the page with no way to hide it beside just turning off Pocket entirely from the Home Page settings. This new UI, respectfully, is awful to look at (see image inserted below). It looks more like a Bing homepage with how cluttered the screen looks like and how the recommended stories are now obnoxiously "in-your-face".

I had to go to about:config and set browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.newtabLayouts.variant-b to false. From what I see, the new tab layout variants A and B look pretty much the same, and I don't like them. I prefer to have the old UI before 136.0 where it has bigger shortcut icons, the recommended Pocket stories are hidden below the shortcuts and you have to scroll down to see them, and the Firefox logo is above the search bar (see image attached, not below). The old UI has a better use of space, is less cluttered, and looks better overall. And if the team really wants to have the new variants A or B, then at least let us have the option to choose in the Settings the layouts we want, whether it's the old UI or the new ones you are pushing.

New UI at version 136.0

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

FrancisLS — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 21:21:08 GMT

The image for the Old UI didn't attach to my original post. Here it is.Old UI before version 136.0

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

sir_KitKat — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 12:03:03 GMT

They did some A/B testing and I found on reddit a lot of people that disabled the testing as a result of this. I dislike the new layout, it feels so empty.

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

Agentvirtuel — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 13:43:59 GMT

Hello

Other feedback, take a look at
https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/home-page-icon-rows-too-spread-from-each-other/m-p/89059/highlight/true#M34402
https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/firefox-134-new-tab/m-p/89163/highlight/true#M34456
https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/the-firefox-logo-on-new-tabs-is-back-dammit-on-release-136-0-and/m-p/89173

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

FrancisLS — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 20:20:37 GMT

Got it. Didn't know there was other similar feedback posts to mine because I only searched "home page" instead of "new tab" in the discussions. Accepting this as solution so it's easier for others to see the same feedbacks.

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

FrancisLS — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 06:55:45 GMT

I was in the B testing. I have my Pocket recommended stories turned on so for me everything is so cluttered and messy, but I guess if you turn off Pocket then yeah... the new tab would feel empty because everything is so small and spaced out. Exactly why I prefer the old UI.

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

welly0606 — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 22:27:59 GMT

I really don't need that oversized Firefox icon at the top!!!!

It makes my other shortcuts super small.

This update sucks. It really scares me.

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

Agentvirtuel — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 07:14:23 GMT

Hello

Try

1 - Go to Configuration Editor for Firefox https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/about-config-editor-firefox
2 - Enter a search term browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.newtabLayouts.variant
Check, browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.newtabLayouts.variant-b
To change a boolean (true-false) preference's value, double-click on the preference.

Then

If you wish to test https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/giant-logo/m-p/89729#M34734 userContent.css file
Or
Maybe? try this https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1316284
browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.logowordmark.AlwaysVisible

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

FrancisLS — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 06:54:07 GMT

I think the new comment by Agentvirtuel below was meant for you, not me. I personally don't mind the Firefox logo, but they gave some instructions to remove the logo using CSS at the end if you need it.

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

STUART69 — Wed, 28 May 2025 19:48:01 GMT

How can I remove the PIN grahics? They're useless and are clutter~

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

Agentvirtuel — Thu, 29 May 2025 04:59:54 GMT

Hello

https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/1kxhc24/how_do_i_fix_the_shortcuts_on_the_new_tab_page

Try
1 - Go to Configuration Editor for Firefox https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/about-config-editor-firefox
2 - Enter a search term browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.newtabShortcuts.refresh and set the false value

Other to try
An code userContent.css file

@-moz-document url("about:home"), url("about:newtab") {.icon.icon-pin-small{display:none!important;}

Support https://www.userchrome.org/how-create-userchrome-css.html similar

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

FrancisLS — Thu, 29 May 2025 05:08:23 GMT

Thanks. Had to search this up earlier and found the same solution. Pinning this.

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

not-foxy — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 23:05:02 GMT

this just stopped working on 141.0b1

any new suggestions?

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

Agentvirtuel — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 06:36:04 GMT

Hello

About, browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.newtabLayouts.variant, preferences no longer exist, on Firefox beta 141.0b1 and Firefox nightly 142.0a1

Home Page where the shortcut icons are now too small, more spaced out.

Maybe perform tests with userContent.css, a test carried out above.

Take a look at https://www.camp-firefox.de/forum/thema/139018-änderungen-der-kachelansicht-bei-startseite-und-neuem-tab

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

Agentvirtuel — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 15:11:05 GMT

Hello

An feedback https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1524318

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

pakair — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 18:31:53 GMT

move your pointer to the f, you will see ... to the right, select unpin.

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

MagdaE — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 11:44:07 GMT

Firefox 141.0 New Tab Layout - After the latest update, the Firefox logo is back on the new tab page and the shortcut icons are way too small. How do I remove the Firefox logo and make the shortcut icons bigger. I want the old new tab layout back. I have tried all of these and nothing seems to work.

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

Agentvirtuel — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 13:24:51 GMT

Hello

https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/feedback-for-the-new-tab-layout-variants-in-the-home-page/m-p/99354/highlight/true#M38653
Maybe, perform tests with userContent.css

@-moz-document url(about:newtab), url(about:home) { .logo-and-wordmark-wrapper { display: none !important; } li.top-site-outer { margin-top: -10px !important; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; } .top-site-outer .tile .icon-wrapper { min-width: 100% !important; min-height: 100% !important; } .top-site-outer .title.pinned span { padding: 0 0px !important; } }

Copy/paste the code into notepad
Save
Type: All files
userContent.css

Create a chrome folder
Move userContent.css to your chrome folder

Go to your profile folder https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data#w_how-do-i-find-my-profile

Move your chrome folder to your profile folder

Go to Configuration Editor https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/about-config-editor-firefox
Enter a search term toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets
Double-click on the preference, to set its value to true

And restart Firefox

An feedback https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1524318#answer-1750754
Screenshot3, an experiment, with the help of userContent.css

Other illustration

Without userContent.css

With userContent.css

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

MagdaE — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 14:59:17 GMT

Thank you so much! This worked!

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

dglowny — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 12:04:31 GMT

Fundamentally, it seems like this problem arose from the "Variant A/B" study, and a misunderstanding between developers and the user community about what was being changed.

From a developer perspective, they thought they were evaluating between 2 choices (A and B) and ultimately they felt that B was the winner so that made that the new default. See https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1937177

But from a user perspective, there were actually 3 choices during the evaluation period (Original behavior, plus new options A and B). There are a significant number of users who liked neither A nor B, and wanted to retain the original behavior with its larger icons. These people have unfortunately been ignored.

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

Agentvirtuel — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 06:21:35 GMT

Hello

Customize items on your Firefox New Tab page
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/customize-items-on-firefox-new-tab-page

Weather
Other subject https://www.camp-firefox.de/forum/thema/138920-firefox-135-kacheln-zu-klein-und-wetter-auf-der-rechten-seite-ändern/?postID=1275809#post1275809

By way of illustration below

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

crws — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 19:50:33 GMT

This pisses me off to no end.
I saw a C variant in about:config while trying to find the solution to this latest phuck of jamming more content onto the NewTab page.
Whether on purpose or not, these UI changes are NEVER mentioned in the notes.
I'm about done with FF as my core browser.
Reverted back to 140.04.
**Edit** To ESR with updates blocked for the time being.
"SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\DisableAppUpdate"
Have to use the --Allow-Downgrade switch. Asshoels.

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

Agentvirtuel — Sat, 26 Jul 2025 04:13:57 GMT

Hello

dglowny

I suppose you have seen https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1937177 in the page the Complete list of changes at the bottom of https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/141.0/releasenotes

Complete list of changes
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/buglist.cgi?j_top=OR&f1=target_milestone&o3=equals&v3=Firefox%20141&o1=equals&resolution=FIXED&o2=anyexact&query_format=advanced&f3=target_milestone&f2=cf_status_firefox141&bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=VERIFIED&bug_status=CLOSED&v1=mozilla141&v2=fixed%2Cverified&limit=0
Comp -> New Tab Page

Other subject
https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/using-older-versions/m-p/52738

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

Agentvirtuel — Sat, 26 Jul 2025 05:24:36 GMT

Hello

https://www.camp-firefox.de/forum/thema/138920-firefox-135-kacheln-zu-klein-und-wetter-auf-der-rechten-seite-ändern/?postID=1275940#post1275940

I tested an experiment

@-moz-document url(about:newtab), url(about:home) { .logo-and-wordmark-wrapper { display: none !important; } .top-site-outer .default-icon { scale: 2.0 !important; } .top-site-outer .tile .icon-wrapper { min-width: 120% !important; min-height: 120% !important; } }

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

David_H23 — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 19:08:32 GMT

Sadly, none of the solutions here are working for me. As Agentvirtuel said, the New Tab "variant" settings in about:config no longer exist. browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.newtabShortcuts.refresh doesn't do anything. I had it set to the old layout before, but when I updated Firefox to 143.0.1 from 142.0.1 today, the New Tab page suddenly changed to the ugly new UI. How do I change it back?

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

crws — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 14:24:41 GMT

I did this on all our Windows pc's. Good so far, not looking back.

Download ESR-
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/140.3.0esr/

Go to \*user\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox

copy and paste in the same folder, profiles.ini, and installs.ini

open profiles.ini and installs.ini for editing.

In profiles.ini, make note of which installation and startup profile is default.

i.e:

[Install308046B0AF4A39CB]
Default=Profiles/05.2025-current
Locked=1

check installs.ini for the same information.

Open both of the copied .ini files for editing and leave them open.

Make a copy of your primary profile located at \*user\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

Install ESR and allow upgrade.

When you open it, it will most likely say you need a new profile or startup a blank one.

close ESR.

open profiles.ini and installs.ini for editing and compare the newly written files with the copies you have open.

Edit the primary files to reflect the default profile and path you want with the newly listed install, and save the .ini.

You only want one default profile in profiles.ini, linked to your current install, as below.
the [BackgroundTasksProfiles] can be left blank, it will self populate.

Open FF

Check / update your primary profile in about:profiles

-----------------

installs.ini:
[308046B0AF4A39CB]
Default=Profiles/05.2025-current
Locked=1

-----------------------

profiles.ini:
[Install308046B0AF4A39CB]

Default=Profiles/05.2025-current
Locked=1

[Profile1]
Name=NewTabUn**bleep**ed
IsRelative=1
Path=Profiles/vss5ukad.NewTabUn**bleep**ed

[Profile0]
Name=Andromeda
IsRelative=1
Path=Profiles/05.2025-current

[Install3B61B309FB3EAB3F]
Default=Profiles/05.2025-current
Locked=1

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1
Version=2

[BackgroundTasksProfiles]

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

Agentvirtuel — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 14:25:31 GMT

Hello

About the compatibility.ini file.
https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/the-firefox-logo-on-new-tabs-is-back-dammit-on-release-136-0-and/m-p/101808/highlight/true#M39535

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

David_H23 — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 21:44:56 GMT

What exactly does this do? Does it downgrade my Firefox version to 140.3.0 and prevent Firefox from auto-updating? If it does, I'd rather stay on the latest version while circumventing the garbage New Tab page UI change.

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

crws — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 21:57:30 GMT

ESR is Extended Release. Vastly fewer fluff updates if any. It's designed for institutions and environments that depend on a consistent web interface to manage equipment or run server side scripting without bugs.

For the most part ESR primarily gets security patches. UI changes few and far between.

I linked the latest version, the UI looks like the good old days, before they ducked around with the UI.

Re: Feedback for the new tab layout variants in the Home Page

Agentvirtuel — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 04:14:45 GMT

Hello

Info ESR.
https://www.camp-firefox.de/artikel/1060-alles-wissenswerte-zu-firefox-esr-140-inklusive-unterschiede-zu-firefox-140
https://www.firefox.com/en-US/firefox/140.0esr/releasenotes

Firefox release notes.
https://www.firefox.com/en-US/releases
Mozilla Foundation Security Advisories.
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories

Firefox Release Calendar.
https://whattrainisitnow.com/calendar
https://whattrainisitnow.com/release/?version=esr - https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/windows-7-support-with-firefox-esr-115-x/m-p/83039