Bring Back Rectangular Tabs

[Basic204]

Please give us a permanent option to disable the rounded tabs in Firefox 157.

The new Nova tab design is visually distracting, wastes space, and is simply worse for users who prefer the clean, rectangular tabs Firefox had before. I should not have to dig into about:config or maintain a custom userChrome.css just to get a basic interface choice back.

If Mozilla wants rounded tabs as the default, fine. Give users a setting to turn them off permanently.

Firefox has always been about giving users control. Please apply that principle to the UI too.

Please note UI changes just stop with that Firefox looked fine. Focus on just making the brower faster. 

Also stop with the **bleep** rounded everything. I really hate it or at least give me an option to shut it off and not deal with your oh this UI looks cool stuff. 

[ciaran]

I agree, I find the rounded tabs too finicky. A lot of the design changes in this update are very strange. I've always liked that firefox didn't look exactly like chrome, edge, and all the other hyper-modern garbage browsers.

[dftf]

Make sure to follow the steps AstrobotNautics has posted here to undo the rounded tabs

[Achi]

I’ve been a Firefox user since the very first version; if the rectangular tabs don’t come back, I don’t plan to keep using it.
It is one of the most horrible things I’ve ever seen in interface design.

[dftf]

Look at the reply from AstrobotNautics on this post and follow their steps

[JIGSAW]

+1 Im not a fan of this "Nova" redesign 👎

[dftf]

Follow the steps AstrobotNautics posted above to undo it

[JIGSAW]

I've done that before even posting here. The reason I actually posted was for the Dev to see we're not happy and they must make a toggle switch, because there's already rumours that the about:config entry will be removed .... then it's back to userchrome options again 😠

[dftf]

" ... then it's back to userchrome options again 😠"

---

Mozilla: "Hmm, we must end support for userChrome.css in future too..." 🤔

You: 😡😡😠😠😡😡😭😭

[CQA]

They're somehow simultaneously making the interface too cluttered, while wasting lots of space. The text in the tabs feels like it barely fits now because the oval-shaped tabs squeeze it at the edges. This is just bad design. There is nothing wrong with rectangles, they're the most space-efficient. Why not let the users choose how rounded their tabs are?

What's next? Making the tabs into circles? Making them concave? Where does this end?

[dftf]

The next one will be a flat bar with literal flags:

🇺🇸 Google search   X   🏁 Formula 1   X   🎌 Learn Japanese with ...   X   🏴‍☠️ Best FREE movies ...    X

🤣

[jus_dave]

Yeah, whilst I make my account to complain about the curved tabs, the other stupid move is "Split Tabs", what exactly is their use because it is just junk!

[AstrobotNautics · Accepted solution]

I literally created an account on this forum, which I have not done in the 15 or so years I've had Firefox, to say this exact thing. 

I just found this post in the release forum, and it reverts back to the old tab look:

In the address bar, type about:config , then press ENTER
Accept any warning
Search for nova
Double-click on "browser.nova.enabled" to change it to "false"

[gogogodzilla]

Thank you! The oval tabs were incredibly distracting.

[jus_dave]

Snap, me too. But I don't think anyone will listen.

[nevernow]

Thanks. But also is tab edge shapes all Nova is about? I am a Firefox daily-driver user since it was called Firebird, but at this point, sadly, I'm thinking it needs to die. $700 million a year for this.

[Tykero]

Waterfox has this as a simple and accessible settings option. Why is this too hard for Mozilla? 

Seeing them side-by-side really solidifies how awful the Nova style UI is compared to Photon. 

[jus_dave]

I’ve reached the point where I’m taking direct action against unwanted UI changes on my own computer. I’m designing software that can expose a desktop GUI as an API, so users can control and customise the interfaces they actually want.
I’m tired of companies repeatedly changing established interfaces with little or no meaningful way to opt out. UI changes are not harmless cosmetic tweaks for everyone. What consideration is being given to users who rely on assistive technologies, custom workflows, muscle memory, or accessibility adaptations built around an existing interface?

[AstrobotNautics]

Floorp has Nova disabled by default
Waterfox has a check box in settings to change to older UI tab interfaces. 
Hopefully the original UI tab versions won't be removed in subsequent updates.

[roodypoo]

The new UI is actual cancer.