Firefox 134 New Tab

[oneissueaccount]

Firefox updated to version 134 last night and the New Tab page was changed. The shortcut icons are too small and hard to navigate now. Can I revert to the old New Tab page, or do I need to reinstall version 133?

[Agentvirtuel · Accepted solution]

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

You will find
browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.newtabLayouts.variant-a
browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.newtabLayouts.variant-b

Try value false

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1911653

[dglowny]

How do you make the change "stick", because even after editing the settings (which fixed it for a little while) eventually the icons went back again to being too small ... and the flag was back to true again!

[dglowny]

It seems like the flag gets flipped back to true on every relaunch of Firefox, probably as part of the "progressive rollout" logic, which undermines this attempted workaround method.

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

Perhaps you are under Studies
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/shield
Type about:studies into your address bar to see a list of your studies.

For informational purpose to try 

user_pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.newtabLayouts.variant-a", false);
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.newtabLayouts.variant-b", false);

Copy/paste the code into Notepad
Save
Type: All files
user.js

Go to your profile folder https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data

Move user.js to your profile folder

Restart Firefox

Other information to try
Firefox policies https://mozilla.github.io/policy-templates
Preferences https://mozilla.github.io/policy-templates/#preferences

The Enterprise Policy Generator https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/enterprise-policy-generator helps to create the configuration file

---

Specify user-defined preferences (about:config)

---

{
  "policies": {
    "Preferences": {
      "browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.newtabLayouts.variant-a": {
        "Status": "locked",
        "Type": "boolean",
        "Value": false
      },
      "browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.newtabLayouts.variant-b": {
        "Status": "locked",
        "Type": "boolean",
        "Value": false
      }
    }
  }
}

Copy/paste the code into Notepad
Save
Type: All files
policies.json

Then
Create the distribution folder
Move policies.json to the distribution folder
Move the distribution folder to the folder where Firefox is installed

Use the Troubleshooting Information page to help fix Firefox issues https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/use-troubleshooting-information-page-fix-firefox

---

Application Binary: Shows where Firefox is installed.

---

Restart Firefox

Information page
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/use-troubleshooting-information-page-fix-firefox

---

Enterprise Policies: This shows you if your browser is being managed by Windows Group Policy or a policies.json file. If enterprise policies are managing Firefox, clicking on Active will show you a list of the policies that are currently active on Firefox.

[dglowny]

Thanks, that was great info!

When I went into "about:studies", I found "Default UI Experiment - Logo in corner Rollout"  and clicked Remove.

Then I quit and re-launced Firefox, and everything was back to using the old-style bigger shortcut icons, just like it used to be before FF 134.

[Trolli]

thank you so much!! ❤️

[Gunther_Hermann]

Thank you, the user.js file worked perfect! Shame the solution is so cumbersome for end users and not something that can just be opted into via settings.

[hectorsalamanca]

thank you so much, it worked perfectly!!

[ulture]

Does not work. Reverts on restarting Firefox.

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

? https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/home-page-icon-rows-too-spread-from-each-other/m-p/85668/...

[12HD]

putting "browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.newtabLayouts.variant-b" into false worked for me, many thanks!

[The_Wardaddy]

Thanks. This new change is not at all welcomed.

[oneissueaccount]

Thank you so much Agentvirtuel! Your solution worked perfectly!

[Mike88]

What about the THOUSANDS of FireFox users who are not technically capable of making these changes?  Do the developers think about the users AT ALL?

[CharlieAdams]

Thank you all. The user.js file addition works. Yes, this must be formalized so that the normies can get this done.

[CharlieAdams]

Yes, I created a login just so I could post this appreciation. Firefox has been fine up until now. 23 years of usage without a single complaint. That has to be some kind of record.

[KyleF]

Easy Solution: go to Firefox Settings, Privacy and Security, scroll to Firefox Data Collection and Use, UNCHECK "allow Firefox to install and run studies"

[Prentice3]

Perfect!  This works.  I had a similar problem posted under Ideas > Hide Firefox Logo on New Tabs.  I posted your solution including a screenshot of your "Easy Solution" and announced that yours was the correct solution.  Thank you, KyleF.

[Sonotacoder]

---

@KyleF wrote:

Easy Solution: go to Firefox Settings, Privacy and Security, scroll to Firefox Data Collection and Use, UNCHECK "allow Firefox to install and run studies"

---

Thank you so much for this as stated easy solution ~ so very much appreciated.

[Mariel]

Thank you for the solution to a problem we didn't have before.
Please Mozilla, if this is just a study you already noticed some disapproval, don't set it by default without a simple option to disable it!

[Ako17]

Why were the shortcut icons made so much smaller in the first place? It doesn't help the look, now the shortcuts list doesn't align with the stories, and it's a bit harder to use. Please revert the shortcuts back to large icons while keeping 4 rows of stories.

[VEG]

Mozilla, please don't break perfectly fine new tab page. The site icons could be made bigger, but definitely not smaller! And please don't show the news by default. People already struggle with keeping their attention on what they are doing, and you try to distract them even more with some useless garbage.

[Carighan]

Okay so while I don't think the new layout is egregiously bad, I am mostly... baffled.

Like, why? It doesn't provide any improvement. Not a single one. Icons are smaller, and that's the opposite of what they needed most would say, the web icons being so tiny inside that giant bezel was already kinda-broken-css-looking before. Now it's even worse.
The vertical spacing is now also different from the horizontal one in a very noticable way, which makes it look even more like "oops, our css didn't parse".
The horizontal width of the shortcuts no longer aligns with the bookmarks/stories, which again looks like a formatting error.

On top of that (literally) the logo is back and no longer seem to be able to be disabled, which also has no benefit to the user.

It's not that it's truly bad, but I'd love to see the explanation of what the intend was, since clearly it eludes me. To me this is a pure (if small) downgrade in UI and UX, with no discernable positive element.

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

---

@Carighan wrote:

On top of that (literally) the logo is back and no longer seem to be able to be disabled, which also has no benefit to the user.

---

? https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/bring-back-the-ability-to-remove-the-firefox-logo-from-th...

[mustaqim]

The default look is perfect with good spacing and icon size. None of the variants look good; either the icons are too small, or the vertical spacing looks out of place. I really don't like it, and it keeps reverting due to having studies enabled. Please keep the default look.

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

Take a look at https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/home-page-icon-rows-too-spread-from-each-other/m-p/85664/... if it hasn't already been seen

[_wojtek]

Why this discussion is marked as "solved"?

It's not solved! It's just a workaround to the problem that Mozilla pushed down the users... there is no feedback option to the test scenario. There is no way of saying "I don't like this, take me to previous version" that would help gauge the interest in the change!

[Ako17]

Agreed, this is NOT SOLVED.

All we have is a flimsy workaround that reverts itself without further tampering. This isn't good. This wasn't asked for. What gives?

[KyleF]

Once again, an easy solution that does not revert back to the small tabs:

Go to Firefox Settings, Privacy and Security, scroll to Firefox Data Collection and Use, UNCHECK "allow Firefox to install and run studies"

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

---

In this case, it's hard to know who does what?

Let me ask you a question, have you first tried (to see if) to delete the study concerned?
about:studies, you can see your Completed studies

Try again (to see if) Allow Firefox to install and run studies

[KyleF]

Once again, an Easy Solution that won't revert back to small tabs: go to your Firefox Settings, Privacy and Security, scroll to Firefox Data Collection and Use, UNCHECK "allow Firefox to install and run studies".

[Agentvirtuel]

You do not answer the question asked, our discussion it goes around in circles, it's regrettable.

Best regards

[Prentice3]

KyleF provided a solution that is simple and works.  He re-posted just a few minutes before your most recent post.

[Ako17]

I'd argue this is a workaround to an unnecessary problem, rather than a true solution. Either way, thanks.

[Mariel]

I do not recommend KyleF solution because it affects all studies.
As pointed out by Agentvirtuel, next to "Allow Firefox to install and run studies" there is a link called "View Firefox studies" that takes you to about:studies. There you can remove only the study related to the small shortcuts, which is called "New Tab Layout Variant B and Content Card UI Release Rollout - Global".
Once you do this, the problem will not return and you will continue with the other studies.

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

about:studies about:telemetry

Have you examined? New Tab Layout Variant B and Content Card UI Release Rollout - Global

https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/home-page-icon-rows-too-spread-from-each-other/td-p/85647

[Mariel]

This answer was enlightening, the real objective solution, avoiding the user having to go with dragons or abandon all studies. I hope that removing the specific study serves as feedback.
In any case, in the discussion presented we have a Mozilla employee saying that we will see improvements in this way.
Thank you.

https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/forums/forumtopicprintpage/board-id/discussions/message-id/32955/prin...

[BryanM]

Thank you all for your feedback! I work on Firefox and wanted to let you know that updates to our shortcuts design are already underway. Within the next few releases you will see improvements to the icon size, as well as the spacing between icons.

We appreciate your feedback so that we can continue improving the Firefox experience!