Dynamic tab size on tabs with audio: Give a setting or about:config option to disable this

[jeffg01]

v136 introduced dynamically-expanding tab sizes on tabs with audio. This can be laggy though, as a page loads and the video/audio starts playing, causing misclicks. The tabs will also then shrink back down eventually once the audio's been idle for awhile, which can be visually distracting.

There's some kind of thing that can be done with userchrome.css, but this is a workaround that's not viable for most users.

Relevant threads and feedback:

https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/the-new-tab-mute-button/m-p/89474

https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/tab-volume-indicator-expanding-tab-space/m-p/90299 

https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/1j8mdgq/how_can_i_stop_tabs_from_expanding_when/ 

[Jon]

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[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

According to https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1945993 will be fixed in Firefox 137
Firefox Release Calendar https://whattrainisitnow.com/calendar

[jeffg01]

@AgentvirtuelBy my reading of it, Bug ID 1945993 is something different. That issue looks like it concerns the tabs getting smaller than the specified minimum width. What I'm referring to is the fact that tabs will grow larger when audio starts playing in a tab. This was introduced in v136. Prior to v136, the mute icon appeared over the favicon, and the tab width remained the same size.

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

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@jeffg01 wrote:
Prior to v136, the mute icon appeared over the favicon

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Like this by way of illustration
On the left Firefox 136 - Firefox 128 on the right
https://www.youtube.com/embed/vGX8LLf2ul4

[doughmean]

Yeah, this is driving me nuts. My tabs keeps on shifting left and right, especially when there are multiple tabs getting notifications. There *has* to be a configuration option for this. This also feels like an accessibility nightmare, though I can't personally confirm.

[chipperpip]

Is there still no way to fix this permanently?  I use a lot of tabs, the way this feature makes them jump around in size creates a lot of misclicks.  It just needs an about:config option, like "browser.tabs.TabExpansionForAudio" or something.

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

To complement, this discussion, https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/a-way-to-disable-tabs-expanding-when-a-video-is-being-pla..., about, browser.tabs.tabMinWidth.

[kodirovsshik]

iirc there's a workaround of setting min and max tab width to the same value in about:config, or something like this, search online for more info

[Ulude]

I definitely don't want tabs to change size by themselves no matter what.

[Goldstar]

Man, WHY do you "fix" things that are not broken? A tab should NOT change it's width, size, whatever dynamically, no matter the scenario!!!!! At the very least- give us an "about:config" setting to turn this stupid behavior off, please! The core firefox audience are not some casual people who open 2-3 tabs max simultaneously, where tabs changing their size dynamically doesnt matter. FF is not a browser for casual people and probably never will be, because they will never switch from chrome or edge. Having written that- how about you guys at mozilla actually cater to you core userbase with new changes, rather than some giga casual grandmas who use internet twice a week for like 20 minutes in total?