Scroll bar width and customization options

[goodiesgetthe]

Please, please, please give an option to set the width of the scroll bar in Firefox. It's so narrow that about 50% of the time when I try to drag it down, I end up dragging down the whole window. I'm sure it's nice for those who have their smartphone welded to their palm, but some of us still use PCs occasionally, and it's so annoying I usually just use the Page Down key, making the scroll bar pointless. I can't imagine anyone with less than great vision even trying to use Firefox because of this.

[JohnEllis]

agreed. Scroll bar width  should be customizable. A few years ago ( my memory fails me) this was not an issue . I consider this to have  been a questionable administrative decision without an option of customization and without programmer skill rewrites. Users need developer understanding not dismissal. We recognize issues of screen real estate (but with incorporated hiding) this seems of little consequence. Please make this a reasonable consession to usability!

[MKB]

The vertical scroll bar for Bookmarks is also ridiculously narrow and I can't seem to find a way to narrow it. Please Firefox provide users with a solution.

[TaylorM]

The original post is dated May 03, 2022. That's a long time ago in this computer age. Fixing the error must be much more difficult than those of us who took the time to comment understand. Is there a reply/update as to what the reason for the non-action? The problem is so irritating that I'm seriously considering switching to Microsoft Edge.

[user78335]

Hi, if you scroll back a few pages you can see how to customize it make it wider.

[Pren]

In the post from SqueakyEnv there is an advise for WIndows 11 users:

"In another discussion in this area, I learned that I can get scrollbars back by going to "Visual Effects" in the Accessibility menu in Windows 11 settings, then selecting "Always show scrollbars." That worked!
It worked in my environment (Win 11) to."

[goodiesgetthe]

Success! Changing widget.non-native-theme.scrollbar.style to 4 makes it noticeably wider, enough so I can click in it, and it even seems that if the cursor slips off it when I drag it up and down it stays active - in other words, the cursor focus doesn't automatically change to whatever window is underneath Firefox. I might try other values a bit because I wouldn't mind it being even a bit wider, but this is a huge improvement!

[cpzilliacus]

I have a fairly new Windows computer (came with Windows 11).

This is a very annoying issue that does not seem to happen with my older Windows 10 computer.  The vertical scroll bars are nearly unusable.

Has there been an update to fix this? The previous comment in the threat is from June 2022.

[Pren]

@cpzilliacus: Please read my post from 03-27-2023 12:07 PM. This makes Firefox act as i used to do with visible scrollbars.

[jetme777]

Scrollbar way too narrow. Pyramid at top and bottom way too small.

The Scrollbar is way too narrow. The Pyramid at top and bottom way too small. Really difficult on some websites to navigate on the page. Please make these larger. Have a setting where you can choose the size of these items.

[Jon]

(Note: similar ideas have been merged into this thread)

[LN899]

See:

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-change-scrollbar-width-in-chrome-and-firefox

[kingdominsights]

No brothers and sisters no one prefers slim bars unless they are using a touch enabled device. I have been in purgatory here trying to do my work. So I found the issue. In Windows go to settings. Then Search "Scroll". Under "Accessibility", under "Visual Effects", under "Always show scroll bars" turn that on. This will stop your scroll bar disappearing so that you have to fiddle all over to find it. "Transparency effects" turn that off. "Animation effects" turn that off. This made a huge difference. Scroll bar is now 3 or 4 times the size it was. Presto, now you have a normal scroll bar again. Dear Mozilla designers, I feel you bro. But never again. Just tell that manager the people say no to discrete sexy scroll bars and yest to recognizable grey rectangles that are available and dependable and accessible. Yeah team!

[Anonymous]

Just looking for the scrawl bar fix - customization, not finding any. Here is my take on this omission.

I am on Linux Mint Viktoria. It seems that this crapy narrow scrawl bar is everywhere, not just Firefox.

It does hamper the usability of the browser. Also, all these wash out colours  - besides being narrow noodle, it is almost invisible light grey colour.

It makes no sense to design it without any user option to change the width, and colour, sure everyone's screen is bigger than a postal stamp.

For all practical purpose it could be half the screen wide because it only moves the page - as soon as the mouse is off it, it gets hidden.

This fix has to be made a necessary priority.

Thanks in advance.

[user78335]

Did you try the different fixes previously posted to override the OS?

[equalaxs]

It is interesting to note, that members of the Black community are notably more likely to suffer with impaired visual abilities - especially glaucoma, cataracts and diabetic retinopathy.

I am not suggesting that this is a deliberate inconvenience - but it most certainly disadvantages the Black Community far more than the White community.

It may be that Mozilla are not too concerned about such matters, but it does seem overly foolish to make it much harder for any isolated group to have equal use of equipment.

Still, I am sure someone out there loves the power trip of ignoring the windows / linux setings and forcing a narrow scrollbar that it seems is almost universally unpopular on this thread. I have not see a single person supporting the idea that choice should be removed and everyone forced to endure the whim (or worse) of the coding team.