How to use the classic search bar?

[Grand Dizzy]

I hate the crazy new search bar introduced in 2015 (my full list of reasons why are here: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... &t=2979461).

For the past two years I've been using Classic Theme Restorer to get the search bar working normally, but now Classic Theme Restorer is no longer supported. So how are we supposed to search? I do a lot of searching and use the search bar a lot and the new one is un-useable. I mean it doesn't even show you what the current engine is - you're expected to remember the last engine you used!?

I find it pretty mind-boggling how anyone could see it as an improvement. Mozilla claimed it was faster - on the contrary, it takes just as many clicks, and the engines are no longer labeled so it takes far longer to find the engine you want.

Please can someone help? I can't use a browser that searches in such a crazy, backwards way. If there's no solution for this then can anyone recommend a good alternative to FF? I've been using Firefox for about 15 years and I've always liked it. I don't want to have to use a different browser, but I'm going to have to look elsewhere if I can't just have a normal search bar.

I chose Firefox because it was highly customisable but I feel like over the years the level of customisability is just getting less and less, and the interface seems to get uglier and uglier with every release. The new black tabs make me wonder what the developers are smoking. Black tabs? Maybe if you're some kind of Hell's Angel or vampire. It's so unwholesome and sinister.

Sorry to rant but I just don't understand why the developers are always changing Firefox! The app worked fine 10 years ago. It doesn't need all these weird "upgrades" all the time. The developers should have a rule: Unless a new style or feature is unquestionably beneficial to all users, then it should be optional not mandatory.

[Grand Dizzy]

For the record, I've tried to express why the new search bar is so wrong in four simple points.

1. The new search bar was supposed to make searching faster. What a lie! It takes just as many clicks as the old bar, except it's now much SLOWER because you have to select the search engine EVERY SINGLE TIME you search!

2. Another thing slowing it down is the lack of text labels on the icons: You're now forced to look through a bunch of icons to find the engine you want! This is crazy! Can you imagine if they printed phone books with no names, only pages full of 'icons' of the different services!? Would that "speed things up"? Never!

3. Most people regularly use MORE THAN ONE engine (e.g. Google, YouTube, Spotify, Twitter, etc.). So why are we forced to pick one "default" engine? Imagine if your fridge asked you to choose one "default food", then every time you went to the fridge it always took out that one thing unless you told it otherwise! How irritating!

4. Perhaps the most deeply annoying thing about the new search is that the search process is now BACKWARDS to the user's thought process. When people search the web, we ALWAYS know what KIND of media we're searching for FIRST and THEN we think of the search query. Can you imagine if a guy took a girl on a date and asked her "Please give me the name of the movie or meal you want" and THEN AFTERWARDS asked her if she'd prefer a movie or a meal? That's exactly what the new search bar does!

[Ed1]

Grand Dizzy, I agree with all of your points! The original Search system was the best.

[Kevin McFarlane]

Sorry to rant but I just don't understand why the developers are always changing Firefox! The app worked fine 10 years ago. It doesn't need all these weird "upgrades" all the time. The developers should have a rule: Unless a new style or feature is unquestionably beneficial to all users, then it should be optional not mandatory.

It's a general problem with developers or, rather, software vendors. It's not just Firefox. All software has such problems. There are merely differences in degree.

Unfortunately, because Firefox has been the most customisable browser, when its usability decreases for some subset of users, then, apart from the Firefox forks, the other browsers are even more crippled! Though there might be the odd feature where, for those users, things are better.

[CaJazzman]

I hate the crazy new search bar introduced in 2015 (my full list of reasons why are here: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... &t=2979461).

For the past two years I've been using Classic Theme Restorer to get the search bar working normally, but now Classic Theme Restorer is no longer supported. So how are we supposed to search? I do a lot of searching and use the search bar a lot and the new one is un-useable. I mean it doesn't even show you what the current engine is - you're expected to remember the last engine you used!?

I find it pretty mind-boggling how anyone could see it as an improvement. Mozilla claimed it was faster - on the contrary, it takes just as many clicks, and the engines are no longer labeled so it takes far longer to find the engine you want.

Please can someone help? I can't use a browser that searches in such a crazy, backwards way. If there's no solution for this then can anyone recommend a good alternative to FF? I've been using Firefox for about 15 years and I've always liked it. I don't want to have to use a different browser, but I'm going to have to look elsewhere if I can't just have a normal search bar.

I chose Firefox because it was highly customisable but I feel like over the years the level of customisability is just getting less and less, and the interface seems to get uglier and uglier with every release. The new black tabs make me wonder what the developers are smoking. Black tabs? Maybe if you're some kind of Hell's Angel or vampire. It's so unwholesome and sinister.

Sorry to rant but I just don't understand why the developers are always changing Firefox! The app worked fine 10 years ago. It doesn't need all these weird "upgrades" all the time. The developers should have a rule: Unless a new style or feature is unquestionably beneficial to all users, then it should be optional not mandatory.

[CaJazzman]

I have FF 57 along with the new search bar, which I have customized, and is working great. I even have the search provider, as, Google, which to me is the best. I, do miss, having the Google Tool Bar , which was discontinued, long ago, but, had it working in FF until the 50's version. I, do, wish, Google could fix that issue, but, I, also know, that may not happen. So, to say, that you have issues, with the new search bar, to me, is so what puzzling, since mine is working great. I did move the search bar up to the menu bar, and adjusted the size, in the "userChrome.css, file, but otherwise, have not one issue with it. Enjoy!

[Kevin McFarlane]

I use Google almost exclusively, so the OP's issues are of no concern to me. However, given the way they were operating I can understand that it's frustrating that they can't now do what they used to do before. We are all different. Hence the need for customisability and extensions.

In my case, the fundamental broken feature is "Ctrl+Tab browse in recently used." It worked just as I liked in combination with Tab Mix Plus. Now it's awful. It's one reason I've started to use Opera more frequently which, in my view, implements it very well - better than all other (non-Firefox forked) browsers.