Hide The Tab Bar When Browsing A Single Page

My personal preferences are better than your personal preferences!

i dont need it, cause i never worked on single window :(

Temuulen Battumur

@Platypus Man: My I also removed the New Tab button, since when I needed a new blank tab, I'd always just double click the blank space beside the other tabs, (or ctrl T if there's no space left).

psychiccheese

@nonewhatsoever: You can add a new tab button to the toolbar using an add-on called toolbar buttons. I found this to be the most convenient solution for me.

I also added an undo close tab button which is the most useful button ever.

SNForrester

@DevourerKwi: I disagree. I've never minded the page moving, but I hate wasting the space to show the entire tab bar if I don't need it there. It's not like it moves that much.

And I also already removed the "New Tab" button (no need for it -- Ctrl+T).

Everyone's entitled to their opinion, and I figured this one out pretty much immediately, but still thanks Lifehacker!

Platypus Man

I want absolutely no part of the tab bar when only one (tab) is involved. For me, the checkmark will always be absent from 'always show the tab bar'. I want to get as close to a full screen as possible and the tab bar is just dead weight when only one page is open.

paintbox

@CharmPeddler: Win extension. Thanks for the tip!

indeed, always hate having to go enable that button in options

globeadue

This has always been an option AFAIK.

@DevourerKwi: "Tree Style Tabs" Add-On FTW.

i thought this was always an option in Firefox, or maybe it was in Tab Mix Plus.

atomicrabbit

Since we're talking about tabs, I have a question. I frequently middle-click on links to open them in a new tab. The default behaviour is for new tabs to open to the right of any tabs already open. I know there are about:config hacks and extensions enabling you to change this so that new tabs open to the right of the current tab. But here's the thing: I'd like to have the choice each time I open a new tab of either opening it to the right of the current tab or opening to the right of all open tabs - e.g. middle click to open to right of all tabs and shift + middle click to open to right of current tab.

I did a bit of searching around, and much to my surprise could find no FF extensions to do this. Is anyone aware of any way of achieving this?

robinfrance

@tobz1000:

Yes, it is described here. [mozillalinks.org]

SpudDude

@madigan82: Madigan82: Thanks for the link!

This has been an irritant for me as well.

I've made edits to the file and I'll know in a few minutes if that worked.

SpudDude

@nonewhatsoever: you can right-click on any tab and click on New Tab. Kind of like double-click, but with different mouse buttons.

@madigan82:
Because you have set it as the default. Change it and the shut down X will come back.

Runnin-Ute

@Khristopher Ranger: It's been in Firefox since version 1 (I believe).

SenorValasco

Really glad to see this show up in Firefox! Thanks for posting this!

Khristopher Ranger

@milrtime83: Ditto. I try to get as much vertical space as possible and turn off or combine functions into the same space.

I have my address bar, navigation buttons, and menus all on the same bar and turn everything else off. I wish I could put the status bar display in the window title bar to get that space back.

When I really want no distractions, I hit F11 and go full screen.

penguiniator

But I like having the tab bar around all the time... (also, I rarely ever browse just one tab at a time... oh, except right now! Oh, the irony)

@pale_blue_eyes: There's a development version of it available on the TMP website. I have it working in 3.5. Several other extensions also don't work. Usually, it is only because the MaxVersion variable in the install.rdf file for the extension is set to a version number lower than 3.5. Change that and most likely your extensions will work again.

penguiniator

@R00b: Right-click on the address bar (or on your stop/refresh buttons if you are having difficulty with that) and deselect the Bookmark toolbar.

If the toolbar is still not being removed try "Restore Default Set" from the Customize dialog found on the same menu.

BTW You don't need to empty the bookmarks toolbar to remove it.

peanut_butter

@nonewhatsoever:

How about multiple rows of tabs(easy way) (non-Tab Mix Plus way)? That way, you always have real tab bar real estate.

I've always preferred to hide the bar with only one tab open. I didn't realize so many people want the tab bar there all the time.

milrtime83

@R00b: you can just go to view > toolbars and uncheck bookmarks bar.

BCK

This setting causes issues with the new tearing tabs feature in firefox 3.5. If you tear a tab out it'll be a pain to reattach the torn tab back to the original window.

BCK

Is there a way to remove the bar above the tab bar? I mean the bookmark toolbar once is empty?

R00b

@[mozillalinks.org]

You'll also need to disable firefox from closing when closing the last tab like shown in [lifehacker.com]

madigan82

I have to have it on for the same reason. Anybody know why my single tab doesn't have a red x now for some reason? Used to be able to use that to close the last tab.

madigan82

@pale_blue_eyes:

That's strange, seems I've been using Tab Mix Plus Dev-Build 0.3.7.4pre.090516 from the developer page, and I hadn't noticed it... No problems so far.

I like to always show it to double click the blank space to open a new tab.
I then recoup that real estate with "Hide Menubar"
[addons.mozilla.org]

I use the tab bar far more than the menu bar.

Confuzius

@DJ Larkin: AHHHH -- thanks a lot!!! :o)

pale_blue_eyes

Any word on how to get rid of the new 'new tab' button?

tobz1000

@KB: "But wait, there's more!" Ah, RIP Billy Mays.

Thanks for sharing the tip!

@DevourerKwi: I also used to do this anywhere I installed Firefox, so I'm glad it's now the default. The only place I can think of that benefits of not showing the tabs bar by default are very small netbooks, but that's it.

@DevourerKwi: Third-ing it. I don't like the bar floating in and out either. The bouncing of the page drives me a little nuts. It was always one of the top 5 things I'd fix upon an install.

@pale_blue_eyes: There's a dev build of TMP that I've been using, works really well and with 3.5

[tmp.garyr.net]

@atomic.resistance: YMMV = "Your mileage may vary."

@roslin157: Yeah, that shifting down always made me click the wrong links. BTW, what's YMMV?

atomic.resistance

Hadn't noticed, but I'm glad to see they changed the default setting on this to always show the tab. That was always the first think I would change in a new Firefox install. Glad to know I don't need to do that anymore. I need my tab bar. Especially like the new "+" tab to open a new tab in one click in 3.5.

SenorValasco

@DevourerKwi: Same here. I hate the way the page reflows when the tab count changes. This is one of my first changes on any new installation of FF.

@nonewhatsoever: Try setting browser.tabs.tabMaxWidth and browser.tabs.tabMinWidth the same and something that will always leave a spot at the end. This number will be based on your resolution and desired number of tabs.

[kb.mozillazine.org]
[kb.mozillazine.org]

I think I know why they changed that default setting. The "tear away" tabs function allows you to drag a tab out of the existing window into a new one. For example, you have 1 window with 2 tabs. Drag one tab out of Firefox and it will create a new window. But wait, there's more! You can then drag the tab from the 2nd window back into the first. But if you have the "Always show the tab bar" option unchecked, you cannot drag the tab back in because it's not there. Hope this makes sense.

KB

@DevourerKwi: Agreed. I like the add-tab button in FF 3.5 now, too.

@ssj4Gogeta: The image didn't show up?? Let me try again:

or here's the link if it doesn't show up again:
[www.fileden.com]

@nonewhatsoever: Use a vertical tab bar. I use the Tab Kit extension.

@nonewhatsoever: Even if there's no blank space, you can double click just above the tab or at it's lower border to open a new tab:

You need to click at the tip of the arrow. There's more room at the top so it's easier.

@WhACKSTER: Unfortunately, TMP has yet to be updated for FF 3.5. It's one of my fave add ons, too.

pale_blue_eyes

@nonewhatsoever:
give Tab Mix Plus a try, I still don't know why it isn't incorporated in Firefox...

[addons.mozilla.org]

@Yossarian: Which is what I use. Not to mention it's the standard for every browser I can think of. Either CTRL + T or Command + T

Like just about everyone else, I too did not like the old default setting of "hide tab bar when you have only one tab". It changed the dimensions of the browser window. If you setup your desktop where everything has a place, this can be annoying.

operator207

@nonewhatsoever: Double click the line that's underneath the tabs. Its tricky but you get used to it. Or there's CTRL + T

sids23

@nonewhatsoever: I don't know of a way to do what you're asking - instead, I'd recommend getting used to hitting Ctrl+T to open a new tab. Takes a little finger training at first, like all keyboard shortcuts, but it quickly becomes indispensible second nature.

Yeah it was one of the first things I turned on! Double clicking the empty tab space to create a new tab is common practice for me now. I'll give up that 50 or so pixels of my browser real estate to keep things convenient.
Or do what Chrome does and stick the tabs in the top bar that is pretty much wasted space otherwise. Pretty much my favourite thing about Chrome!

I just hunted this down and turned off the tab bar yesterday :D

I prefer to get as much real estate as I can outta my screen :)

Of course I usually end up with multiple tabs within seconds... :\

I used to like the fact that the tab bar disappeared when not in use, but after a while I realized I work a little bit faster in my browser if part of it is not always changing. I have been happily keeping it visible for a long time now.

kyre

Same here. I hated the shifting screen. Plus, I tend to open blank tabs by double-clicking the open space on the tab bar. On that note, does anyone know of a way to always leave a smidge of blank space on the tab bar visible so that I can double-click it? When I have 5+ tabs open, there's no more real estate left.

I was delighted when I found the "Always show the tab bar" option. I hated it when the formerly sole open page shifted down to accommodate a new tab loading in the background. Obviously YMMV.

roslin157

This box used to be unchecked by default and I always enabled it. It's really annoying to have the tab bar float in and out of existence whenever I go from one tab to two and back again, moving the whole page around.

I think it's really funny that all of the recent "how to make ff3 stop doing something" is telling me how to undo something I've been doing since ff1. Such as this. Since FF1, one of the settings I always changed was to keep the tab bar at all times.

dunvi