I just want my old Firefox back
June 27, 2010 5:17 PM Subscribe
Vanishing windows in Firefox are making me crazy. How can I turn this off?
Recently, Firefox has begun exhibiting a behavior that I would like to turn off. Whenever I swipe my mouse upward and to the left, the entire window disappears into the top left-hand corner of the screen, leaving only a grey bar that has to be clicked on to bring my browser back. I'm guessing this is a new feature, but I really wish I could make it stop. Googling is not finding me any answers. Anybody know what's going on? I have no weird extensions or plugins. This is Firefox 3.6.6 on a Mac.
Recently, Firefox has begun exhibiting a behavior that I would like to turn off. Whenever I swipe my mouse upward and to the left, the entire window disappears into the top left-hand corner of the screen, leaving only a grey bar that has to be clicked on to bring my browser back. I'm guessing this is a new feature, but I really wish I could make it stop. Googling is not finding me any answers. Anybody know what's going on? I have no weird extensions or plugins. This is Firefox 3.6.6 on a Mac.
I don't think this has anything to do with Firefox. Seems like you have Exposé set up to show desktop when your mouse goes to the top left corner. Does it happen with other applications too?
Go to System Preferences > Exposé and Spaces and see what it says for Active Screen Corners. If you don't want this to happen, set the top right corner to -
posted by special-k at 5:33 PM on June 27, 2010
Go to System Preferences > Exposé and Spaces and see what it says for Active Screen Corners. If you don't want this to happen, set the top right corner to -
posted by special-k at 5:33 PM on June 27, 2010
This should fix it:
Double-click on the address bar (or press F6) and type about:config, and press Enter. If Firefox worries aloud that you might 'void your warranty,' click the "I'll be careful, I promise!" button.
You will now see a list of configuration settings. In the Filter, type browser.gesture.swipe. This will show the four configuration preferences for the swiping gesture stuff.
Double-click on one of the preferences. You should see a dialog box called "Enter String Value." Delete it, leaving the field blank, and press Enter. The value will now be blank for that preference. Do this with each of the four preferences.
Leave the about:config page (go somewhere else on the internet, like Google) and see if the annoying swiping gesture still applies. It should be gone.
posted by koeselitz at 5:34 PM on June 27, 2010
posted by koeselitz at 5:34 PM on June 27, 2010
Whoop, looks like somebody already got it.
special-k: “I don't think this has anything to do with Firefox.”
Until recently, I would've thought so, too; for a long time the Firefox team has been careful to keep mouse-gestures stuff out of the core product, leaving them to add-ons and extensions. But in the last update of Firefox, there are clearly a dozen or so browser.gesture options, and all of them are set by default. They appear only to apply to multitouch devices like iPhones and iPads, but they're still there, and I wouldn't be surprised if Macs had issues with them.
posted by koeselitz at 5:36 PM on June 27, 2010
special-k: “I don't think this has anything to do with Firefox.”
Until recently, I would've thought so, too; for a long time the Firefox team has been careful to keep mouse-gestures stuff out of the core product, leaving them to add-ons and extensions. But in the last update of Firefox, there are clearly a dozen or so browser.gesture options, and all of them are set by default. They appear only to apply to multitouch devices like iPhones and iPads, but they're still there, and I wouldn't be surprised if Macs had issues with them.
posted by koeselitz at 5:36 PM on June 27, 2010
Thanks koeselitz. That is interesting. I too am on a mac with the newest Firefox and cannot replicate this behavior. From the OP's description of the problem ("the entire window disappears into the top left-hand corner of the screen, leaving only a grey bar that has to be clicked on to bring my browser back"), that is exactly what Exposé does.
posted by special-k at 5:46 PM on June 27, 2010
posted by special-k at 5:46 PM on June 27, 2010
Response by poster: That did it! I set field value to "false" instead of leaving it blank, but it looks like it's solved. Thanks, ripley!
posted by Gilbert at 5:47 PM on June 27, 2010
posted by Gilbert at 5:47 PM on June 27, 2010
That's interesting - these gestures are supposed to happen only when swiping with three fingers on a multitouch trackpad (like the ones on newer MacBooks). Also, none of the gestures are supposed to hide Firefox; swiping left or up should go back, or to the top of the page. But it seems you aren't the only person with this problem.
What Mac hardware and OS version are you using, and what mouse, and does your mouse include any special software of its own? I couldn't find any open bugs about this issue, so I'd like to file one. (I work for Mozilla.)
posted by mbrubeck at 5:57 PM on June 27, 2010 [1 favorite]
What Mac hardware and OS version are you using, and what mouse, and does your mouse include any special software of its own? I couldn't find any open bugs about this issue, so I'd like to file one. (I work for Mozilla.)
posted by mbrubeck at 5:57 PM on June 27, 2010 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: mbrubeck, I'm running OS 10.4.11 on an older (ie, not Intel) Mac Mini. Generic imac mouse, no extra software.
When I went to about:config, "browser.gesture.swipe.left" was initially set to "default" and changing it to "false" seemed to fix the problem. Other swipes do not appear to do anything.
posted by Gilbert at 6:40 PM on June 27, 2010
When I went to about:config, "browser.gesture.swipe.left" was initially set to "default" and changing it to "false" seemed to fix the problem. Other swipes do not appear to do anything.
posted by Gilbert at 6:40 PM on June 27, 2010
Well imagine finding myself here! I have this mouse gestures problem, it is worse in ff5.0, there are more categories. I have a strange problem in that the screen went black and it was the same in all tabs, and even on page refresh. It may be some weird collision with foxtabs. I am on Xp. So far my searching for a solution has been fruitless.
And well done to the OP for solving the problem. Well, Koeslitz really...
posted by marienbad at 10:43 AM on June 26, 2011
And well done to the OP for solving the problem. Well, Koeslitz really...
posted by marienbad at 10:43 AM on June 26, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by ripley_ at 5:28 PM on June 27, 2010