Firefox browser windows spawn too low

January 7, 2008 9:24 PM

Whenever I open a new browser window in Firefox (2.0.0.11) on my Macbook (OS 10.4.10), the window opens one title bar too low. How can I force all new browser windows to spawn in the upper-left corner?

I've Googled and searched the Mozilla support forums, but I can't think of how to form a query that doesn't reference "window," and the result is a slew of posts and pages about Firefox for Windows. I am having this issue only with Firefox. As a result of the low spawn, the Status Bar is off the screen, so I can't preview where links will take me. Thanks in advance!

posted by Admiral Haddock to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

I don't have an answer, but I'm sure that's a feature, not a bug. It does that so you can see the title of the behind-er window.

Of course you can always just create new tabs instead of whole new windows.
posted by The Deej at 9:36 PM on January 7, 2008

Response by poster: Thanks. I should clarify that this is not cascading, where each new window is one title bar lower than the last (which I agree would be a feature, albeit one I could do without). My issue is that all windows--first and last, and each in between--spawn too low, on top of each other, with no offset. I can never see the window behind unless I myself moved that window manually to the upper-left corner.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 10:01 PM on January 7, 2008

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "too low", if they're stacked. Have you tried making a window the size and position you want it, closing the window, then hitting Apple-N. Firefox should remember the size/pos of the original window.
posted by bonaldi at 10:16 PM on January 7, 2008

Response by poster: By "too low" I mean that new browser windows spawn aligned to the left of the screen, but with one title bar's worth of space (i.e., maybe 1/4 inch, or whatever is the height of a window's title bar) between the top of the new window and the menu bar. As a result, if I launch Firefox when no other programs have windows open, the first Firefox browser window will be properly aligned on the left, but I will be able to see the desktop through the 1/4 inch (or whatever) gap above the browser window, and the status bar at the bottom will be off the screen. All new browser windows spawn directly over the first.

Resizing, then closing the window and opening a new window does not achieve the desired result, unfortunately.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 5:18 AM on January 8, 2008

So upon first starting Firefox, the initial window is always too low, with a gap between the window and the title bar? Weird. Have you tried the FF3 beta to see if it does the same thing? If you don't have too many essential extensions installed, give the beta a shot.

You can also troubleshoot to see if the problem is due to an extension, by disabling them one at a time. In my mind most weird FF issues like this are probably due to extensions rather than the program. If it was a problem with the program, more people would have noticed it.
posted by caution live frogs at 5:48 AM on January 8, 2008

Also, try this (if you haven't already): Quit FF completely via command-Q, then reopen it, making sure only a single window exists. Reposition that window. Quit Firefox completely again. Reopen it. If you still get the window weirdness, start troubleshooting extensions.
posted by caution live frogs at 5:50 AM on January 8, 2008

I too find this "feature" annoying. I don't really see it as a feature either. And I've looked in prefs, and tried to re-set the window position, quit, re-launch... the whole works. And... this is the first thread I've found that adresses the topic. Honestly, it's one of the reasons I didn't want to start using Firefox when I discovered the problem because EVERY TIME I have to launch a new window (after the first window is launched) I have to shift the window up. Otherwise, I get confused and read the top title bar and think I'm in the wrong window.

Also, just "using tabs" isn't an answer. I might have five different windows open dedicated to different topics. If I surfed every page in one window, I'd soon run out of space to read the titles of the tabs.

Anyways... I too am looking for an answer and wanted to add to the discussion to verify that Admiral Haddock isn't the only one having this problem.

Anyone else notice this? Found a solution?
posted by meganano at 10:36 AM on January 26, 2008

Me too. Really there should just be a pref to turn off this "feature" (which no doubt is a feature for most people, but for some of us it's an anti-feature). Currently I drag each new window up to the top -- every single time. And this problem doesn't exist on my Windows copy of Firefox -- just on the Mac version.
posted by felicopter at 1:10 PM on June 11, 2008