These buttons on my tabs REALLY piss me off, how do I turn them off ? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 2 weeks ago by interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml to c/firefox@lemmy.ml

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I don't want a PLAY MUTE PAUSE not even a CLOSE button. Especially NOT when they have their own internal state for then they choose to appear and disappear.

I don't want to pay attention to them, I don't want to have to look for them, I don't want them getting in my way any more.

If I want to close a tab, I middle click it ! I already have global mute controls, I don't need an extra volume control, I don't have "tabs making unwanted sounds" problem because I have "Go To Sound Tab" addon installed, so I can easily find any tabs that makes sound and mute it correctly, without a extra, unneeded layer of muting (tab muting, versus app muting versus player muting, that is too many muting options, I don't want to use tab muting personnally so I want these buttons out of here !)

I don't want to have to rely on running violentmonkey script engine on top of my already sluggish browser when I barely have 6615 open tabs.

I want to disable the feature at the root, inside firefox, not patch up webpages like dark reader does.

AAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh h!!!!!!

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[-] SSUPII@sopuli.xyz 49 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Firefox is meant to be usable by people that have no idea what a middle click or an addon is. You are the exception, not the majority

Menu > Help > More troubleshooting information > Profile Folder > Open Folder

Edit your userChrome.css file:

.tab-close-button.close-icon {display:none !important;}
.tab-audio-button {display: none !important;}

[-] UnfortunateShort@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

There should be a simpler solution to this tbf. Plasma had the exact same thing going on with their mute-app-buttons and their solution was a toggle for people who tend to missclick. I believe Chromium has one as well, at least Brave does for sure

[-] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago

It also doesn't work, because it's a patch, rather than turning off the whole system, so it gets overriden
I have the fix implemented and still

[-] Valso@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago

I've always wondered how to remove the audio button, so I'll use your code - thanks!

I don't suppose you know of any CSS to permanently disable the picture-in-picture mode for all websites?

[-] SSUPII@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

You have no need for CSS for that, you can disable it in settings.

Click the menu button and select Settings.
In the General panel, scroll down to the Browsing section.
Clear the check mark for Enable picture-in-picture video controls.

If a website directly invokes the Firefox PiP API (like Whatsapp Web) the button might still appear as it is added by the website, not the browser. For any website that instead don't invoke it (most websites), it will disappear as the browser was fully in control of it.

[-] Valso@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago

I've disabled it long ago and yet it keeps popping up on FB, YT and all other websites. Clearly "disabled" on Firefox means nothing, so... CSS.

[+] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml -21 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

How are people who don't even know their scroll wheel is also a button supposed to figure out something that complicated ?

Why isn't that just a checkbox on the settings page ?
[X] Please make browser tabs harder to use by putting more buttons on it !

Why is that imagined to be a "complicated weird thing people don't know they'd even want to do"
I wish software was more respectful of users' abilities instead of treating everyone has grandma's tech literacy level and make decisions for them !

There was no userChrome.css btw
So I made the file and put that code in
There has been no effects so I will have to reboot the browser.
So I'm pressing "reply" now so I don't lose this message ...

After restart

It only worked partially
I suspect youtube will eventually change something, and the rest of it will come back too

Thanks for trying though, but -> Firefox, this ISN'T good enough !

[-] SSUPII@sopuli.xyz 29 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

You turned what I said on its head. Nobody unskilled is doing this, and the buttons are there exactly because most people want them there and know nothing else. Including me, that knows about the shortcuts, prefer going caveman and click buttons on a screen. You are overestimating the base tech literacy of global humans, as most people have absolutely zero idea how to reach the settings page.

Try this one instead for the X button, before the audio button rule:

.tabbrowser-tab  .tab-close-button { display:none !important; }

[-] jonathan@piefed.social 13 points 2 weeks ago

Nobody unskilled is doing this

Looks at OP

[-] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago

Can me and my fat fingers catch a break ?

[-] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 weeks ago

Well, I'm accidentally closing and muting tabs all the time !
You're saying "everyone wants this" who wants to have no idea why the sound isn't playing for half an hour ?
I think it's reasonable that such sharp edges should be dealt with.
But everywhere on the internet where someone complains about this is told "just do some registry hack wizardry" and it never gets solved !

[-] SSUPII@sopuli.xyz 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Chrome has even more tech illiterate users and has the same feature and mute button, yet not as many users complain about accidentally muting tabs. I especially "love" the Reddit Firefox community that is in a constant biblical meltdown and always claims super small things will make everyone move to Chrome when it does the exact same thing too.

And especially because you know how to use that feature it takes one second to unmute it. I really think you are exaggerating.

Closing tabs is indeed more annoying, but you can reach it again using Recently Closed Tabs. Or Ctrl+Shift+T to restore the tab you just closed. If the page has unsaved content you even get asked before leaving.

[-] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 weeks ago

I am not exaggerating, this REALLY is ducking pissing me off.

It should not be this hard to remove this usability nightmare.
Sure, whatever, some people want them, I'm not trying to take away your first amendment rights to tab buttons but I don't want them and there are at least 5 other people who REALLY don't want them.

And we will get together and make five more firefox forks if we have to ! This is ridiculous !

[-] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

And they are back despite the fix

They're intermittently there because the script is a patch but the underlying functionality has not been disabled.
Sometimes the page will override the script patch, and put unwanted buttons of my tabs,
so I end up closing and muting tabs by accident

EDIT: Also doesn't work because when a tab is open, userchrome.css does not apply until you actually click on the tab
result

[-] unfnknblvbl@kbin.earth 3 points 2 weeks ago

I wish software was more respectful of users' abilities instead of treating everyone has grandma's tech literacy level and make decisions for them!

allow me to introduce you to my co-workers that manage the state power grid, who sit in front of a computer for eight hours a day, never knowing what a keyboard shortcut is, or that pressing 'shift+tab' can move your text cursor to the previous field, or, indeed, that the mouse wheel is also a button...

[-] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago

Well bless them, I'm sure they're really good a hand calculating the number of turns transformer need to have when they place an order

Most computer user that I meet also does not know what a middle click is or what it is for or why you would want to do that.
As such we should not design computers based on what they think they need
and interpret that this means "they don't want an option to remove extra tab buttons"

[-] sturlabragason@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago

Here comes another firefox fork…

[-] melroy@kbin.melroy.org 3 points 2 weeks ago

🤣

[-] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago

Do we have a list of them ?

I want one that doesn't have anything google about it and no pockets !

[-] sturlabragason@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

https://librewolf.net/

And maybe

https://librewolf.net/docs/settings/

[-] festnt@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago

why did you get downvoted? lmao

[-] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago

Some people like the buttons
they think if you have an option to turn them off
then if not enough people use them, they will disappear
or that if I don't like the buttons,
then it means they are wrong for liking them
or I know something they don't (middle click closes tabs)
and this inferiority angers them

[-] zaidka@lemmy.ca 11 points 2 weeks ago

And I don't want to have to install an addon just so that I can find and mute/close some random tab that's playing unwanted sounds.

[-] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago

Yet, for now, even "just" installing an addon would be nice, now we have to edit config files ! and it doesn't even really work to shut it down !

[-] zaidka@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 weeks ago

What I'm saying is that I actually like the mute button and I don't understand why some are so upset about it. Your post doesn't help to clarify other saying you already have an addon that serves a similar purpose.

[-] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 weeks ago

The addon I have is called "find sound tab"

I never need to mute tabs, when a tab makes a sound, I click that button, it brings me to that tab and I can mute or rather just pause the thing inside it that is making sound.

I don't have an addon that remove the play/mute/close buttons, and I am often pressing them by accident, losing tabs or getting annoying that stuff in other tabs starts playing, or why the sound doesn't work again, it's always from accidentally pressing a button when I mean to select or drag and drop a tab.

I'm not saying it should be removed from firefox, I'm saying it should be something I can turn off easily, preferably in the settings menu or by installing an addon.

The proposed fix of editing the userchrome.css setting file, mostly doesn't work, because the youtube javascript keeps overriding it and putting the buttons back.

One of the worst thing about these buttons is how they are only intermittently there, so you have to always look out for them. I think they really suck and I just want an OFF button for them. But everywhere this is brought up, the same things are said and the conclusion ends up being "ok everything's fine we don't need to do anything"

[-] Melody@lemmy.one 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

If you main frustration is Youtube; I recommend trying Invidious or Piped, as these frontends for Youtube do not have such aggressive scripts; and can be hosted locally on your machine.

Hint: I strongly recommend self-hosting Invidious on your PC using Docker and Podman for ease of use and administration. You can also self-host other privacy oriented front-ends for other sites as well, such as redlib for reddit and any others you can imagine.

Seriously; don't bother with the public instances. They don't work well. Self-host the software on your local PC and use Tailscale if you need to help other devices access your self-hosted instance.

Similarly FreeTube would work as well and pairs nicely if you self-host Invidious locally.

[-] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago

Thanks I'll give that a try, I had been experimenting with youtube download instances such as metube, to varying levels of success

[-] stiltonfondu@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

This is even more annoying if you use vertical tabs

[-] rdri@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Maybe unrelated but consider vertical tabs, with Sidebery. It'll let you you scroll through tabs easier and you won't lose much space for titles due to tabs amount.

[-] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago

I can't get the hang of vertical tabs, it's just refusing to enter my muscle memory.
For serious tab management I have this button

And it opens my specially configured Tab Manager Plus, a full page tab manager, which has just, sooo many great feature, including search-as-type and a solid selection system. But for tab switching it's still the tab bar for me.

[-] festnt@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago

i think i had deleted my close tab button somehow. but i might be getting confused between the close tab and open new tab button. i just remember i could middle click somewhere to use the function of the button i removed

[-] Melody@lemmy.one 1 points 2 weeks ago

No. You should not turn this feature off; no matter how infuriating you find it to be. You will eventually find it useful. It was put there for a reason; and your usage of the addon to find tab sounds is not a common thing people do. Additionally if your plugin begins to fail or is suddenly no longer maintained; you will have a UI element to immediately fall back on using to help you manage tab sounds.

[-] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago

These have been there for 5 years and I hated them every single time I accidentally clicked them, not a SINGLE time did I want to click them, they are a usability obstacle course, I want them gone GONE GGGGGOOOOOOONNNNNNNEEEEEEE

this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2025

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