I use it all the time and have for years. Just seems like a weird feature to lock behind about.config and say it’s not supported while they still support things like Pocket.
It is essentially just extra maintenance of a feature in Firefox that (statistically) not many people use
As such, it’s marked as “unsupported” to make clear that if any issues arise, Mozilla won’t help you with those issues.
The people who make it their business to go through Firefox looking for features to remove almost got it, but the public outcry against its complete removal seems to have deterred them for now.
I remember when compact was hidden - apparently this was a change driven by telemetry. It was possible that there’s an overlap between those who use compact and those who turned off telemetry. I wouldn’t be surprised if something similar also occurs with Pocket being left on too.
If compact breaks in a future update, it’ll probably be removed altogether. At that point, best option would be userchrome customisation.
IIRC, this change was made ahead of the impending UI overhaul. This combined with the Windows 11 getting bigger touch-friendly UI elements understandably didn’t sit well with many people.
Try following:
- Find the directory of your Firefox profile folder in the filesystem.
- In there, create a directory “chrome”, if its not already.
- In that “chrome” directory, create a file “userChrome.css”, if its not already.
- Add following code to the “userChrome.css” file:
.tabbrowser-tab { max-height: var(--tab-min-height) !important; }- Restart Firefox and look if its better for you.
It may break a future update…maybe 🤷♂️
In about:config look up
userChrome.CompactContextMenu-Enabledand set it totrueto enable the setting. When enable Compact (not supported) under Density option in Customize Toolbar panel.What compact mode do you mean?"
In about:config, you can set the flag
browser.compactmode.showto true.Then if you right-click on the toolbar and select “Customize Toolbar…”, there’s a dropdown “Density”, which now contains an entry “Compact (not supported)”.
This compact mode was part of the previous Firefox design (Photon) and was declared unsupported with the latest redesign (Acorn), presumably because one central design element of Acorn is the tall tabs, which can show text hints under the tab title, like “PLAYING” to indicate that this tab is playing audio, or “MUTE TAB” if you then hover over the favicon/speaker icon.
Oh that thing. Yeah I had set the compact mode though other ways, with the “userChrome.css” file, where I have better control with more possibilities. I was just not sure what he was referring to, as the opposing example with “Pocket” confused me. (Also tagging @boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net for the reply, so I don’t need to spam for every reply. Hope that’s the correct approach.)
Because it involves maintenance work and does not necessarily generate income…?
So does almost any other feature. How is a feature generate income? I mean we could strip out almost any feature with that argument.
Well, they referenced Pocket. That is a service Mozilla operates to diversify their income.
Firefox doesn’t generate income, except maybe the Pocket feature. It really shouldn’t need that much maintenance, just check it before doing big UI redesigns. Most releases probably don’t impact it.
Well, arguably it is broken since the last redesign. You need non-compact tabs to fit additional tab infos in there, e.g. that a tab is playing audio or using your camera.
Eh, it seems to work on mine? I have my tabs set to a specific width, so perhaps that’s helping.
Hmm, for audio playing, they do then show a speaker icon in place of the favicon, if that’s what you’re seeing. In the non-compact tabs, it also says “PLAYING” underneath the tab title, though. And I believe, it also shows a similar text for when the microphone or camera is in use, and they don’t have icons for those…
about:config is a weird thing to lock behind ditching Firefox and downloading a different browser
