Regain the persistent Go button in Firefox 3
Posted by Peng on 4 March 2008
One of the big changes in Firefox 3 is the fact that the Go button only shows up when you’re typing in the Location bar. What do you do if you want it to be there all the time? Thanks to someone at Mozillazine I have a hack for you that’s safe to use (as long as you put it in the right place) and is actually really easy to use. This is only for Firefox 3 betas and should not be used in Firefox 2.
First you have to find the folder that holds your current profile. If you don’t know where that is you can read this page in the Mozillazine Knowledge Base. Once you’ve opened it in your favorite file management program look for a directory named chrome. If the directory doesn’t exist go ahead and create it and drill down so you’re looking at the directory’s contents.
Once you’re in the chrome folder in your current Firefox 3 profile look for a file called userChrome.css. Again, if you don’t have a file by that name it’s ok, just go ahead and create a blank text document (text file for the Windows users) and call it userChrome.css. Open the file in a plain text editor (Notepad, Gedit, Geany, or whatever you prefer to use for editing text files, as long as it’s not a word processor like Word, WordPad or OpenOffice.org Word Processor). Once the file is open put this in at the end of it:
#urlbar[pageproxystate="valid"] > #urlbar-icons > #go-button { visibility: visible !important;
}
Save the file and restart your Firefox 3 beta and voila! The Go button should always be in your Location bar, ready for your use at any time.
Special thanks to Canyonero for pointing this out to us in the Mozillazine Forums.
15 March 2008 at 10:05 pm
Thanks for this hack, why did they take the go button away in the first place. At least they should have a option to show it all the time under options.
15 March 2008 at 10:11 pm
That’s a good question. They’ve had two sides of the debate going back to Firefox 2 preps. I’ll try to have more tips as we get closer to Firefox 3 getting it’s final release.
5 May 2008 at 5:11 pm
Thanks for this hack.
I think it’s rediculous that they don’t have a setting for this in the browser. And if not in the usual settings then atleast have it in the about:config page! Don’t treat your users like idiots. We love options.
Same thing goes for the new urlbar. I’ve learned to love it, but some people just prefer the old one. And they don’t even have a setting for people who want the old one back?! Nope, you need to download an extension to do that… I don’t care about it though because as I said I’ve started to like the new one better anyway.
But hiding the go button is just stupid. Sorry.
I remember in Firefox 2.0 there was no go button at all by default. But atleast there was an option to display it!(although it was in about:config, but still!)
5 May 2008 at 5:13 pm
Oops, i was wrong about the go button in Firefox 2.0
6 May 2008 at 8:27 am
They made the Go button show in Firefox 3 only when you’re typing in the Address Bar due to popular demand for the change.
There’s good news for the new Address Bar as well. Simply install the oldbar extension and you’ll regain the old Address Bar behavior.