[gentoo-user] Vanishing tab bar in Firefox

[gentoo-user] Vanishing tab bar in Firefox

[Peter Humphrey]

Hello list,

Far too often, Firefox on this box will hide the tab bar, but behave as though 
it were still there. In other words, I have to aim the mouse pointer 2cm below 
the thing I want to click.

Pressing <ALT> reveals the bar but clicking in it just hides it again. I can 
still cycle through the tabs with the standard <CTRL><left/right>.

Sometimes remerging Firefox fixes it, sometimes rebooting does; mostly I just 
have to put up with it.

Several versions of Firefox have suffered this, and several versions of Plasma. 
I might submit a bug report if I could work out which component is at fault.

Any clues, anyone?

-- 
Regards,
Peter.

Re: [gentoo-user] Vanishing tab bar in Firefox

[Peter Humphrey]

On Saturday, 7 August 2021 10:45:26 BST Peter Humphrey wrote:
> Hello list,
> 
> Far too often, Firefox on this box will hide the tab bar, but behave as
> though it were still there. In other words, I have to aim the mouse pointer
> 2cm below the thing I want to click.
> 
> Pressing <ALT> reveals the bar but clicking in it just hides it again. I can
> still cycle through the tabs with the standard <CTRL><left/right>.
> 
> Sometimes remerging Firefox fixes it, sometimes rebooting does; mostly I
> just have to put up with it.
> 
> Several versions of Firefox have suffered this, and several versions of
> Plasma. I might submit a bug report if I could work out which component is
> at fault.

Disabling my three plugins didn't help. I fixed it in the end by removing 
~/.mozilla and setting mozilla up again. At least, I hope it's fixed. It's 
looking good so far.

I didn't realise that Firefox was as vulnerable to local data problems as 
KMail-2 is.  :(

-- 
Regards,
Peter.

Re: [gentoo-user] Vanishing tab bar in Firefox

[mad.scientist.at.large]

I've had the  same frustration.  There is an extension call "custom scroll bars".  The problem is due to a "feature" where web pages can decide on what a scroll bar looks like and how wide it is.  Apparently some web designers think they know what's best for others.  It's a flaw, not a "feature".   Fire fox claims this "ability" was sought after by web designers.  Frankly, I'm wishing there was an alternative browser, firefox has really gone south.

--"Fascism begins the moment a ruling class, fearing the people may use their political democracy to gain economic democracy, begins to destroy political democracy in order to retain its power of exploitation and special privilege." Tommy Douglas




Aug 20, 2021, 10:26 by peter@prh.myzen.co.uk:

> On Saturday, 7 August 2021 10:45:26 BST Peter Humphrey wrote:
>
>> Hello list,
>>
>> Far too often, Firefox on this box will hide the tab bar, but behave as
>> though it were still there. In other words, I have to aim the mouse pointer
>> 2cm below the thing I want to click.
>>
>> Pressing <ALT> reveals the bar but clicking in it just hides it again. I can
>> still cycle through the tabs with the standard <CTRL><left/right>.
>>
>> Sometimes remerging Firefox fixes it, sometimes rebooting does; mostly I
>> just have to put up with it.
>>
>> Several versions of Firefox have suffered this, and several versions of
>> Plasma. I might submit a bug report if I could work out which component is
>> at fault.
>>
>
> Disabling my three plugins didn't help. I fixed it in the end by removing 
> ~/.mozilla and setting mozilla up again. At least, I hope it's fixed. It's 
> looking good so far.
>
> I didn't realise that Firefox was as vulnerable to local data problems as 
> KMail-2 is.  :(
>
> -- 
> Regards,
> Peter.
>

RE: [gentoo-user] Vanishing tab bar in Firefox

[Laurence Perkins]

Try Falkon maybe.

-----Original Message-----
From: mad.scientist.at.large@tutanota.com <mad.scientist.at.large@tutanota.com> 
Sent: Friday, August 20, 2021 9:45 AM
To: Gentoo User <gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org>
Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Vanishing tab bar in Firefox

I've had the  same frustration.  There is an extension call "custom scroll bars".  The problem is due to a "feature" where web pages can decide on what a scroll bar looks like and how wide it is.  Apparently some web designers think they know what's best for others.  It's a flaw, not a "feature".   Fire fox claims this "ability" was sought after by web designers.  Frankly, I'm wishing there was an alternative browser, firefox has really gone south.

--"Fascism begins the moment a ruling class, fearing the people may use their political democracy to gain economic democracy, begins to destroy political democracy in order to retain its power of exploitation and special privilege." Tommy Douglas




Aug 20, 2021, 10:26 by peter@prh.myzen.co.uk:

> On Saturday, 7 August 2021 10:45:26 BST Peter Humphrey wrote:
>
>> Hello list,
>>
>> Far too often, Firefox on this box will hide the tab bar, but behave 
>> as though it were still there. In other words, I have to aim the 
>> mouse pointer 2cm below the thing I want to click.
>>
>> Pressing <ALT> reveals the bar but clicking in it just hides it 
>> again. I can still cycle through the tabs with the standard <CTRL><left/right>.
>>
>> Sometimes remerging Firefox fixes it, sometimes rebooting does; 
>> mostly I just have to put up with it.
>>
>> Several versions of Firefox have suffered this, and several versions 
>> of Plasma. I might submit a bug report if I could work out which 
>> component is at fault.
>>
>
> Disabling my three plugins didn't help. I fixed it in the end by 
> removing ~/.mozilla and setting mozilla up again. At least, I hope 
> it's fixed. It's looking good so far.
>
> I didn't realise that Firefox was as vulnerable to local data problems 
> as
> KMail-2 is.  :(
>
> --
> Regards,
> Peter.
>

Re: [gentoo-user] Vanishing tab bar in Firefox

[Peter Humphrey]

On Friday, 20 August 2021 17:26:15 BST Peter Humphrey wrote:
> On Saturday, 7 August 2021 10:45:26 BST Peter Humphrey wrote:
> > Hello list,
> > 
> > Far too often, Firefox on this box will hide the tab bar, but behave as
> > though it were still there. In other words, I have to aim the mouse
> > pointer
> > 2cm below the thing I want to click.
> > 
> > Pressing <ALT> reveals the bar but clicking in it just hides it again. I
> > can still cycle through the tabs with the standard <CTRL><left/right>.
> > 
> > Sometimes remerging Firefox fixes it, sometimes rebooting does; mostly 
I
> > just have to put up with it.
> > 
> > Several versions of Firefox have suffered this, and several versions of
> > Plasma. I might submit a bug report if I could work out which component 
is
> > at fault.
> 
> Disabling my three plugins didn't help. I fixed it in the end by removing
> ~/.mozilla and setting mozilla up again. At least, I hope it's fixed. It's
> looking good so far.

Spoke too soon. It's back again, and it's more stubborn this time. I really 
don't want to keep zapping my Firefox directory and setting it up all over 
again, especially as I don't understand what's going wrong. Any crumbs of 
advice or experience, anyone?

-- 
Regards,
Peter.

Re: [gentoo-user] Vanishing tab bar in Firefox

[Andrew Lowe]

On 24/8/21 10:59 pm, Peter Humphrey wrote:
> On Friday, 20 August 2021 17:26:15 BST Peter Humphrey wrote:
>> On Saturday, 7 August 2021 10:45:26 BST Peter Humphrey wrote:
>>> Hello list,
>>>

[snip]

> 
> Spoke too soon. It's back again, and it's more stubborn this time. I really
> don't want to keep zapping my Firefox directory and setting it up all over
> again, especially as I don't understand what's going wrong. Any crumbs of
> advice or experience, anyone?
> 

	As the Firefox dir is all text files, I think, when you blow it away 
and rebuild and get the correct behaviour, grab a copy. When the dodgy 
behaviour returns diff the copy, with the good behaviour, against the 
current dir, with the dodgy behaviour, and see what's changed. That may 
lead to an indication of what's being naughty.

	I have a recollection of doing this in the past to track down a problem.

	Andrew

Re: [gentoo-user] Vanishing tab bar in Firefox

[Peter Humphrey]

On Wednesday, 25 August 2021 04:05:12 BST Andrew Lowe wrote:
> On 24/8/21 10:59 pm, Peter Humphrey wrote:
> > On Friday, 20 August 2021 17:26:15 BST Peter Humphrey wrote:
> >> On Saturday, 7 August 2021 10:45:26 BST Peter Humphrey wrote:
> >>> Hello list,
> 
> [snip]
> 
> > Spoke too soon. It's back again, and it's more stubborn this time. I
> > really
> > don't want to keep zapping my Firefox directory and setting it up all 
over
> > again, especially as I don't understand what's going wrong. Any crumbs 
of
> > advice or experience, anyone?
> 
> 	As the Firefox dir is all text files, I think, when you blow it away
> and rebuild and get the correct behaviour, grab a copy. When the dodgy
> behaviour returns diff the copy, with the good behaviour, against the
> current dir, with the dodgy behaviour, and see what's changed. That may
> lead to an indication of what's being naughty.
> 
> 	I have a recollection of doing this in the past to track down a 
problem.

Good idea. Thanks Andrew.

-- 
Regards,
Peter.

Re: [gentoo-user] Vanishing tab bar in Firefox

[Peter Humphrey]

On Wednesday, 25 August 2021 10:26:31 BST Peter Humphrey wrote:
> On Wednesday, 25 August 2021 04:05:12 BST Andrew Lowe wrote:

> > 	As the Firefox dir is all text files, I think, when you blow it away
> > and rebuild and get the correct behaviour, grab a copy. When the dodgy
> > behaviour returns diff the copy, with the good behaviour, against the
> > current dir, with the dodgy behaviour, and see what's changed. That
> > may lead to an indication of what's being naughty.

> Good idea. Thanks Andrew.

Just a small matter of 308 files to check.  :)

-- 
Regards,
Peter.

Re: [gentoo-user] Vanishing tab bar in Firefox

[Neil Bothwick]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 641 bytes --]

On Wed, 25 Aug 2021 11:35:26 +0100, Peter Humphrey wrote:

> > > 	As the Firefox dir is all text files, I think, when you
> > > blow it away and rebuild and get the correct behaviour, grab a
> > > copy. When the dodgy behaviour returns diff the copy, with the good
> > > behaviour, against the current dir, with the dodgy behaviour, and
> > > see what's changed. That may lead to an indication of what's being
> > > naughty.  
> 
> > Good idea. Thanks Andrew.  
> 
> Just a small matter of 308 files to check.  :)

diff -r old/ new/ >lotsofstuff/txt :)


-- 
Neil Bothwick

WinErr 004: Erroneous error - Nothing is wrong

[-- Attachment #2: OpenPGP digital signature --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 833 bytes --]

Re: [gentoo-user] Vanishing tab bar in Firefox

[Peter Humphrey]

On Wednesday, 25 August 2021 12:27:08 BST Neil Bothwick wrote:
> On Wed, 25 Aug 2021 11:35:26 +0100, Peter Humphrey wrote:
> > > > 	As the Firefox dir is all text files, I think, when you
> > > > 
> > > > blow it away and rebuild and get the correct behaviour, grab a
> > > > copy. When the dodgy behaviour returns diff the copy, with the 
good
> > > > behaviour, against the current dir, with the dodgy behaviour, and
> > > > see what's changed. That may lead to an indication of what's being
> > > > naughty.
> > > 
> > > Good idea. Thanks Andrew.
> > 
> > Just a small matter of 308 files to check.  :)
> 
> diff -r old/ new/ >lotsofstuff/txt :)

:)

-- 
Regards,
Peter.

Re: [gentoo-user] Vanishing tab bar in Firefox

[Michael]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1950 bytes --]

On Wednesday, 25 August 2021 14:22:39 BST Peter Humphrey wrote:
> On Wednesday, 25 August 2021 12:27:08 BST Neil Bothwick wrote:
> > On Wed, 25 Aug 2021 11:35:26 +0100, Peter Humphrey wrote:
> > > > > 	As the Firefox dir is all text files, I think, when you
> > > > > 
> > > > > blow it away and rebuild and get the correct behaviour, grab a
> > > > > copy. When the dodgy behaviour returns diff the copy, with the
> 
> good
> 
> > > > > behaviour, against the current dir, with the dodgy behaviour, and
> > > > > see what's changed. That may lead to an indication of what's being
> > > > > naughty.
> > > > 
> > > > Good idea. Thanks Andrew.
> > > 
> > > Just a small matter of 308 files to check.  :)
> > 
> > diff -r old/ new/ >lotsofstuff/txt :)
> :
> :)

I have observed something similar in three edge use cases.

1. When the browser is fighting against the window manager, or display 
environment, in the rendering of the application.  I recall this being a 
particularly annoying problem a few years back, with Chromium on Enlightenment 
DE.  From what I recall the problem was caused by Chromium's code taking over 
some window rendering functions, which conventionally was performed by the 
window manager.  Minimising and restoring the Chromium window was a workaround 
to fix this problem, until Chromium improved their code.

2. When an application window is running in a QEMU VM and the VM full desktop 
window itself is not maximised on the host.  The mouse events are 
geographically misaligned with the target.  After the guest desktop window is 
maximised the mouse becomes aligned and remains so even if the guest desktop 
window is resized thereafter.

3. On a particular system I discovered Firefox tabs and scroll bar disappear, 
or do not respond, when running on Plasma in Wayland.  Plasma in X11 plus 
Firefox works fine.

I haven't found a workaround for the Firefox problem on Wayland, perhaps an 
update will address this.

[-- Attachment #2: This is a digitally signed message part. --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 833 bytes --]