I get around this by; When I find a link I want to check out, I open it in a new tab/window. Then when I am done, I close it and am back where I started.

Hi Doc, Firefox tries to remember the vertical position where you left a page and restore that when you go back. If the page is static, this works fine. However, on pages with expanding/contracting sections or pop-in videos, or other height-changing features, the old vertical position may be obsolete when you go back to the page. I don't think this is a new issue in Firefox 66, but maybe Firefox 66 caches more sites than it used to so it shows up on those sites as well?

Thanks for the information! I already have "Open links in new tabs" selected, although Firefox usually doesn't open a tab or a window! It simply transfers the existing tab to the link. Unsure what is going on there.

As to static or dynamic pages, that doesn't seem to matter. I have several sites I go to regularly that are very static, yet every time I go "back" to the main page it scrolls it up in varying increments.

Thanks Doc

Doc16743 said

I already have "Open links in new tabs" selected, although Firefox usually doesn't open a tab or a window! It simply transfers the existing tab to the link.

To clarify this, the feature is to divert new windows to a tab instead. So if the page has specially coded a link to open a new window, Firefox will step in. However, if it's an ordinary link, it will open in the same tab. There is at least one extension to modify all links to be special if you want to try it:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/open-link-with-new-tab/

As to static or dynamic pages, that doesn't seem to matter. I have several sites I go to regularly that are very static, yet every time I go "back" to the main page it scrolls it up in varying increments.

Do you want to share some examples?

That makes sense about the Tab/Windows settings. Neither setting seems to affect this particular problem.

The best example I can think of is

http://classifieds.rennug.com/classifieds/index.cgi

I check about 6 categories on this site twice a day. This page rarely changes. If I select any category, that page opens. After I've scrolled through the individual items, hitting the "Page Back" button brings me back to the main page, however that page will have scrolled down by some amount. Sometimes it's only a few lines, at other times it scrolls to the bottom of the main page.

This doesn't happen with IE, Edge or Chrome, but does happen on other pages. This example is the best as it doesn't change in just a few moments.

Thanks! Doc

Okay, this is a strange problem.

When you first load a page, the Logo at the top is missing, and then it appears and Firefox pushes the content down by the height of the Logo.

When you click a link to another page, Firefox records the position at that point, after the Logo has loaded.

When you go back, Firefox initially loads the page and positions it before the Logo loads, so the page is scrolled up too far by about that amount, the height of the Logo. When the Logo loads, Firefox doesn't push the content down to compensate, so you always end up lower on the page than where you started.

The site could fix this by specifying the height of the Logo on their <img> tag. I'm not sure there is an easy workaround for us end users.

Well, it may not be the answer I was hoping for, but at least I know it isn't the (direct) fault of Firefox! It never appeared in any previous versions (been using it for years), so it seemed a valid target at the time! That site may also have changed their format recently, and it just happened to coincide with the new Firefox version.

In any case, many thanks for the help! The longer I play with computers, the less I know!!

Thanks Doc

I have this exact same problem. It started with Firefox 66.0.0 and continues with Firefox 66.0.1. The two sites I go to most often that have this problem are CNN and Washington Post. CNN almost always takes me all the way down to the bottom of the previous page when I go to another page and then Back to the page I just left. WaPo usually returns me to a location a bit higher up the page than the location where I was when I left the original page. Occasionally WaPo will return me farther down the original page.

There is a related setting.

Before Firefox 66, if you followed a link to a point in mid-page -- the URL has a hash tag that loads a point lower in the page -- your text could move when an image was loaded above that point. Firefox 66 solves that problem by pushing the content higher and keeping your current scroll position stable. But this creates the problem when you go Back.

To revert to the behavior in Firefox 65 and earlier, try this:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful or accepting the risk.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste anch and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the layout.css.scroll-anchoring.enabled preference to switch the value from true to false

Ref. https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/b7zsmd/firefox_goes_to_different_place_on_a_webpage/ejvhj7r/

Thanks for the information. Followed your instructions, but it appears that parameter was already set to False.

Thanks Doc

jscher2000 said

There is a related setting. Before Firefox 66, if you followed a link to a point in mid-page -- the URL has a hash tag that loads a point lower in the page -- your text could move when an image was loaded above that point. Firefox 66 solves that problem by pushing the content higher and keeping your current scroll position stable. But this creates the problem when you go Back. To revert to the behavior in Firefox 65 and earlier, try this: (1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful or accepting the risk. (2) In the search box above the list, type or paste anch and pause while the list is filtered (3) Double-click the layout.css.scroll-anchoring.enabled preference to switch the value from true to false Ref. https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/b7zsmd/firefox_goes_to_different_place_on_a_webpage/ejvhj7r/

Could be I was wrong! After I opened "about:config" I used CTRL-TAB to move back & forth to make sure I was entering the correct info. I very well may have changed True to False inadvertently. Only reason I say that is that the problem appears to be gone!

Thanks Again! Doc

If this "anch" solution solves the problem, I will have to set it on all my computers. Once done, will I have to reset it each time there is an update?

So far I don't think updates affect it I've gone through 3 minor updates, from 66.0 to 66.0.3 and the parameter has remained unchanged. I'm not an expert, but looks good so far!

Doc

Thanks!