I can't move any buttons/controls to the Title Bar in Firefox 64, as far as I can tell. But I usually don't display the title bar anyway, I let the tabs move up into that space.

Do you know whether this a change was made in Firefox 57 with the introduction of the Photon UI layout, or have you been able to move buttons/controls to the title bar in Firefox 57-63?

jscher2000 said

I can't move any buttons/controls to the Title Bar

I apologize. It's called the menu bar, not the title bar. I corrected it above.

Oh, thank you for clarifying that. Firefox 64 does let me drag and drop the search bar (and other controls) onto the Menu Bar.

I see what you mean about the Options page setting: Firefox doesn't find the Search bar on the main toolbar, so it assumes you aren't showing it at all. But as far as I can tell, the moved search bar works and it stays on the Menu Bar when I exit Firefox and start it up again.

Is yours not working or is it disappearing?

jscher2000 said

Is yours not working or is it disappearing?

When I move the search box to the menu bar, the browser automatically changes the Search Bar setting (in Options) to Use the address bar for search and navigation.

Well, I don't want to use the address bar for searching (because it's a significant privacy hole), so I switch the option back to Add search bar in toolbar which automatically removes the search box from the menu bar.

JuzBeKind said

jscher2000 said

Is yours not working or is it disappearing?

When I move the search box to the menu bar, the browser automatically changes the Search Bar setting (in Options) to Use the address bar for search and navigation.

Well, I don't want to use the address bar for searching (because it's a significant privacy hole), so I switch the option back to Add search bar in toolbar which automatically removes the search box from the menu bar.

Don't click that button!

I suggest you ignore the selection on the Options page. Clearly, what you've done is not one of the configurations the page understands. Just keep doing it -- using the Search bar on the Menu bar -- for as long as it works. "Don't worry, be happy, and definitely do not click the setting that breaks it."

If you like, you can submit a suggestion to add more settings to the Search panel of the Options page. To be completely frank, I don't think those will go anywhere, since the design philosophy seems to be "one toolbar."

To submit suggestions for features changes in future versions of Firefox, you can try one or more of the following:

• Feedback: https://qsurvey.mozilla.com/s3/FirefoxInput/
• Discourse: https://discourse.mozilla.org/c/firefox-development
• Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/firefox
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Firefox

jscher2000 said

Don't click that button!

You're not quite getting my meaning. What I'm saying is that, if I put the search box where I want it (on the menu bar), the browser automatically forces a setting I don't want. I don't want searching to occur in the address bar because it results in my URL being sent to a search engine any time there's a typo (or other flaw) in it.

JuzBeKind said

jscher2000 said

Don't click that button!

You're not quite getting my meaning. What I'm saying is that, if I put the search box where I want it (on the menu bar), the browser automatically forces a setting I don't want. I don't want searching to occur in the address bar because it results in my URL being sent to a search engine any time there's a typo (or other flaw) in it.

What if I told you that sometimes software is stupid.

You put the classic Search bar on your Menu bar. It works. Right?

The Options page has no idea that you have a Search bar on your Menu bar, all it knows is that you do not have a Search bar on your main toolbar. So it figures you are choosing the first option. It is not allowed to give you the "third option" that you want, which is "Add search bar in menu bar."

The important point is, if you just ignore that setting -- do not touch that dial! -- Firefox works exactly the way you want. It leaves the Search bar on the Menu bar, and it works normally.

Am I right, or am I right?

JuzBeKind said

I don't want searching to occur in the address bar because it results in my URL being sent to a search engine any time there's a typo (or other flaw) in it.

Now, regarding the address bar, if you never want input into the address bar sent to the search engine, there's a completely different setting for that, no matter where you put your Search bar:

(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 keyw and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the keyword.enabled preference to switch the value from true to false

jscher2000 said

Double-click the keyword.enabled preference to switch the value from true to false

Well then there's three issues here that need to be to be fixed. (that's the primary reason I posted by the way - to help improve Firefox.)

1. That option -- Use the address bar for search and navigation -- is misleading as the implication is that, if I de-select it, Firefox will not use the address bar for search and navigation.

2. That option shouldn't be automatically switching over to Add search bar in toolbar when I move the search box. Firefox should be detecting that I didn't actually remove the search box - I just moved it to a different bar.

3. That keyword.enabled option should be in the UI, it shouldn't be hidden away in about:config.

With all that said, thank you for the valuable info. I suspect that may be what I ended up having to do in previous versions of Firefox.