Oh, a minor note: when the window I want is almost covered and I want to bring it to the front, I can click on the status bar to do so without fear of hitting some link within in the program unintentionally. This means that a status bar that does nothing at all is highly desirable by just being there. I tend to position windows such that this is a darn useful feature.pcG

You can look at the Classic Theme Restorer extension to restore some functionality that was lost with the arrival of the Australis style in Firefox 29.

• Classic Theme Restorer: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/classicthemerestorer/

You can check the settings of the CTR extension via its Options/Preferences button on the "Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions" page.

See also:

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/how-to-make-new-firefox-look-like-old-firefox

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/common-questions-after-updating-to-new-firefox
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/learn-more-about-the-design-of-new-firefox

cor-el - as usual, you are there quickly with a lot of good ideas. --- I'm not up to this right now --- Mozilla SHOULD GET A CLUE that every time they try to sabotage a VERY LARGE part of their user base, tons of work-arounds pup up almost immediately. But I'm taking a stand on this. There is NO arguing that they are WRONG to keep trying to do this and they've got to be trained to back down when they get something this wrong (at least three times now). I am not going to put up with this third try of theirs only to have them do it a fourth and fifth and sixth time. They are capable of learning the true message of their stewardship or they are not worth my time. Still don't like that with each new version, addons have to conform to them (like Win7 refusing to conform to 32 bit standards in their 64 bit systems [I put EVERYTHING in "program files" and need to create a "program files (x64)"]. This is all part of the fabric of reality and sooner or later government will get involved to demand reason and standard for what is arguably more important and pervasive than regular utilities]...pcG. (Mozilla cannot seem to even understand the term 'CR/LF' - obtuse on this scale is mesmerizing).

OK, this is probably a better way of trying to get what I want. . Toolbars should be "user definable" with as much flexibility as possibility. . How do I get Mozilla to understand it's a GOOD thing to let me create 37 toolbars and put them anywhere I want? . First, take the status bar and let users put it at the top (and let all the other toolbars able to go to the bottom). Then suggest an "addon" toolbar next to the status bar and show how to move the items from point a to point b. many will, many won't and it is OK. . Let the user decide what items should go where. . But as long as Mozilla steals what I want (status bar) and deliberately hide the items I want (addon bar OFF by default), then they can lay NO claim to even pretending to be concerned with my interests. . Every browser out there gives me a status bar - Mozilla has seemingly decided they don't want my type using their product. . like I said, doing a strike28 (will stay with version 28 until status bar returns or obsolete drives me away from Mozilla for good). . In short, how do I get across how serious a mistake they keep trying to make? . I guess this will just be another "I remember when they almost ...". (choice "B" 'leave it') . pcG

Alternate example: Windows 2000 will always be my favorite. I could put the menu bar on the right half of the address bar in explorer. That puts "file edit view ..." in the center at the top, easier to reach by any standard. In firefox I can pad the left side of the menu bar so that it is also in the center, but with the explorer example, I can combine two bars onto one bar line... maximum flexibility ... please stop the "it worked great, so we fixed it". Microsoft is heck bent on that road, only stupid companies copy such bad ideas.pcG

So, for those interested, I'm still using v28 and things are working well still. But in all this time, a couple of simple, yet salient points have arisen (arose?) in my head. 1) Mozilla keeps trying to get rid of the status bar and folks of my ilk get all agitated and it dawns on me - have they ever said WHY they want to get rid of the status bar? Do they not like me having a tall enough area at the bottom to click on to bring the window to the front? Do they object to me knowing the status of what's going on?.............The upshot of this and the failure to get FlashPlayer right is that I'm using a browser less and less these days. I use it for web mail, ebay & nzbclub and the occasional google search. But search engines don't seem to work at all well anymore, so I'm gonna quit that soon. Try a google search for a phrase and then open a result and I give it about a 68% chance the phrase isn't even on the page, not even if you go back and find the well hidden 'cache' option (pronounced "cash"!,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,My second point is probably going to sound laughable, but think a bit and it IS quite serious. Namely, when is firefox going to be finished? I mean, more than a decade ago they finished Media Player Classic and you cannot believe how wonderful it is that something just works! The problem with this "forever development" (aside from doing idiot things like 'let us get rid of the status bar') is that things are seriously backsliding. Used to be a product would be in beta and then a few tweaks and then it was finished. Yes, there were later versions (I have NO interest in MPC home theater - ruins the good stuff and gives me nothing). It's like "since we'll never finish this project, we can slide all the way back to pre-beta (alpha?) and have everyone disturbed by what are they going to change next, just to keep some jobs. Ruin the experience and ruin the reputation and then I see no reason to come to your sandbox anymore. Someday I'll have to relate the arrogance of Forte` Agent that screwed them the pooch (it's not OUR problem, it's an issue in all microsoft operating systems!). Anyway, I see the question asked "when are they going to put back the status bar" and there is only this pseudo answer of "they won't because there's an add-on". How about "when will they stop defeating the add-on that defeats their attempt to get rid of the status bar. I mentioned that with the v29 debacle, sure enough there was a new add-on to take care of that. So, how many add-ons does it take to get them to JUST LET ME HAVE THE DAMM STATUS BAR, OK? pcG

The actual Status Bar was removed from Firefox over 3 years ago (as of Firefox 4), and was replaced by the Add-on Bar which is now gone, too. Get over it already!

There are a number of extensions which restore the Add-on Bar. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/status-4-evar/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/the-addon-bar/ Along with the Classic Theme Restorer extension that cor-el mentioned 3 months ago when this thread was started.

Firefox is never going to be "finished". As the web evolves, as the mix of devices used to access the web evolves, and as the Mozilla developers decide to add or improve features in Firefox, Firefox will evolve and change.

Bottom line is, if you want a "statusbar" you have a number of choices for installing a "statusbar" in the Firefox 29+ versions via an extension. Or you can continue using Firefox 28 and live without the security updates that are released every 6 weeks with each new version of Firefox. Or you can install a 3rd party version that is Gecko-based. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_web_browsers#Gecko-based

Ed,

I see no reason for this thread to continue to be open. You've given options as well as cor-el to get the status bar back. It's up to pcG whether or not he wants to follow them. I'll be closing this thread as it'll just be spent going back and forth about the status bar. Ed, if you feel this needs to be open still, feel free to unlock it.  :) I've marked your last post as the solution as it gets down and dirty to the question.