I am a loyal Firefox user who is now looking for another browser until they can make this optional.

(1) – coding an application’s UI to be backward-compatible with existing, known, familiar versions.

(2) – coding a menu-driven easy-to-find obvious option called “Set the Location Bar the Way It Was in FF2″

(3) – coding a menu-driven easy-to-find option called “Display Only One LIne (url) in the Location Bar”

Enough of all the add-on this and add-on that to turn OFF these force-feed UI “inventions” that should have an easy-to-find option for turning them off ANYWAY. Wake up people.

After trying it out, I uninstalled FF version 3, from all of my computers and reinstalled version 2.

I will never use FF 3 again, so long as it requires me to accept the location bar as it works now.

Same attitude as I have about Windows Vista. I tried that too, and then returned the computer for a full refund. I have purchased new computers since, with XP pro on them, but I will never use Vista or Firefox 3.

While I greatly appreciate many of the wonderful features that the creators of FF have given us, that doesn’t mean that I will accept features that work in ways which are contrary to how I want my own computers to operate.

We who want to do things our own way, have good reasons and logic for our preferences. We are not ignorant or old fashioned, just because we don’t like all possible ideas, which the creators think up.

Suggesting that only those who like and accept all possible new designs and features, are the elite and intelligent ones, is the ultimate form of ignorance and arrogance combined.

There will always be intelligent and rational people who do not see great value in Edsel designs…………

Fixing what ain’t broke, has never been a wise guideline for making “improvements.”

Developers can do anything. This is a ‘user’ issue. Firefox is supposed to be for users too. About:config shows the fine control is there, but some automation and gui control is needed.

How history and bookmarks show up (autofill, dropdown), which ones show up (history, individual bookmark folder exclude options), and where (address bar, search bar), and for how long (separate settings for history and weighted bookmarks) need to be controlled from one easy preference tab.

There also needs to be a real ‘Clear’ toolbar button with a drop down that offers to wipe absolutely ALL history traces (browsing, autofill, search, forms, cookies, downloads, etc., maybe even DNS cache) AND all temp files for any time frame from the last hour, 4 hours, day or forever, whatever.

People may also appreciate the option someday of encrypted bookmarks and cache files (secure browsing).

Right now, the history, autofill and bookmarks records seem growing all over the place and impossible to control similar to IE’s infinite history problem (history.dat?).

‘Clear Now’ does NOT erase all this stuff and I would be wary of using firefox for anything private at this point.

FF3 vs. FF2 is very much like Vista vs. XP for me. There’s no clear reason to upgrade, and while some might find the new version better, a good many prefer the older one one it’s merits, not just for being a “good ol’ browser”.

Having to tweak options in some obscure page and cross-reference them to random web searches telling me what the options DO is bad enough. I shouldn’t have to search the web to figure out how to even open my browser’s config settings.

“I often search my cronology only by typing random bits of the URL I want”

It’s the randomness that is my main complaint – the matching not only on the URL but also on page titles. Plus additional cost in terms of disk access (to get the images).

I really don’t like the new bar at all, the old system wasn’t broken. At least let us have a little checkbox to turn it back to old style.

The automated completion is a good feature. I often search my cronology only by typing random bits of the URL I want, and I always find it.
Good work, Mozilla developers!

In one fell swoop, it has informed my wife and kids of what they’re getting for Christmas. Well, thanks for that.

I’ve subsequently been told I can disable this, but the damage has been done.

I DIDN’T ASK FOR THIS FEATURE, AND WOULD HAVE DISABLED IT HAD I BEEN WARNED ABOUT IT.

Back to Firefox 2 until something better is released, because heaven knows what other unsolicited “features” will be introduced – where I can install a “plugin” to put things right after the damage has been done in real life.

Thank god for oldbar!