I have just upgraded from Firefox 3 to Firefox 4. Firefox 4 is fast! And it looks snazzy. But unfortunately, there are quite a number of inconveniences:

• The menu is hidden, where I use the View, History and Bookmarks items constantly
• There is no more status bar, which means there is no more NoScript button, which I use constantly
• The position of the home button has changed. A habit of 20 years doesn’t break easily. So I prefer to have it back in the old position!

Here is how to solve those inconveniences.

1. Showing the Menu bar

That’s an easy one. It’s as simple as reactivating it in the ‘View’ options. This can be done in 2 ways. Either press F-10 (on Windows), and the menu bar (temporarily) re-appears. Choose View, then click Menu Bar. Alternatively, press the new Firefox button at the top left, choose Options and reactivate the Menu Bar there.

2. Reinstalling the Status Bar

In Firefox 4, there IS no more status bar, which gives one more screen real estate, but also makes it no longer possible to have the buttons there for add-ons! As I constantly use a number of add-ons, this is not acceptable!

The only solution is to install a new add-on which recreates the status bar. You can get it here:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/235283

If you like the extra screen real estate, you can hide / show the add-on status bar by pressing CTRL+/ which gives you the best of both worlds: one key combination, and you’ve got access again to the status bar.

3. Adding Noscript to the add-on bar

Right-click on the add-on bar. Click Customize. Look for the Noscript Icon and drag and drop it to the position you want it.

PS: you don’t have to add the NoScript button to the add-on bar, of course. You could add it to any bar: menu bar, … in the same way, i.e. by customizing it.

4. Repositioning the Home Button

I prefer the home button on the left, next to the back and forward buttons. To achieve this: right-click over the current position of the home button. Choose Customize. Drag and drop the home button to the location you want it.

Enjoy!