[Amezarak]

OTOH, this is taking away one of the few features still keeping me on Firefox - a separate search bar.

At this point, I increasingly can't differentiate Firefox from Chrome or Edge, which are better supported anyway.

Decisions based on "user data" have been a disaster for Firefox. The only reason any normal person ever used Firefox is because power users evangelized it - they don't get to be the default, pre-installed browser anywhere, and they don't have the world's biggest web properties constantly pushing for them. Power users are it. Obviously, the data will always reflect that any set of power user features is used only by a tiny amount of people.

But everything Mozilla has done in the past few years has been done to alienate power users and appeal to the non-existent normal user who goes out and downloads another browser. At this point with this redesign I'm basically done. If Firefox wants to be Chrome or Edge, I'm just going to use Chrome or Edge.

[toper-centage]

If a little redesign makes you move to Chrome, what exactly was stopping you?

[Amezarak]

Mostly inertia. I’ve been using it since 1.0.

There’s been a trickle of changes over the years going in this direction. This was just the last straw. It’s becoming increasingly Less useful to me.

I don’t like Chrome but it’s better supported and it and Edge are more widely available by default. There’s simply no advantage anymore to using Firefox.

I’m the kind of guy that installs Firefox on everyone’s computer when they ask me to “fix” it and that recommends it to them. But their whole strategy has turned me off. And it won’t gain them any other market share either.

[xNeil]

Hi! Not sponsored or anything, but if you want a separate search bar, Vivaldi (vivaldi.com) has that. Just thought it might help.

[3836293648]

If you want a separate search bar you go to the firefox customisation page (same page as all other firefox customisations) and literally drag and drop the search bar back into the header

[CRConrad]

Oh, look -- still there! Thanks!