Is it possible to disable Firefox top part transparency?

Question

Apparently, this has been an issue for a lot of users starting from the version 4 where the transparent top was first released. Most users are satisfied with simply disabling Aero system-wide.

But I just witnessed a rare (bugged?) occasion where after opening an application that forces the Aero effect to be turned off as a mean of increasing system responsiveness, and after said application shutting down, the Aero effect was restored everywhere except for the content part of the browser window. The browser window's border was transparent, yet the area with "File, Edit, Help, etc" and address bar remained opaque light-blue color. I liked that. Is there a way to make this permanent?

This is a shopped mockup of what was going on, since I wasn't able to reproduce that and make an actual screenshot: (and it's in Russian, so don't be afraid)

Solution 1

You can achieve non-transparent menu by opting for Tabs on Top.
This is done by right-clicking on an empty space in the menu then selecting this option.

If the option doesn't appear in the right-click menu :

• In the Location bar, type about:config and press Enter.
• If warning page appears saying "This might void your warranty!", promise to be careful
• In the Search field box at the top, type browser.tabs.onTop
• Double-click this entry to flip its value to true (and the same again to undo).

Otherwise, you could try for this effect using userstyles.org - Firefox: Choose Your Color.

Solution 2

1. Right click to a Firefox shortcut → “Свойства” → “Совместимость” → check “Запускать программу в режиме совместимости с:” → select “Windows XP” (pic. 1);

2. Run Firefox using the shortcut, go to the browser's menu, click “Изменить”, choose “Заголовок” (pic. 2);

3. You'll get the following result (pic. 3).

Comments

[Alexey Ivanov]

You can try to check Disable desktop composition setting on Compatibility tab of a shortcut, and launch the application. The system would turn off Aero until you close that program. Launch Firefox while Aero is disabled, it should look the way as on you screen shot. I'm not sure whether it would revert to Aero-enabled rendering when Aero is re-enabled again.

[user1306322]

Thing is the way it's on the screenshot is with Aero enabled. Look at the transparent glass borders. The menu area still retains the opaque style though. It's the kind of effect I'd like to achieve.

[Alexey Ivanov]

This what I talk about: You launch Firefox while Aero is off, and then turn Aero on. Does Firefox change its rendering to transparent menu bar when Aero becomes enabled?

[user1306322]

I tried turning it off and on again and other combos, none of which resulted in what's depicted on the image. This wasn't supposed to happen naturally, I'm sure.

[user1306322]

Somehow this doesn't work for me. Only a 1 pixel line seems to be colored and the rest stays transparent. This doesn't work with tabs above or below.

[harrymc]

Tabs on Top worked for me when I answered, but has stopped working now. In fact, it has even disappeared from my right-click menu! I'm afraid that something is broken in the current release.

[Alexey Ivanov]

I don't have Tabs on Top option in Firefox 26.

[harrymc]

Do the opposite of what's described here.

[user1306322]

This does nothing for me. Did it do anything for you? Can you post the "before" and "after" screenshots?