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On Firefox desktop, you can make Firefox 157 feel closer to its earlier look by tightening spacing, restoring familiar toolbar elements and choosing a suitable theme. These supported options do not recreate the entire previous interface. For a more specific change, Mozilla documents a sidebar rollback with a vertical-tabs tradeoff; broader rollback advice found in a support forum is unofficial and less certain.

Start with the supported appearance controls

Firefox 157 introduced Mozilla’s Nova visual refresh to Release users on September 29, 2026. The changes affect areas including toolbars, the sidebar and menus. The simplest way to recover some familiarity is to adjust density and toolbar layout before changing advanced preferences.

Reduce toolbar and tab spacing

  1. Open Settings > Appearance.

  2. Under Window density, select Compact. Firefox 157’s built-in Compact mode uses less space for toolbars and controls, leaving more room for web pages.

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Compact mode is a Firefox 157 setting; older instructions that enable a hidden Compact option through about:config are for earlier versions and are unnecessary here. Labels and menu details can vary by platform and later Firefox releases.

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Put familiar controls and bars back where you want them

  1. Open the Firefox menu and choose More Tools > Customize Toolbar.

  2. Drag toolbar items to rearrange them. Use the available controls to show familiar elements such as the Title Bar, Menu bar or Bookmarks toolbar.

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Linux menu options can vary with the desktop environment. Avoid choosing Restore Defaults casually: Mozilla warns that it resets the default theme and, when vertical tabs are enabled, changes them to horizontal tabs.

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Use a theme to approximate the old colors

A Firefox theme can change the browser’s toolbar colors and background imagery, but it does not restore the previous layout or guarantee the old tab shapes and control behavior. Mozilla says themes are lightweight background themes; complete themes are no longer supported.

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To choose one, open Extensions and themes > Themes, or browse Mozilla’s theme guide. Review the theme information and enable the one you want. Mozilla Add-ons Community said on September 29, 2026, that a Firefox Proton theme was being featured for people who preferred the earlier visual treatment. Its effect is cosmetic, not a full interface rollback. Nova also changed where some theme properties appear, although themes continue to load and most color and image properties work, according to Mozilla’s theme-developer article.

Choose how much of the old interface you want

Approach What it changes Support and tradeoff
Compact density and toolbar customization Spacing, placement and visibility of familiar toolbar elements Built-in controls documented by Mozilla; does not replace Nova.
Firefox theme Toolbar colors and background imagery Documented theme feature; does not restore the old layout or geometry.
sidebar.revamp=false Restores the previous sidebar version Documented in Firefox 157 release notes; disables vertical tabs and is stated to remain available until the end of 2027.
browser.nova.enabled=false A forum user reports that it reverted the broader Nova interface in Firefox 157 Community-reported, not the rollback documented in release notes; no confirmed availability period.
userChrome.css Can style individual browser-interface details Advanced and unsupported; interface changes may break rules.

Restore the previous sidebar, if vertical tabs are not important to you

Firefox 157’s release notes document sidebar.revamp as the preference for returning to the previous sidebar. Setting it to false also turns off vertical tabs. Mozilla says this preference will remain available until the end of 2027; that stated availability applies to this sidebar preference, not to other advanced preferences. It changes the sidebar specifically, not the whole browser into a Firefox 156 copy.

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To change it, enter about:config in the address bar, acknowledge the warning, search for sidebar.revamp, and change its value to false. If the preference is absent or the result differs, do not assume the same instruction applies to another preference or Firefox version.

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Treat a broader Nova rollback as an uncertain workaround

A Mozilla Support forum user reported that setting browser.nova.enabled to false restored the old look in their Firefox 157 installation. That is a user report, not a rollback method documented in the Firefox 157 release notes, and it comes with no confirmed end date. Do not confuse it with sidebar.revamp, which has a narrower, officially documented effect.

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Mozilla cautions that changing preferences in about:config can cause unexpected behavior or break Firefox, and updates may affect those preferences. If you choose to try a community-reported preference, first record its original value and understand that it may stop working or behave differently. Mozilla’s guidance is in Firefox advanced customization and configuration options.

Use custom CSS only if you can maintain it

Advanced users can use userChrome.css to style parts of Firefox’s interface, but Mozilla does not officially support custom style rules. Interface changes can alter the elements those rules target, so Mozilla cannot guarantee that the CSS will keep working. This is a hands-on customization, not a supported way to restore the old interface.

To undo it, set toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets to false in about:config, then remove or rename userChrome.css in the profile’s chrome folder. Mozilla’s CSS customization guide covers the approach and recovery steps. A Firefox Refresh is not the first recovery step: it can remove add-ons and other customizations.

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What to expect from the available options

For a low-risk adjustment, begin with Compact density and toolbar customization, then try a theme if the colors or background are the main problem. Use the sidebar preference only if its loss of vertical tabs is acceptable. The broader preference and custom CSS offer less certainty and require accepting the risks of unsupported or changeable customizations. Mozilla’s instructions for customizing Firefox controls, buttons and toolbars explain the standard toolbar controls.

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