To whom it may concern (if any):

I've been using Firefox since the version one, and I've found Panorama to be the WORST thing happened to it EVER.

It's rather primitive: there are addons providing much more in the "grouping" department. Its interface is clumsy and counter-intuitive. It's so resource-hungry that I'm wondering why "Panorama"? For me it's more like "Thrash and Crash" ;-/

Worst of all, you CANNOT just IGNORE it because its bugs tend to screw other features. Yes, it hides opened tabs when you try to restore closed ones. And in some other cases. Every other time. At random.

So there MUST be a way to DISABLE it.

-- dfioxk

P.S. I'm posting this from Opera because Panorama just "ate" the support.mozilla.com's tab once again.

    If this not a shame, what is?

To everyone suffering from Panorama:

Below is a quick&dirty hack that disables it.

It worked for me (so far so good), it may or may not work for you. It's not going to get rid of Panorama completely / in a right way, and might cause problems on its own. But for my woes it's better than nothing. Also, you'll likely need to follow the procedure below after every browser update. Updating addons, themes, etc won't break this fix though.

The evil resides in the file named omni.jar. It's in C:\Program Files\Firefox, or wherever Firefox 4 is installed on your PC. Exit Firefox, and make a copy of this directory so you'd be able to get your browser back if something goes wrong.

The omni.jar is in fact a .zip package. Create a new directory, and unpack it there using WinZIP or similar utility. Make sure your ZIP software is instructed to preserve directory structure (that's often by default, but not always). Upon correct unpacking the directory will contain the following:

<DIR> chrome

<DIR> components

<DIR> defaults

<DIR> modules

<DIR> res

<FILE> chrome.manifest

<FILE> greprefs.js

( you won't see words "<DIR>" and "<FILE>", you'll see five directories and two files )

Then you need to change browser.js in chrome\browser\content\browser directory. It's a text file, so load it in Notepad. Find the line "init: function TabView_init() {" in it, and insert (type in) "return;" after the line you found (without quotes). Save the file. ZIP the whole thing back into a new omni.jar, and replace the original one with it. Again, make sure your ZIP packed _everything_ in preserving directory structure.

Before zipping you may want to change chrome\browser\content\browser\browser.xul as well, but this is optional. The following changes take care of buttons, menu items, and other Panorama interface elements. They won't do a thing after applying the above mentioned browser.js fix, but will still be visible. For those not familiar with the "diff" utility, if a line below starts with a single "-", find it in the browser.xul and remove from there. If such "-" line is followed by a "+" line, replace the former with the latter (ommitting the "+" sign itself).

-- browser.xul.diff --

--- omni.jar/chrome/browser/content/browser/browser.xul..0 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000000000 -0500

+++ omni.jar/chrome/browser/content/browser/browser.xul..1 2011-01-22 08:04:40.828125000 -0500

@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@

    <command id="View:PageInfo" oncommand="BrowserPageInfo();"/>

    <command id="View:FullScreen" oncommand="BrowserFullScreen();"/>

    <command id="cmd_find"

- oncommand="if (TabView.isVisible()) TabView.enableSearch(event); else gFindBar.onFindCommand();"

+ oncommand="gFindBar.onFindCommand();"

             observes="isImage"/>

    <command id="cmd_findAgain"
</pre>
             oncommand="gFindBar.onFindAgainCommand(false);"

@@ -136,9 +136,6 @@
    <command id="Browser:NextTab" oncommand="gBrowser.tabContainer.advanceSelectedTab(1, true);"/>

    <command id="Browser:PrevTab" oncommand="gBrowser.tabContainer.advanceSelectedTab(-1, true);"/>

    <command id="Browser:ShowAllTabs" oncommand="allTabs.open();"/>

-    <command id="Browser:ToggleTabView" oncommand="TabView.toggle();"/>
-    <command id="Browser:ShowTabView" oncommand="TabView.show();"/>
-    <command id="Browser:HideTabView" oncommand="TabView.hide();"/>    
    <command id="cmd_fullZoomReduce"  oncommand="FullZoom.reduce()"/>

    <command id="cmd_fullZoomEnlarge" oncommand="FullZoom.enlarge()"/>

    <command id="cmd_fullZoomReset"   oncommand="FullZoom.reset()"/>

@@ -208,7 +205,6 @@
    <broadcaster id="isFrameImage"/>

    <broadcaster id="singleFeedMenuitemState" disabled="true"/>

    <broadcaster id="multipleFeedsMenuState" hidden="true"/>

-    <broadcaster id="tabviewGroupsNumber" groups="0"/>
    <broadcaster id="sync-setup-state"/>

    <broadcaster id="sync-syncnow-state"/>

    <broadcaster id="workOfflineMenuitemState"/>

@@ -296,8 +292,6 @@
    <key id="key_switchTextDirection" key="&bidiSwitchTextDirectionItem.commandkey;" command="cmd_switchTextDirection" modifiers="accel,shift" />


-    <key id="key_tabview" key="&tabView.commandkey;" command="Browser:ToggleTabView" modifiers="accel"/>
    <key id="key_privatebrowsing" command="Tools:PrivateBrowsing" key="&privateBrowsingCmd.commandkey;" modifiers="accel,shift"/>

    <key id="key_sanitize" command="Tools:Sanitize" keycode="VK_DELETE" modifiers="accel,shift"/>


@@ -332,15 +326,6 @@
      <menuitem id="context_unpinTab" label="&unpinAppTab.label;" hidden="true"

                accesskey="&unpinAppTab.accesskey;"
                

oncommand="gBrowser.unpinTab(TabContextMenu.contextTab);"/>
-      <menu id="context_tabViewMenu" label="&moveToGroup.label;"
-            accesskey="&moveToGroup.accesskey;">
-        <menupopup id="context_tabViewMenuPopup"
-                   onpopupshowing="if (event.target == this) TabView.updateContextMenu(TabContextMenu.contextTab, this);">
-          <menuseparator id="context_tabViewNamedGroups" hidden="true"/>
-          <menuitem id="context_tabViewNewGroup" label="&moveToNewGroup.label;"
-                oncommand="TabView.moveTabTo(TabContextMenu.contextTab, null);"/>
-        </menupopup>
-      </menu>
      <menuitem id="context_openTabInWindow" label="&moveToNewWindow.label;"
</pre>
                accesskey="&moveToNewWindow.accesskey;"

                tbattr="tabbrowser-multiple"

@@ -1681,11 +1666,6 @@
            <menu id="view-menu" label="&viewMenu.label;"

                  accesskey="&viewMenu.accesskey;">

              <menupopup id="menu_viewPopup">

-                <menuitem id="menu_tabview"
-                          key="key_tabview"
-                          label="&viewTabGroups.label;"
-                          accesskey="&viewTabGroups.accesskey;"
-                          command="Browser:ToggleTabView"/>
                <menu id="viewToolbarsMenu"

                      label="&viewToolbarsMenu.label;"

                      accesskey="&viewToolbarsMenu.accesskey;">

@@ -2432,7 +2412,7 @@
             iconsize="small" defaulticonsize="small" lockiconsize="true"

             aria-label="&tabsToolbar.label;"

             context="toolbar-context-menu"

-             defaultset="tabbrowser-tabs,new-tab-button,alltabs-button,tabview-button,tabs-closebutton"
+             defaultset="tabbrowser-tabs,new-tab-button,alltabs-button,tabs-closebutton"
             collapsed="true">

@@ -2467,13 +2447,6 @@

                  position="after_end"/>

      </toolbarbutton>


-      <toolbarbutton id="tabview-button" class="toolbarbutton-1 chromeclass-toolbar-additional"
-                     label="&tabGroupsButton.label;"
-                     command="Browser:ToggleTabView"
-                     tooltiptext="&tabGroupsButton.tooltip;"
-                     removable="true"
-                     observes="tabviewGroupsNumber"/>
      <toolbarbutton id="tabs-closebutton"
                     class="close-button tabs-closebutton"
                     command="cmd_close"
</pre>
-- cut --

Right click "group your tabs" icon, select customize and click "restore default settings".

This fixed it for me! Hopefully it works for the rest of you guys having this issue.

Post a reply if this was of any help, please!

Gnosis, that's a better soluiton than mine! I did a similar action but instead of restore default settings I dragged the 'group my tabs' icon back into the customise window.

Although I did have to restore default settings as no new tabs would open upon clicking on a bookmark!

I was hating the group tabs and none of the solutions suggested worked for me.

What finally worked was going to each tab in the groups that I had, opening Internet Options, selecting "Show my Home page" when Firefox starts, then choosing "Restore to Default." That finally left me with a single tab when Firefox opened. I then went and chose a Home Page.

Go to Customise Toolbar and drag group tab back onto list of toolbar icons.

So simple and the best response, Thank U cth1!!!!