Issue with YouTube in full screen mode using Firefox

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I’d like to find out why YouTube videos aren’t formatted the same on my desktop and laptop computers when I use Firefox, even though the versions of Windows and Firefox are the same on both computers.

I have Win 10 Pro, Version 21H2. Firefox is up to date.

The issue arises when I view a video in full screen mode. On my desktop, controls don’t appear on screen if the cursor is off to the side. If I move the cursor any distance into the screen, a narrow, black control bar (if that’s what it’s called) pops up and runs along the bottom of the page.

It doesn’t work the same way on my laptop. When I have a video running in full screen mode on that computer, positioning the cursor doesn’t do anything. The only way for me to view the control bar is to scroll down the page, which, of course, has the effect of moving the top of the video off screen. A rather annoying way to have to access the controls while I’m watching something.

I don’t like using MS Edge, but I’ve viewed YouTube videos on it for the sake of comparison. I found that it doesn’t work the same as Firefox on either computer. Instead, on both computers the control bar appears all the time, and can’t be made to disappear. Unlike what I see on Firefox, the control bar on Edge is mostly transparent, although the controls themselves are visible, and, of course, to such extent cover part of the video as I’m watching it.

The way this works in Edge is the worst option (what with the controls always covering part of what I’m watching). What I’d like to do is be able to view videos with Firefox on my laptop, and get it to work the same way as on my desktop: where I can summon the control bar by simply moving the cursor into the screen, and then get rid of the bar by moving the cursor back to the side. However, I don’t see where either Firefox or YouTube provides any instructions on the subject and I sure haven’t been able to figure it out on my own.

Can anyone help?

Thanks.

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Added custom filter scripts to your adblocker?
Export your current scripts first as a backup, then tweak away until working.

FYI: YouTube videos now require some advert scripts to run, like it or not.
I painfully had to remove some custom filters from Ublock Origin accrued over many years to view videos that now work well in both Firefox and ESR irrespective of any operating systems I use.

On a side note: If you have altered Privacy Badger in any way, it can also have an affect on YouTube videos, however, a simple reset to defaults fixes that.

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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Thanks for the suggestion.

I’m not a complete computer nitwit, but dealing with scripts is beyond me. So what I did after I saw your message, therefore, was simply to disable my ad blockers. I exited and relaunched Firefox, to allow for the speculative possibility that that might do something after that, and then tried YouTube again. Same result — i.e., the control bar doesn’t appear unless I scroll down the page, thereby hiding the top part of what I’m watching from view.

If you or anyone else has any other suggestion, I’d appreciate it.

Thanks large.

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BobStr wrote:

Same result — i.e., the control bar doesn’t appear unless I scroll down the page, thereby hiding the top part of what I’m watching from view.

Should “appear” there say “disappear”?

I don’t use Firefox, but in Edge with YouTube full screen view the controls disappear when I move the mouse pointer to left, top or right edges of the screen. That doesn’t happen for you in Edge?

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With Firefox (only on the laptop), the control bar does not appear on screen when Youtube is in full screen mode. It’s there, but it just off screen, at the bottom, so I have to scroll down to see it, thereby losing a corresponding section at that top of what I’m trying to view.

On my desktop it’s another matter. On that machine it works the way you describe: the bar is there at the bottom, and it disappears if I move the mouse pointer to the edge of the screen. I’d like to get Firefox/Youtube to work that way on my desktop.

Edge, on either computer (i.e., it works the same on both of them), is yet another matter. In my initial message, I said that the bar stays permanently on screen when YouTube is in full screen mode, and isn’t affected by moving the mouse pointer. I checked that again, after I read your message today, and either it’s changed, or I was nuts the first time and didn’t understand what I was seeing. In any case, today Edge (on both the laptop and desktop) works exactly the same with YouTube as Firefox does on the desktop: the bar is visible in full screen mode, and can be made to disappear by moving the mouse pointer off to the side. The only difference from Firefox is that the bar is transparent in Edge, whereas it’s a solid black in Firefox. (In Firefox it is transparent when not in full screen mode, but it changes to solid black when I switch to full screen.)

So, to recap: on my laptop, but not my desktop, and only when using Firefox, when I put a YouTube video in full screen mode, I can’t see the control bar without scrolling down the page. I have to scroll only a short distance, but to the extent that I have to scroll, I lose the top part of the video, since it naturally gets scrolled off the top part of the page. This makes it impossible, in full screen mode, to use the controls while maintaining a complete view of the video.

If worst comes to worst, I can always use Edge when I want to view a YouTube video on my laptop. I don’t care for Edge for other reasons, but this is nevertheless a possible solution. However, it would be nice to be able to get Firefox and YouTube to cooperate on my laptop, so any other suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

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