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Something changed at SE, or at least EE.SE in the last few hours. I just logged in, and the same browser window size I had been using doesn't work anymore without very annoying horizontal scrolling. It appears the reason is that the buttons HOME, QUESTIONS, TAGS, USERS, and UNANSWERED are now on the left, using up more window width. These used to be at the top where they weren't really in the way.

On the off chance someone at SE cares, I don't like this because now I can have only one slim window on the screen at the same time, whereas previously more of my screen was left to my uses. I use the browser for various things other than SE, and having to resize the window between uses is a pain. It's also totally unnecessary for SE to require that much window width.

However, the question is, How can I get the old layout back?.

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    \$\begingroup\$ You should complain on meta.stackexchange.com \$\endgroup\$ – Passerby Sep 18 '18 at 22:33
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    \$\begingroup\$ I agree with you Olin, and I'm too lazy to complain on Meta. It's a little bit nasty to force bad GUI's down our throats. \$\endgroup\$ – Harry Svensson Sep 18 '18 at 22:42
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    \$\begingroup\$ My guess is that the updated themes are no longer optional. electronics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/6688/… \$\endgroup\$ – W5VO Sep 18 '18 at 23:23
  • \$\begingroup\$ @KingDuken Me no like it. \$\endgroup\$ – Harry Svensson Sep 18 '18 at 23:49
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    \$\begingroup\$ Woops... accidentally deleted my comment... My original comment: "Seems like you have to click on the left side to see questions. Kinda throws me off." \$\endgroup\$ – KingDuken Sep 18 '18 at 23:50
  • \$\begingroup\$ @KingDuken I don't trust like that. \$\endgroup\$ – Harry Svensson Sep 18 '18 at 23:55
  • \$\begingroup\$ I can't see the breakdowns because of rep, but the question has a net 203 downvotes! \$\endgroup\$ – Scott Seidman Sep 19 '18 at 13:46
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    \$\begingroup\$ It occurs to me that our home page is useless, and should just point to the questions page instead. Then, I wouldn't need the silly left bar \$\endgroup\$ – Scott Seidman Sep 25 '18 at 1:29
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The only thing you can do is to "hide left navigation" from user's preference.

"Hide left navigation"

It will move the navigation to the top bar, beside Stack Exchange logo

Expanded navigation

Apart from that, as much as you hate it, no, you can't get the old layout back. (further reading: Ch-ch-ch-changes: Left nav, responsive design, & themes)

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks. That worked in reducing the browser window width requirement. However, now there is a extra click required to get QUESTIONS, USERS, and the like. Not ideal, but still better than the wide window. \$\endgroup\$ – Olin Lathrop Sep 19 '18 at 10:38
  • \$\begingroup\$ @OlinLathrop Much better than wasting all that space on rarely hit links. \$\endgroup\$ – Scott Seidman Sep 19 '18 at 12:56
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Scott: Not at all, since "Questions" at least is a frequently-hit link. I sometimes use "Users", very rarely "Tags", pretty much never "Home" or "Unanswered", but "Questions" is probably the single most common fixed link I click on. \$\endgroup\$ – Olin Lathrop Sep 19 '18 at 13:02
  • \$\begingroup\$ I just noticed how annoying it is to have the questions link as a two-step process. I agree. \$\endgroup\$ – Scott Seidman Sep 19 '18 at 13:03
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    \$\begingroup\$ I can't believe how much usability we've lost, given that these people are supposed to be experts at user interfaces. \$\endgroup\$ – Scott Seidman Sep 19 '18 at 13:04
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I've once again posted my opinions on the change, this time at https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/315639/274872. I encourage everyone to do the same.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Instead of doing the same, I upvoted yours. \$\endgroup\$ – Olin Lathrop Sep 19 '18 at 14:00

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