Ask and Ye Shall Receive: Adblock Plus (sort of!)

[aleksandyr]

Following the extension guide as best I could, here's Adblock Plus.

It installs (tested via dpkg -i as I assume it won't work in application manager) and creates an Adblock plugin entry. I don't have N800-compatible web access here, so I can't test it personally.

The extension conversion process looks painless, but I can't figure out how to get extension UIs up...

[frethop]

Many thanks, aleksandyr!

Report: Downloads and installs fine using "dpkg -i" However, ads still show (e.g., on the ITT home page). I presume this is because the advertisement database is empty. I can't seem to find where to adblock an advertisement, either. Or how to populate the database any other way.

-F

[paulrb02]

It installs just fine, and shows up in the plugins menu, but ads are still showing. I think it needs a list to tell it which ads not to show. maybe porting Adblock Filterset.G Updater will do the trick.

Also I just want to say Thank You for doing this.

[Rocketman]

I believe the new browser does not support XUL for performance reasons. Among other things, this makes it impossible for extensions to modify the browser UI. This may make it impossible for things like plugin settings windows. Assuming the plugin doesn't require any user interaction after initial setup to do its thing, you might be about to edit any extension setup variable in a text editor.

As an aside, the plugin that I would kill for (but which I doubt would work) is flashblock. Currently, a lot of flash crashes the browser, using the new flash 9 plugin. Browsing the web with flash turned on atm is like playing russian rouletete. There needs to be some facility for selectively whitelist sites.

[aleksandyr]

True, but even without XUL, it's probably possible to copy a working Adblock configuration in and get ad blocking.

Once I can actually -test- this, I intend to play with it and get it working --- I could not resist posting a teaser, though :)

[Milhouse]

Excellent work Aleksandyr! Any chance of packaging Flashblock? :)

[aleksandyr]

Sure. I'll rig it up momentarily --- I've automated the process abit.

[zerojay]

As an aside, the plugin that I would kill for (but which I doubt would work) is flashblock. Currently, a lot of flash crashes the browser, using the new flash 9 plugin. Browsing the web with flash turned on atm is like playing russian rouletete. There needs to be some facility for selectively whitelist sites.

Weird, I've yet to see a single crash with flash always on in microb or Opera.

[Rocketman]

Try going to escapepod.org, wait for it to completely load and then try scrolling down so that the flash embedded object comes into view. Instant browser poof accompanied by error message. Turn off flash plugin, go to same site and it loads and works fine without issue. I have found a number of other sites where this behaviour is reproduce able for me 100% of the time.

Please try this for yourself and report back.

[Toontje]

Excellent work Aleksandyr! Any chance of packaging Flashblock? :)

If Flashblock is for blocking Flash, why don't you just disable it in the plug-in section of the browser?
Or am i saying something stupid now?

Ton.

[Milhouse]

If Flashblock is for blocking Flash, why don't you just disable it in the plug-in section of the browser?
Or am i saying something stupid now?

Ton.

Flashblock will block (disable) Flash by default (so no more adverts) but allow Flash on sites where I actually want to view Flash (ie. youtube).

You basically create a "white list" of sites where Flash is permitted. It's the best extension for Firefox on the desktop IMHO! :) On the N800 it will be awesome as you won't be wasting cpu cycles (and thus battery) displaying Flash adverts you never really look at, but youtube will be unaffected (once it's added to the white list).

[aleksandyr]

Toontje, Flashblock (I'm guessing!) allows for selective blocking of flash on certain sites, instead of having to manually toggle flash on/off.

[Texrat]

Weird, I've yet to see a single crash with flash always on in microb or Opera.

Opera blew up on me when I tried to run linerider.

[Milhouse]

I wonder if it will be possible to fix bug #1006 (https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1006) with an extension? My idea would be a whitelist that prevents the backlight from kicking in.

[Toontje]

Opera blew up on me when I tried to run linerider.

Linerider worked fine for me. Well, the drawing did. The Dude just ran across the track in SLOOOOOW motion. But Opera didn't crash.

Ton.

[Rocketman]

Flashblock lets you selectively block flash. It puts a placeholder in place of the actual object and doesn't load the object until you click on it. It also lets you whitelist certain objects/sites so that they load automatically. It lets you avoid a lot of adds and other unneeded annoyances, making better use of your available bandwidth, without needing to constantly disable/enable the flash plugin.

[paulrb02]

Anything that stops adds from slowing my tablet down sounds good to me.

Also I think https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1136 Would be good to add to this adblock so it knows what to block.

[aleksandyr]

AdBlock Plus integrates a subscription manager already.

[paulrb02]

it does in Firefox, but you have to choose which list you want to subscribe to. Did the tablet version subscibe to any list?

[Toontje]

Once I can actually -test- this, I intend to play with it and get it working --- I could not resist posting a teaser, though :)

So it doesn't work yet? What did i install then? Just a proof of concept that plug-ins can be installed? Or am i overseeing something?

Ton.

[johsua]

Aleksadyr - Have you been able to get flashblock ported? Thanks btw!

[aleksandyr]

I intend to port Flashblock later today: this has been a rather busy week for me. :)

AdBlock Plus is, unfortunately, just a proof-of-concept: it installs. Without XUL, neither AdBlock Plus nor Filterset.G are likely to function properly.

[Milhouse]

I intend to port Flashblock later today: this has been a rather busy week for me. :)


Hi aleksandyr... any progress with Flashblock? No worries if you've been busy and haven't had the time. :)

[cosmo]

im asking for the recieving please.

[gotanga]

Do you have a repo set up for these?

[basco]

I read the posts here and installed the adblock deb but it doesn't as a plugin even when the app manager says installed. Am I missing something?

[aleksandyr]

Hi!

(Whoa, sorry Milhouse, I fail)

There's still work to be done that requires me to be able to recompile microb in order to get this (and many other potential) addon working.

The posted DEBs won't be of any use.

[Milhouse]

aleksandyr - no need to apologise. I'll give Greasemonkey a try over the weekend as it has a Flash blocking script (see the Greasemonkey thread) and report back here, as it may not be necessary to port Flashblock at all (although installing Greasemonkey could be considered overkill if all you need is Flash supression). :)