Great Firefox add-on: Flashblock

Undertoad · 03-10-2007, 01:31 PM

I don't mind looking at advertisements on the web. I understand that my favorite news sites need advertising to make it worthwhile to write and publish.

But recently there's been a flood of really nasty, inappropriate advertising, which blocks the text you're trying to read, growls at you when you move your mouse over it, moves and wriggles in ways to catch your attention.

In this shot, the page is just loaded, and the UPS whiteboard guy has blocked part of what I was looking at, and has started his rap. Out loud, at maximum volume. At this point all sane readers are diving desperately for the "X close" button to click on. (It never looks the same, so you have more trouble finding it.)

These ads are written in Flash, a technology from Adobe which lets programmers and designers easily develop web tidbits with motion and sound. These new ads are worse than the much-hated "pop-ups" -- which became one of the main reasons for the general public to switch to using Firefox, a few years ago.

Once again Firefox users win. If you install Flashblock, you'll find that immediately, instead of those intrusive ads, you get an "f" symbol, for Flash.

Flashblock is blocking two Flash ads on the page. Mousing over the top box shows you where the Flash bit will actually appear on the page. It's covering part of the news image... one of those crappy ads.

But if you want to see what you're missing, you just click in the box with the symbol, and the Flash runs, springing the box to life.

The Flashblock add-on works very well, and has not caused any problems in everyday browsing. The one downside is that some sites use Flash for legit purposes -- most notably, YouTube, which uses Flash to present its video window, and MySpace Music, which uses it to produce that window of sampler songs. But that's OK; Flashblock lets you specify domains that are allowed to send you Flash without asking first.

Take back the web, people... use Firefox with Flashblock. This is the Internet, and we are in charge here.

03-10-2007, 01:31 PM	#1
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Great Firefox add-on: Flashblock I don't mind looking at advertisements on the web. I understand that my favorite news sites need advertising to make it worthwhile to write and publish. But recently there's been a flood of really nasty, inappropriate advertising, which blocks the text you're trying to read, growls at you when you move your mouse over it, moves and wriggles in ways to catch your attention. In this shot, the page is just loaded, and the UPS whiteboard guy has blocked part of what I was looking at, and has started his rap. Out loud, at maximum volume. At this point all sane readers are diving desperately for the "X close" button to click on. (It never looks the same, so you have more trouble finding it.) These ads are written in Flash, a technology from Adobe which lets programmers and designers easily develop web tidbits with motion and sound. These new ads are worse than the much-hated "pop-ups" -- which became one of the main reasons for the general public to switch to using Firefox, a few years ago. Once again Firefox users win. If you install Flashblock, you'll find that immediately, instead of those intrusive ads, you get an "f" symbol, for Flash. Flashblock is blocking two Flash ads on the page. Mousing over the top box shows you where the Flash bit will actually appear on the page. It's covering part of the news image... one of those crappy ads. But if you want to see what you're missing, you just click in the box with the symbol, and the Flash runs, springing the box to life. The Flashblock add-on works very well, and has not caused any problems in everyday browsing. The one downside is that some sites use Flash for legit purposes -- most notably, YouTube, which uses Flash to present its video window, and MySpace Music, which uses it to produce that window of sampler songs. But that's OK; Flashblock lets you specify domains that are allowed to send you Flash without asking first. Take back the web, people... use Firefox with Flashblock. This is the Internet, and we are in charge here.

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