Adblock Plus 0.6

Talk about add-ons and extension development.
Post Reply
Wladimir Palant
Posts: 193
Joined: March 13th, 2004, 2:58 pm
Location: Cologne, Germany

Adblock Plus 0.6

Post by Wladimir Palant »

Adblock Plus 0.6.1 has been released, please go to the corresponding thread.


Adblock Plus 0.6

http://adblockplus.mozdev.org/installation.html

Detailed changelogs:

Version 0.6: http://adblockplus.mozdev.org/changelog-0.6.html
Version 0.6.0.1: http://adblockplus.mozdev.org/changelog-0.6.0.1.html
Version 0.6.0.2: http://adblockplus.mozdev.org/changelog-0.6.0.2.html

About this version

Starting with Adblock Plus 0.6 I'm replacing mcm as the main developer of Adblock Plus (http://p2.forumforfree.com/adblock-plus-06-vp2068-adblockplus.html). mcm is still going to contribute to both Adblock Plus and Adblock. The new project homepage will be http://adblockplus.mozdev.org/.

This version is the long overdue rewrite of Adblock. Such a rewrite is more than necessary, Adblock being bloated, slow and buggy. Focus of the rewrite was to provide a fast, reliable and easy to use extension. Adblock Plus should not be only usable by an elite that has read every forum post on it and knows magical terms like "QuickBlock", "FlashBlock" and the like. This work is not finished yet but we've definitely made some major progress.

Now it was expected that many people will complain about having to get used to a new user interface and coming out without some of the features. The first was unfortunately inevitable but I think in the end it will be worth it. As to the missing features - some of the features were used by perhaps 10 people. I can live with these 10 people complaining as long as everybody else gets a better experience. There were also features that were a constant source of problems. While they might be useful (and I hope whoever complains about them being missing will be able to prove that) a better way to implement them needs to be found.

One more note: Adblock Plus 0.6 was released having all the necessary features that Adblock has. That means that some good features from Adblock Plus 0.5 are missing. These will be added soon. For example the context menu on the Adblock status bar panel has been added in Adblock Plus 0.6.0.2.

Currently only English version is available. Localizations for Adblock Plus 0.6 will be readded once Adblock Plus 0.6.1 is released - with the interface still changing it would be too difficult to keep localizations in sync.
Last edited by Wladimir Palant on February 10th, 2006, 5:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
********
Posts: 947
Joined: August 24th, 2005, 12:23 pm

Post by ******** »

awesome extension!
this may be a slight downgrade for features, but it's definitely a major upgrade for performance, stability, and usability.
keep up the good work, wladimir!
User avatar
therube
Posts: 21703
Joined: March 10th, 2004, 9:59 pm
Location: Maryland USA

Post by therube »

Just a link back to the Adblock Plus 0.5 thread, as that may clear up some confusion surrounding 0.6, & the need to avoid rehashing the same.

"Adblock Plus 0.5.11.2"
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... &start=885
Fire 750, bring back 250.
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.19) Gecko/20110420 SeaMonkey/2.0.14 Pinball CopyURL+ FetchTextURL FlashGot NoScript
DarkOne123
Posts: 383
Joined: December 28th, 2004, 10:17 pm

Post by DarkOne123 »

The new GUI is DIFFERENT I got to say. But I will get used it :D
I got to say THANKS for removing some of the extra crap which people used rarely.
There is 1 feature which I think would be good to add in, a search fucntion, so you can search thru the filter, I have before blocked a iframe and needed it and had to go thru the while list trying to find it, search might help.
Old jr!
Posts: 0
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Post by Old jr! »

Does the Filterset G Updater extension work with this??
Wladimir Palant
Posts: 193
Joined: March 13th, 2004, 2:58 pm
Location: Cologne, Germany

Post by Wladimir Palant »

There is a new version of Filterset.G Updater that works. It hasn't been approved by addons.mozilla.org yet.
Old jr!
Posts: 0
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Post by Old jr! »

never mind-I found it.

great, where can I find it? I don't see it at the extensions mirror yet.
Wladimir Palant
Posts: 193
Joined: March 13th, 2004, 2:58 pm
Location: Cologne, Germany

Post by Wladimir Palant »

I've tried finding it myself, without success. mcm told me that he submitted it. I guess you'll have to wait for addons.mozilla.org to approve it (happens pretty fast lately).
Rybo85
Posts: 147
Joined: December 1st, 2005, 10:17 am
Location: Lansdale, PA

Post by Rybo85 »

Wladimir Palant wrote:I've tried finding it myself, without success. mcm told me that he submitted it. I guess you'll have to wait for addons.mozilla.org to approve it (happens pretty fast lately).


Is this it?

Edit to add: Never mind. The link in the first post takes you to 2.7 on AMO.
Last edited by Rybo85 on January 18th, 2006, 8:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
paulfox
Posts: 1510
Joined: May 8th, 2004, 1:38 pm

Post by paulfox »

DarkOne123 wrote:I got to say THANKS for removing some of the extra crap which people used rarely.


Amen, brother . . . amen. I tested 0.6 yesterday amidst all sorts of "doubts and confusion," and I'd like to say the following here just for the benefit of newcomers to extensions or people "wondering" about switching AdBlock(s):

I consider AdBlock the "primary" extension for FX, and indeed a reason to HAVE Firefox. This is a tremendously GOOD extension. I have spent an inordinate amount of time playing with AdBlock/AdBlock Plus 0.5, and learning regex's from the ground up and "tweaking." I "knows AdBlock," and this 0.6 is rock solid, quick and efficient. Your comment really sums it up, because for the first time AdBlock runs "in the background," as it should. It is tremendously FAST, and I added a filter or two and the effects were immediate - no page refresh needed! I know that's slated for 1.6.1, but apparently already here.

Many thanks to Wladimir for getting this done. We have to remember also that this extension is exactry ONE DAY old, and already two upgrades - good things are comin'. Thank you Wladimir and all the best with it. It's outstanding.
Last edited by paulfox on January 18th, 2006, 8:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
PentiumIII/W2K, Toshiba AMD laptop/Vista. FX 3 on both.
Jus
Posts: 485
Joined: August 12th, 2004, 11:37 am

Post by Jus »

Is this really faster?
paulfox
Posts: 1510
Joined: May 8th, 2004, 1:38 pm

Post by paulfox »

Well Jus, it is in my opinion, but everyone should look for themselves. There's my legalese for avoiding a tit-for-tat "speed comparison sidetrack," as some get into arguments/flaming about "speed" and interpretations of it. If I think something's better, I'll say it. For ME, since it's MY browser and MY page loading and MY sites . . . . yes. I've seen examples of it on pages I visit often, and loading FX. The sheer cut in "real estate" is amazing, for openers: AdBlock Plus 0.5 Dev Builds were 155k, and expanded to 800k in their extension folder. AdBlock Plus 0.5.11.2 was 76k, a GREAT reduction mcm made available, and that cut it down to 400k.

This is 28k and 160k respectively (EDIT: 0.6.0.3 is 176k). Surely I'm not the only one that impresses!? No DIV element and added features clogging things up. No QuickBlock. I never used DIV blocking with 0.5, since page loading was "jogged" and "re-mapped" as it loaded. I had it turned OFF, along with ObjTabs (which gave 1.5 users quite a few problems). This is STILL better and loads familiar pages faster, because it's just plain smaller and blocks ads and doesn't try to do everything under the sun. If people really miss the features not in this one, then they have another choice. But for those who want controllable ad-blocking and speed without bloat, this is it. The idea of right-clicking on an ad and making an "auto filter" always seemed silly to me, since you'd have a list a mile long in no time. Its only benefit would be to do several ads on a site and then look for what they had in common for a regex, if one didn't already apply. Why not do it sensibly: click properties, compile the list in Notepad, then (if you have trouble making regex's) visit this site:
http://adblock.free.fr/optimize/
and compile them into a regex? Beats having a jillion entries, which is what a context "quickie" menu would do for you. Efficiency also depends on your filterset - mine's 34 lines consisting of regex's of like/similar terms and addresses. Using my shorter list both with 0.5 and this 0.6 version - yes, 0.6 is WHIZZO quick and I see a difference that's readily apparent.

Bottom line: It's almost as if you don't have AdBlock enabled, if that conveys the difference better. Any of the many posters I've seen on these forums over the last 2 years who didn't use AdBlock because it "slowed them down" should definitely try this extension.
Last edited by paulfox on January 19th, 2006, 3:34 pm, edited 2 times in total.
PentiumIII/W2K, Toshiba AMD laptop/Vista. FX 3 on both.
DarkOne123
Posts: 383
Joined: December 28th, 2004, 10:17 pm

Post by DarkOne123 »

I used AdBlock to only block Banners, IFrames and Flash nothing more. I don't even know what the hell the rest of the options are. I used FilterSetG and then started to add my own my Filter is like 15.5KB it took sometime but I have managed to block just about all adds to the websites I go to. I do not need extra stuff this is just perfect. The only problem will be the new GUI and the new way to add a filter.

If you use AdBlock also look into "RIP" (Remove It Permantly) that is also like AdBlock but works just on websites and you can remove DIVs and FONTs etc etc.
paulfox
Posts: 1510
Joined: May 8th, 2004, 1:38 pm

Post by paulfox »

Good suggestion. RIP works only on the sites you choose, and you can select "for domain." Once those sites are loaded in cache they load much better than blocking DIVs with AB 0.5. Even if cached, DIV blocking in AdBlock 0.5 was jerky and slow. With RIP, it isn't.

Combined with this new 0.6 it's terrific.
Last edited by paulfox on January 18th, 2006, 11:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
PentiumIII/W2K, Toshiba AMD laptop/Vista. FX 3 on both.
Old Makondo
Posts: 0
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Post by Old Makondo »

I don't use sidebar. Any chance this could be an option along with own window? Also, could there be a statusbar icon some day? Thanks.
Post Reply