Adblock Plus

Judging from the comments I am receiving it is non-obvious for new Adblock (Plus) users that you can use wildcards in filters. They tend not to read (or not to understand) the text in Preferences, simply add the full URL and wonder why the ad comes back after reload.

I would like to offer a list with suggestions to help here. For example, if the user selects to block http://a.b.c/d/e/f/g/h?i, then the suggestions would be:

|http://a.b.c/d/e/f/g/h?*
|http://a.b.c/d/e/f/g/*
|http://a.b.c/d/e/f/*
|http://a.b.c/*
*/h?*
*/h?i|

The question is - where do I find a prominent location for this list in the already too full preferences dialog? Does somebody have ideas?

And then there is another question, maybe not really related. What do you think, would it make sence to add attribute selectors to normal filters as well? The syntax would be the same: */ad/*(ad) would only block images/links/whatever with URL containing /ad/ and class or id attribute being "ad". */ad/*(id^=ad) would block ads with id attribute starting with "ad".

The two things could be combined - you would be able to select the attributes you want to include in the suggestions and maybe also the specific part of them that you need. Does it make sense to add this functionality? Do you think it will be used?

Together it sound more like a "filter composer" - a separate dialog started from Preferences. A separate dialog definitely isn't a "prominent location" however and also not something newbies will discover easily.

Wladimir Palant wrote:I would like to offer a list with suggestions to help here. For example, if the user selects to block http://a.b.c/d/e/f/g/h?i, then the suggestions would be:

|http://a.b.c/d/e/f/g/h?*
|http://a.b.c/d/e/f/g/*
|http://a.b.c/d/e/f/*
|http://a.b.c/*
*/h?*
*/h?i|

The question is - where do I find a prominent location for this list in the already too full preferences dialog? Does somebody have ideas?

My opinion: nice idea. But Adblock cannot distinguish between static and dynamic part, so there always must be shown all suggestions, even if they are bad. I do not know if this would help total newbies.

The best location would be the popdown menu in the preferences window. You could make the suggestions on top of the dropdown menu and below a seperator the urls of the site could be show, like they are now.

But I do not believe, that new users will use the dropdown menu... they simply click on "Add" and "OK" and finito.

Wladimir Palant wrote:And then there is another question, maybe not really related. What do you think, would it make sence to add attribute selectors to normal filters as well? The syntax would be the same: */ad/*(ad) would only block images/links/whatever with URL containing /ad/ and class or id attribute being "ad". */ad/*(id^=ad) would block ads with id attribute starting with "ad".

The two things could be combined - you would be able to select the attributes you want to include in the suggestions and maybe also the specific part of them that you need. Does it make sense to add this functionality? Do you think it will be used?

How should this work? Thould this only be an extended element hiding? Or Do you plan some element blocking? Is this possible?

If this is only an extended element hiding: This feature would be nice, but element hiding has disadvantages: you do not see, if you block something on a page or what you block. So such general filters can be very dangerous, this is definately nothing for bloody newbies with no knowledge of html.

Wladimir Palant wrote:Together it sound more like a "filter composer" - a separate dialog started from Preferences. A separate dialog definitely isn't a "prominent location" however and also not something newbies will discover easily.

I think this would help. At least interested beginners will find it. I think also some "pros" would use it. But there will still be some damn users, which ignore everything you tell/write them; they only click without thinking...
Perhaps you should also use more the tip of the day function. You could find someone, who would write such tips for you, so you would have more time for programming.

People posting here have some (or a lot of) experience about filters/adblocking, or at least they want to learn more about it. We must be able to think like people which are really newbies and are not very keen about learn more, and this is a very difficult thing.

Only one suggestion, perhaps very raw and unfeasible but maybe someone could use it as a basis for a better idea in this "brainstorming":

I would include a Tip menu (included in Help menu, or like a new element in Preferences menu). But note that these 'potential users' will not read any text or menu, they will select an item in the sidebar or drag it to the icon (BTW, a lot of people do not know anything about this feature) and when the Preferences window opens they will click the "Add filter" button. So IMO the only option is some kind of popup tip.
I do not know if it would be possible that the program check every new filter when introduced and do:
+ if it is a regular expresion, a hiding element or the filter include '*': do nothing
+ if the filter looks like http://example.com/a/b/c/d.gif, show a popup message saying something like this:
------------------------------------------
TIP
The filter you have introduced is not optimized.
You could improve it by editing it in one of this ways:
http://example.com/a/b/c/*
http://example.com/a/b/*
*example.com/a/b/c/* (all your list of suggestions) .
You can find more information and examples in the HELP/TIP menu

I want to modify the filter
Add the filter 'as is'

NOTE: if you do not want this message to be displayed again, uncheck the option in the HELP/TIP menu

------------------------------------------

(this one is better than the usual checkbox "Do not show this message again", they will have to open the TIP menu at least once).

Advanced user will simply uncheck the option the first time. And for the rest of the people, if they decide to uncheck the option and go on without reading the tips or acepting any advice ... well, at least you have tried your best.

Wladimir Palant wrote: What do you think, would it make sence to add attribute selectors to normal filters as well? [...] */ad/*(ad) would only block images/links/whatever with URL containing /ad/ and class or id attribute being "ad" [...]

I'd vote for it - additional flexibility is always welcome.

This is a feature I already missed once or twice, as this would allow for a sort of workaround for the lack of RegExp capabilities in CSS in some cases.

But shouldn't there be a sort of special character here too? After all, normal URLs can contain parentheses too.

adum wrote:These 'potential users' will select an item in the sidebar or drag it to the icon (BTW, a lot of people do not know anything about this feature).

I didn't know about it. That's cool !

I also did not know this feature. Adblock is an extension, which always surprises me...

Wladimir Palant wrote: I would like to offer a list with suggestions to help here. For example,

Together it sound more like a "filter composer" - a separate dialog

This is a good idea, even for somewhat experienced users (know what a wildcard is, what an element is, what ^ means). IMO, the most effective way to implement this 'wizard' funtionality is adding an 'Optimize Filter..' button next to 'Add' to start the second dialog window with more details etc. The wizard might also be a menu item if in editing and not immediate adding mode.

Even new users, more interested in just blocking an ad and continuing browsing, will be lured by 'Optimize..', who doesn't want that. I bet that will almost always be chosen over 'Add', now you've got them. I think tip of the day isn't as effective, negative connotation with dancing paperclips and first thing people ignore, too intrusive.

Wladimir Palant wrote:would it make sence to add attribute selectors to normal filters as well?

Yes, but some caveats. It will make for a jump in false positives - making the implementation of an 'replace blocked image with..' more important (from a previous suggestion). An icon menu option to toggle replaced image on/off would be perfect.

Also, I would really like to do all blocking in one app. But right now
1)Stylish is more immediate with 'Apply' button (to me a big deal).
2)The syntax, for me, using css is more familiar than the syntax here (makes it a bit harder to get comfortable with if done infrequently).
3)I can use stylish in Tb message pane for RSS.

In general, filters take a lot of care and feeding, so the work of people like rick752 and paulfox and G and others is invaluable, and will be how most people get their filters. The suggested list is a huge leap for average users. The attribute selectors and ease of editing will pluses for tweakers, and turn some ave users into tweakers.

@chewey: Normal URLs can contain parentheses as well but I don't think we will see a real conflict anywhere.

@adum: Alert windows are very annoying, even if you can tell them not to appear again.

@alta88:
1) I already checked this in Stylish, it uses a pretty ugly hack to make changes apply immediately. For Stylish this is a central feature so that it is necessary, I don't want this in Adblock Plus however.
2) You can use CSS...
3) Thunderbird support is planned (or at least evaluation about whether it is possible).

Anyway, the focus of Adblock Plus is very different from Stylish so that you can't really compare. I'm running both and I don't see any reason not to.

Wladimir Palant wrote: @adum: Alert windows are very annoying, even if you can tell them not to appear again.

I was thinking about something more similar to a tooltip, but probably it would be annoying too.
But I really think it would be necessary some kind of "proactive" warning, because a lot of standadr users will not look into the menus/options by themselves.
Some extensions use the bottom part of their preferences windows in order to show some advice or help in a internal window, but this option would reduce the available space of the preferences window/sidebar.
Other alternative could be a button showing "Optimize filter" or something similar, besides the "Add filter" or the "OK" buttons, which only would be displayed as enabled when is detected that the filter had no wildcards or regular expression syntax.

Last post was mine, autologin failed.

Wladimir Palant wrote:1) I already checked this in Stylish, it uses a pretty ugly hack to make changes apply immediately. For Stylish this is a central feature so that it is necessary, I don't want this in Adblock Plus however.

i understand that. seems like someone was working on this bug to maybe help with that. more chrome though, not sure how content is different. but i also meant the old carp on Apply button without closing prefs window..

Wladimir Palant wrote:2) You can

thanks - missed that somehow.

Wladimir Palant wrote:3) Thunderbird support is planned (or at least evaluation about whether it is possible).

that's excellent. the reason i finally had to move away from GreatNews (which is very good for rss), is adblocking and its use of the IE engine.

Wladimir Palant wrote:Anyway, the focus of Adblock Plus is very different from Stylish so that you can't really compare. I'm running both and I don't see any reason not to.

agree on focus, but it's just a minor management thing - blocking "function" in one place. easier to categorize mentally. plus stats, perhaps image replace; general usage tools geared to blocking/hiding already in abp and never in stylish.

alta88 wrote:i understand that. seems like someone was working on this bug to maybe help with that.

Oh, Boris is working on that - that's great, then it will be really fixed. One issue less to worry about.

Stats for element hiding might be possible, I'll need to check it later...