Slashdot Log In
Top 10 Firefox Extensions to Avoid
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Tue Apr 10, 2007 11:00 AM
from the segfault-plugin-still-highly-recommended dept.
from the segfault-plugin-still-highly-recommended dept.
jcatcw writes "First there were the 20 must-have Firefox Extension and ensuing Slashdot discussion. Now Computerworld has the top 10 to avoid. For example, NoScript, which does make Firefox safer, but isn't worth the hassle, Or, VideoDownloader for slow downloads, when it works at all. Then there's Greasemonkey — on both lists."
Related Stories
[+]
20 Must-have Firefox Extensions 341 comments
An anonymous reader noted that Computerworld is running a story on the 20 must have Firefox extensions. Several of my favorites are in there so I'm looking forward to playing with the ones I haven't heard of.
[+]
The Secrets of Firefox about:config 263 comments
jcatcw writes "While Firefox is very customizable, many of its settings aren't in the Options. Each setting is named and stored as a string, integer, or Boolean in a file called prefs.js and accessed via about:config from the nav bar. Computerworld provides instructions on 20 tweaks for speeding up page loads, making tabs behave, reducing memory drain, and generally making the interface act the way you want it to. Customization also comes through the must-have FF extensions (but be sure to skip these)."
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Full
Abbreviated
Hidden
Loading... please wait.
Missing from the list (Score:5, Funny)
I'm still not sure why anyone would install it though.
Re:Missing from the list (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Missing from the list (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Missing from the list (Score:5, Informative)
But since you ask:
http://www.goatse.cz/ [goatse.cz]
Parent
[shudder] I prefer THIS informative link (Score:5, Informative)
At least, I think so. There's no way I'm actually clicking on your link.
Parent
Re:Missing from the list (Score:5, Informative)
Damn good thing, too. It's back. Beware.
Parent
Re:Missing from the list (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Missing from the list (Score:5, Insightful)
#1 Fasterfox: Don't use it, it hammers webservers! There are a lot of links on the page that you are NEVER going to click on, mostly ads. This prefetches all those ads from the adservers webserver, but you're not looking at them! Not cool!
#2 NoScript: Don't use it, it's annoying. Plus, it screws up important scripts. For example, the article has these scripts:
function popup(
function popup_noscroll(
function switchPage(
ord=Math.random()*10000000000000000;
Do you really want to have to deal with the trouble?
#3 AdBlock: Do you think we do this to provide you with lame lists? We don't. We do this to make you watch ads. And you have to watch them! Didn't you get that under #2? You're breaking the social contract, you bastard!
What a joke.
Parent
Re:Missing from the list (Score:5, Informative)
So, would it be wrong to show people the whole list, allowing many people to ignore their ad-laden web page altogether?
Fasterfox [mozilla.org]
NoScript [mozilla.org]
Adblock Plus [mozilla.org]
PDF Download [mozilla.org]
VideoDownloader [mozilla.org]
Greasemonkey [mozilla.org]
ScribeFire [mozilla.org]
TrackMeNot [mozilla.org]
Tabbrowser Preferences [mozilla.org]
Tabbrowser Extensions [sakura.ne.jp]
FormSpy [nai.com]
Hmmm. It doesn't feel wrong.
Parent
Re:Missing from the list (Score:5, Informative)
I'm not using Noscript because I'm paranoid. I ran into many sites that used Javascript to float ads over the entire page. Noscript puts me in control of the content I wish to view.
Parent
Sorry but the list is BS (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Sorry but the list is BS (Score:5, Insightful)
What users need to do to maximize our cashflow.
Parent
Re:Sorry but the list is BS (Score:5, Insightful)
This news source is not objective and is, therefore, made of Fail.
Parent
Re:Sorry but the list is BS (Score:5, Informative)
Though, I gotta say, videodownloader is overrated, especially if you're only after YouTube videos. The below link will work more quickly:
javascript:(function(){var x = document.createElement('iframe'); x.style.width='1px'; x.style.height='1px'; document.body.appendChild(x); x.src='http://www.youtube.com/get_video?video_id=
Parent
The web with NoScript is so much better! (Score:5, Informative)
I admit I don't use myspace / facebook and things that go boing (though I guess that even if I did, whitelisting two sites one time wouldn't really stress me out) but I have to say that you are sadly deluded if you think that I keep whitelisting your site to see the stupid scripts on it. Most of the time, if it doesn't work straight up, then it's a good sign that the content wasn't worth it. You learn this quickly since on the first day you use noscrpt you do try whitelisting, but soon you realise you aren't really seeing anything worthwhile.
Simple message: if you are designing a site; make sure it works fine without the scripts. Otherwise you will lose viewers who just don't care enough.
Parent
Re:Sorry but the list is BS (Score:5, Interesting)
That said, I do pay for some premium content, such as the Wall Street Journal, and a couple other work related (and work paid for) news sites. Unfortunately, we don't have a viable micro-payment system yet, so when you hit a site that you would pay 5 - 10 cents to read an article, you can't.
Parent
Re:Sorry but the list is BS (Score:5, Insightful)
The targeting is one thing, but far more important is that Google's ads tend to be far less intrusive (and thus far less likely to get added to a user's blocklist).
Parent
Re:Sorry but the list is BS (Score:5, Insightful)
What I won't do is expose myself to more advertising than I have to.
"Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people." - George Bernard Shaw
Parent
Re:Sorry but the list is BS (Score:5, Insightful)
Winning is businesses finding better ways to make money than by annoying the general user. And yes, I find any and all ads annoying. I don't care if they are relevent or targetted or whatever. If I want to see/here about a company, I will seek them out. If there is any "legitimate"
form of advertising, it is in the form of yellowpages-like directories or catalogs. Beyond that, I don't want to see it or here it. And quite frankly, I don't give a crap how it affects business.
-matthew
Parent
Re:Sorry but the list is BS (Score:5, Interesting)
But there was a time when the vast majority of content was essentially ad free. Much of it even useful information. Heck, even today I visit plenty of sites that have no ads nor do charge for content. Although maybe that has changed in the last couple years. Adblock Plus is just so effective, I'm often shocked if for some reason I have to browse without it. Like I am actually overwhelmed. You just don't realize how in prevelent advertising is until you've shielded youself from it for a while. Mass ad blocking is like a drug. A sweet, sweet drug that I never want to come off.
-matthew
Parent
Re:Sorry but the list is BS (Score:5, Insightful)
You just said something else, although you didn't realize it:
That mass advertising itself is also like a drug. I'm constantly amazed when I hear people talk about their experiences when they don't watch TV or go on the internet for awhile.. it's like they see the world completely differently, and in fact, they do: without the constant drum of advertising against their skulls, they start to see a world NOT based entirely on crass consumerism, a world where there IS meaning and simply joy in things like going to a picnic or talking to your family or reading a book on a gentle afternoon.
We've become so conditioned to be the perfect consumers that we're actually surprised when we step out of that mold. I never watch or listen to ads anymore, and advertisers be damned: I'll buy your product when and if I need it, and only then will I go looking for it. You do not need to spend every waking moment of my life telling me I am a worthless piece of shit because I don't have the latest gadget or waving things in my face that you KNOW I'm going to have to use credit to buy.
Fuck you, all of you. I am a human being, not a machine you can control.
Parent
Re:Sorry but the list is BS (Score:5, Funny)
RAM!
Parent
Hey, I like NoScript (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah, it takes a moment to re-enable JavaScript for sites which insist on using it for navigation (which is itself annoying, but sometimes a site has content I want.) But it's less than the aggravation of having the text I'm trying to read covered with a pop-up layer.
I don't mind polite advertising, but anything that moves (Java, Flash, and most recently Javascript) is going to be worthless unless I absolutely require it.
Re:Hey, I like NoScript (Score:5, Insightful)
In a perfect world, we wouldn't have to deal with client side scripting at all. It's inconvenient, dangerous, and downright impolite. If you want me to see your page, do your processing on YOUR computer. Until then, noscript will have to do.
Parent
Re:Hey, I like NoScript (Score:5, Informative)
One more "me, too". I hate dancing baloney on a web page, and doubly so when it's for useless, distracting, intrusive advertising. Not to mention all the stupid security problems that come up [ckers.org] when you just blindly trust any code to run in your web browser.
For a handful of sites, JavaScript is worth turning on; for everything else, there's NoScript.
Parent
Re:Hey, I like NoScript (Score:5, Insightful)
Is there any other kind of dancing baloney?
Parent
Re:Hey, I like NoScript (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:Hey, I like NoScript (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:Hey, I like NoScript (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Sure (Score:5, Insightful)
here's the tell... (Score:5, Insightful)
They're just pissed that NoScript and AdBlock knock down their revenue stream.
"...while continuing to support the sites we love by allowing most ads to appear."
Bzzt - sorry. I chose to not see ads.
As pointless as the last article (Score:5, Insightful)
NoScript bad because it stops nasty/naughty javascript?
PDF download bad because it stops embedded PDFs breaking your system (but also stops hacked tracking links from working)?
TrackMeNot because it stops you being tracked and wastes bandwidth?
I'd suggest the only waste of bandwidth their is their site!
Re:As pointless as the last article (Score:4, Insightful)
As for a site broken by Adblock: how about not using horribly intrusive ads? They don't work except maybe with the moron element.
Parent
Re:As pointless as the last article (Score:5, Interesting)
I run a bunch, and nobody complains because I don't do client side scripts or run other people's ads.
because it actually enhances the browsing experience.
I go to websites for information, not a "browsing experience". What enhances my browsing experience is delivering the information I'm looking for without a lot of singing and dancing. If I'm looking for entertainment, again it'll be the specific content (eg video clip) I'm looking for, not all singing all dancing all popup crap.
Parent
Any "Performance" tweaks as well (Score:5, Informative)
Adblock and Adblock Plus?!?! (Score:5, Interesting)
Really, sites like Slashdot, Google, etc. have it right. Minimally intrusive ads with quality content == a good experience for most users.
Re:Adblock and Adblock Plus?!?! (Score:5, Insightful)
You hit on one of my pet peeves -- web sites that break a single article into multiple pages. I rarely go beyond the first page, and I only read the first page of this self-serving article. If I knew ahead of time that this was one of those articles, I would have skipped it entirely. Maybe a [WARNING: multiple pages] heads-up is warranted on future Slashdot postings.
Parent
Re:Adblock and Adblock Plus?!?! (Score:5, Interesting)
Part of the problem is that websites have zero clue what they're doing when they're laying out the page. They put the ads in the largest, most obtrusive places in an attempt to gain eye-time, but all it does is piss off the user.
Look at a print magazine. Most of them have remarkably good layout - ads are clearly ads, and text flows around the ads naturally. The site in TFA has horrifying ads that break the flow of the article and send your mind into unnatural gymnastics trying to follow along.
Ads and web content can coexist peacefully, but not until webmasters realize that layout is not just a 5-minute job in Dreamweaver, but is rather a full-time job that requires real qualifications and real training.
Parent
That article sucked (Score:5, Funny)
A little Bias (Score:5, Interesting)
I also love how they put in 'Adblock' and 'Adblock Plus'. They say, well we don't like it being an advertising web site, but trust us, it is not very good.
I thought 'Adblock' was a great extension and very effective.
I also like 'Noscript', it is simple to prevent sites that insist that they and every site they connect to should be allowed to run javascript on your browser. 'Noscript' allows me to specify only the sites, like the one I am browsing, to actually run Javascript instead of every ad aggregator that wants information on you.
NoScript is in fact worth the hassle (Score:4, Insightful)
Paranoia is not "cool among Web geeks,", it's an unfortunate necessity when wandering the jungle that is the World Wide Web. How many times do we hear about exploits using JavaScript? Too often, in my mind's eye. If a particular site that you trust needs JavaScript to run, then whitelist it, even if just temporarily, with two mouse clicks.
I don't call it "paranoid," I call it "due caution" and it is, in fact, worth the minor hassle.
#3 = Adblock? No bias there (Score:5, Insightful)
I freely admit I block every ad I can. If I'm going to buy something, I'll actively go looking for it. I resent people telling me that I'm damaging them by not displaying their ads on my PC. Your ads are valueless when displayed on my PC anyway, so why should I expose myself to them? The ad industry has not endeared itself to the internet community. They have only themselves to blame for people wanting to block them.
Fasterfox (Score:5, Insightful)
Printer friendly link (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?co
Worst... List... Evar! (Score:4, Interesting)
And yeah, some of it is my significant anti-consumerism bias, too. I block ads on principle, as I consider them an ever-increasing intrusion into my life. Yes, people have the right to create and use advertising, but I have the same right to use any legal means to keep them away from me. And for those who ask, as this article did, "what would happen to all the great ad-supported sites if everyone used these tools," well, they'd be replaced by something else - subscription-driven services, smaller clusters of free services, etc. I love the web as much as the next guy, but it's not like I'd be lost if the entire web went dark tomorrow. I have other interests. But that's not going to happen anyway.
VideoDownloader *is* extremely useful (Score:5, Informative)
Ad block and ad block plus... (Score:4, Interesting)
If ads had continued to be a small banner at the top or bottom of the page with NO ANIMATION, or even small ads down the sides that didn't interrupt the flow of the CONTENT (again, no animation), then guess what? I would never have seen a need to use ad blocking software.
The fact is that advertising has gotten very intrusive and counter productive. Hell, I'd likely visit a few advertiser's sites, but now I never see them because of the way they were changed to be as intrusive as possible, hence sent to the bit bucket. WHy do advertisers believe that being as in-your-face as possible would do anything BUT piss people off about the stuff they are trying to sell?
That decent ads (see above
So cry me a river. I'll stick with adblocking software. It's your own damned fault that people block your precious advertisers these days.
Fasterfox (Score:5, Insightful)
Its main benefits are multiple connections and pipelining (oh and the timer - I love the timer). To say that you should throw the whole thing out because they don't like prefetching (which is indeed a poor idea) is just plain silly.
Also, what's with the extremely patronizing tone of the whole article? Who made them the hall monitors of the internet?
The Real List of Extensions to avoid. (Score:5, Informative)
So far I have 4 I can't live without. Adblock, IE View Lite, Firefox View, and BugmeNot. Out of these I am assuming only an "Always on" types like Adblock can cause memory + slowdown issues. The others should not hurt much right?
The blacklist has some popular extensions like Adblock, but usually its only the older versions with problems. Tab Browser Extensions and Tab Browser Preferences particularly stand out as they are not recommended.
Oh and the article is drivel.
Re:Article translation (Score:5, Funny)
Where can I find this "IE7 God" extension?
Parent