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Google has removed the option to disable autoplay from Mobile Chrome

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Re: Google has removed the option to disable autoplay from Mobile Chrome

#141

Post by dependenttypes »

userbinator wrote: post #39
spankalee wrote: post #31

(disclaimer: I work at Google, not on Chrome) The rationale here seems to be that by blocking video autoplay, Chrome incentivized sites shipping huge animated GIFs, or decoding video in JS and painting to canvas, both of which are very suboptimal for users. Another comment points to this issue: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=106364... quote: Unfortunately, full autoplay blocking is counter prod…

Then maybe the solution is to also have the option turn off animated GIFs and perhaps frequent canvas repaints too; and not simply give up completely ! In any case, just leaving the option alone so at least it has some effect like it did before, would still be better than essentially a full surrender.

Or mark said sites as malicious. No need to select the most anti-user solution.

Re: Google has removed the option to disable autoplay from Mobile Chrome

#142

Post by kikokikokiko »

gruez wrote: post #62

tangentially related: what's everyone's solution for blocking autoplaying sticky videos? By that I mean the kind that usually shows up on news sites or tech blogs. It usually manifests as a "recommended" video that's totally unrelated to the article at hand, and stars playing without you clicking the play button. If you scroll past the video, many of them convert to a sticky mini player that stays around wherever you…

Use UBlockOrigin, and every time you see one of those sticky thumb players, create a regex rule to remove it. I must have hundreds of those little rules in place on my browsers. I never searched how to send my list to one of the maintainers of the most popular ad/annoyance lists but I think now it's time.

Re: Google has removed the option to disable autoplay from Mobile Chrome

#143

Post by WWLink »

edoceo wrote: post #105
userbinator wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then maybe the solution is to also have the option turn off animated GIFs and perhaps frequent canvas repaints too; and not simply give up completely ! In any case, just leaving the option alone so at least it has some effect like it did before, would still be better than essentially a full surrender.

BigG couldn't do that (disable other user hostile media) because it would interfere with ads. Now I'm looking for a gif and canvas blocker for FF mobile. Any hints on how to tune uBO?

It would be nice if the browser knew how big the gifs were before it downloaded them, and thus didn't download anything over a certain size.

Re: Google has removed the option to disable autoplay from Mobile Chrome

#144

Post by RedComet »

judge2020 wrote: post #130
RedComet wrote: post #67

I consider browser video autoplay more offensive than physical assault tbh.

Browser autoplay doesn't have the real-world consequence of needing medical attention and going thousands of dollars into debt.

Neither does a black eye.

Re: Google has removed the option to disable autoplay from Mobile Chrome

#145

Post by paranorman »

spankalee wrote: post #31

(disclaimer: I work at Google, not on Chrome) The rationale here seems to be that by blocking video autoplay, Chrome incentivized sites shipping huge animated GIFs, or decoding video in JS and painting to canvas, both of which are very suboptimal for users. Another comment points to this issue: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=106364... quote: Unfortunately, full autoplay blocking is counter prod…

If only there were some way to penalize bloated websites exhibiting anti-user behavior. /s

Re: Google has removed the option to disable autoplay from Mobile Chrome

#146

Post by varenc »

edoceo wrote: post #105
userbinator wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then maybe the solution is to also have the option turn off animated GIFs and perhaps frequent canvas repaints too; and not simply give up completely ! In any case, just leaving the option alone so at least it has some effect like it did before, would still be better than essentially a full surrender.

BigG couldn't do that (disable other user hostile media) because it would interfere with ads. Now I'm looking for a gif and canvas blocker for FF mobile. Any hints on how to tune uBO?

You can just block all tags with a `##canvas` rule for uBlock Origin. It of course breaks some real sites, but not on anything I use regularly. A canvas repaint rate limit could be nice, though I have been surprised at how little I notice all canvas tags just being blocked.

Gifs are trickier. I'll often see non-animated images in gif format. Because of extension API limitations, uBO can't block gifs based on file size or animation frame count. (file size isn't even known until the start of the fetch)

Though Firefox at least does lets you disable all gif animations without just blocking all gifs.

Re: Google has removed the option to disable autoplay from Mobile Chrome

#147

Post by esperent »

baybal2 wrote: post #104
ehsankia wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Restricting framerate will still download the 100mb GIF. Also, so many parts of websites use gifs and canvas. If you start blocking those, you'll be hiding loading spinners, menus and more. You're adding ton and ton of complexity and going at war after something pretty silly. If a website is abusive and does shitty things, just don't use the website. After some point, it's no longer the browsers job to babysit the we…

> If a website is abusive and does shitty things, just don't use the website. What do you do if the aforementioned is not done by the website as such, but by some omnipresent, and hard to avoid 3rd party ad net? > After some point, it's no longer the browsers job to babysit the web. I completely agreed with autoplaying audio, but blocking video is just not worth it. Video is by far the heaviest piece of media out the…

> What do you do if the aforementioned is not done by the website as such, but by some omnipresent, and hard to avoid 3rd party ad net?

Use an ad blocker. Since mobile chrome doesn't allow adblocking, this means you will have to choose one of the many other mobile browsers that do.

Re: Google has removed the option to disable autoplay from Mobile Chrome

#148

Post by aikinai »

pvg wrote: post #138
userbinator wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then maybe the solution is to also have the option turn off animated GIFs and perhaps frequent canvas repaints too; and not simply give up completely ! In any case, just leaving the option alone so at least it has some effect like it did before, would still be better than essentially a full surrender.

You can turn off GIF animation in Chrome, you are still downloading the giantass GIF. Slowing down canvas repaints if one of your overall goals is web applications that have feature and performance parity with desktop ones is, I think, unlikely. I'm a bit more surprised Google (and all browser vendors) aren't more proactive in just killing off animated GIFs.

Except animated GIFs are the only way to have embedded "video" in Google Slides.

(Yes, you can technically "embed" YouTube videos, but they play in the YouTube player with all of its chrome and only in widescreen with letterboxing if your aspect ratio doesn't fit)

Re: Google has removed the option to disable autoplay from Mobile Chrome

#150

Post by esperent »

kikokikokiko wrote: post #140
untog wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the canvas case it wouldn’t block the huge downloads, it would just stop them being visible.

Just by not being visible it would already be a better experience for the user.

You might be surprised how few users agree with you on this point - or rather, care enough to engage in the conversation at all. Blocking non-muted video is something most people are happy about. Blocking mute animations, I don't think many people are gonna waste much energy caring about it.
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