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Google sets burial date for legacy Chrome Extensions, fears for ad-blockers grow

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Re: Google sets burial date for legacy Chrome Extensions, fears for ad-blockers grow

#71

Post by ikt »

RheingoldRiver wrote: post #22
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I am really not sure why they keep losing users. Because, number one, they keep constantly making radical UI/UX changes that frustrate and alienate their long term users who would rather they keep the "older look" which they got used to and works just fine for them, and number two, most websites are lazy so their devs only optimize for Chrome, even going the extra mile to explicitly state that "For best experience u…

> Because they keep making stupid UI)UX choices than alienate their users Cannot overstate this enough. They keep randomly changing their UI constantly , and it's especially frustrating when you have a bunch of custom CSS. I'm a bunch of versions behind & dreading updating because I don't want to spend the hours it'll take to fix my shit for their new version. I honestly hate this browser so much at this point, but e…

but you recognise you are in likely a sub 0.5% of users with custom css?

chrome gained a lot for two reasons, it was a hell of a lot better than firefox and they advertised the crap out of it.

Firefox has caught up significantly since then but doesn't have the advertising

the adblock debate will push a lot of users back to firefox and it feels like the ui is in a much better place than it was

Re: Google sets burial date for legacy Chrome Extensions, fears for ad-blockers grow

#72

Post by Andrew_nenakhov »

glanzwulf wrote: post #59
Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone should use the last bastion of free Web: Firefox. (which is actually pretty great, and I have a way better browsing experience with it that with that chrome monstrosity)

Haven't used Firefox in years, would need to check what's new. But I've been enjoying Brave. Built in blockers for ads and trackers, built in tor, and a very interesting rewards system to help content creators and honestly, so far I recommend it.

For the sake of fighting browser engines monoculture, I'd recommend you NOT using Brave, even for all the goodies and niceties in the world.

Re: Google sets burial date for legacy Chrome Extensions, fears for ad-blockers grow

#73

Post by GoblinSlayer »

square_usual wrote: post #55
GoblinSlayer wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just disabled javascript and see no ads whatsoever. No idea what problem gorhill found to solve, but ad blocking seems to be easy.

Yes, if you crush your computer into a cube you won't see ads again either. But people want to keep their computers and block content they don't like, so there's "problems to solve" there.

I keep my computer. How do you think I post here?

Re: Google sets burial date for legacy Chrome Extensions, fears for ad-blockers grow

#74

Post by chii »

progval wrote: post #70
chii wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not like Firefox is a bad browser. compared to chrome, firefox no longer has an edge. Chrome's restrictive addons is what made firefox stronger. But ever since firefox removed the old XUL style addons, their utility has drastically dropped against chrome. I was very angry at their poor choice, as some really excellent, but unmaintained addons no longer work. I put up with firefox, just so i can give them some…

I also hate they had to kill XUL addons, but they had good reasons to do so: https://yoric.github.io/post/why-did-mozilla-remove-xul-addo...

Those aren't good reasons from the user's perspective. Those reasons were good reasons from a technical, and maintenance perspective (which, as a software engineer, i understand). Those reasons are what engineers give to product management in order to get a green-field rewrite.

But firefox's value add is their addon system - even if it is old, and difficult to use. It enabled some really great addons that weren't possible in the new replacement (as a simple example, the DownThemAll was rewritten using this new api, and it's shadow of their former self).

Firefox should have paid the cost to maintain the old legacy system, and replace it only when the webextensions api is sufficient to replace _all_ functionality (which, of course, won't because webextensions evolved from google trying to kill off addons https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/ ).

Re: Google sets burial date for legacy Chrome Extensions, fears for ad-blockers grow

#75

Post by irthomasthomas »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #25

I have a stupid idea. But first, a bunch of questions: - Can you legally advertise a product you're not affiliated with? Is this OK by the ToS of major ad networks? - Is it possible to target ads by user's browser? I'm thinking, maybe we should crowdfund a public interest ad, targeted at people browsing from Chrome, with some attention-grabbing art or distracting colors, and a clear message: "Want to stop seeing this…

Good idea, but don't look to EFF for help. They rely on Google and Co funding to survive.

"Buying Silence

... most of these groups depended on funding from the very same corporations that they should be criticizing. Over the past years, EFF has taken millions in funds from Google and Facebook via straight donations and controversial court payouts that many see as under-the-radar contributions. Hell, Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s foundation gave EFF at least $1.2 million"

https://thebaffler.com/salvos/all-effd-up-levine

Re: Google sets burial date for legacy Chrome Extensions, fears for ad-blockers grow

#76

Post by ntp85 »

quonn wrote: post #15
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I am really not sure why they keep losing users. Because, number one, they keep constantly making radical UI/UX changes that frustrate and alienate their long term users who would rather they keep the "older look" which they got used to and works just fine for them, and number two, most websites are lazy so their devs only optimize for Chrome, even going the extra mile to explicitly state that "For best experience u…

I think the UI is finally good on macOS. The only thing I find strange now is the button-like tab style. Which seems like a minor issue.

So do I. The UI also looks pretty good on GNOME.

Re: Google sets burial date for legacy Chrome Extensions, fears for ad-blockers grow

#77

Post by chii »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #61
chii wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you don't have to mention adblockers in the ad. The ad could imply a cleaner browsing experience, faster, and your activities won't be tracked!

yeah, people really trust those sites that offer to install something to improve your browser performance and keep you from being tracked.

well, at least this one ad would be true, and hopefully, those who would otherwise have clicked on that shady "web-accelerator" ad would've instead been saved by this one!

Re: Google sets burial date for legacy Chrome Extensions, fears for ad-blockers grow

#78

Post by tjpnz »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #16
vadfa wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only browser that's been losing users for years is Firefox. That already tells Google all they need to know. (It also tells Mozilla what they need to know; pity they are deaf.)

I wonder why. It's not like Firefox is a bad browser.

On Android it's freaking fantastic. Everything feels snappier and I can utilise uBlock Origin to block all of the BS. I've set this up for family, friends etc and none have gone back to Chrome. I think the biggest issue is marketing.

Re: Google sets burial date for legacy Chrome Extensions, fears for ad-blockers grow

#79

Post by zuhsetaqi »

RheingoldRiver wrote: post #22
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I am really not sure why they keep losing users. Because, number one, they keep constantly making radical UI/UX changes that frustrate and alienate their long term users who would rather they keep the "older look" which they got used to and works just fine for them, and number two, most websites are lazy so their devs only optimize for Chrome, even going the extra mile to explicitly state that "For best experience u…

> Because they keep making stupid UI)UX choices than alienate their users Cannot overstate this enough. They keep randomly changing their UI constantly , and it's especially frustrating when you have a bunch of custom CSS. I'm a bunch of versions behind & dreading updating because I don't want to spend the hours it'll take to fix my shit for their new version. I honestly hate this browser so much at this point, but e…

Can you give some examples what you changed? I’m very curious because I’ve never heard about it and can’t imagine what people would do with it

Re: Google sets burial date for legacy Chrome Extensions, fears for ad-blockers grow

#80

Post by captaincaveman »

Barrin92 wrote: post #21

if you haven't already use Firefox and recognize that this is a fundamental question of freedom and whether you want the internet to be controlled by dystopian corporate advertisement monoliths or institutions that care about your rights. Every time this comes up and 80% of discussions is about whether the tab bar in firefox is flat or three pixels wide instead of five makes me more depressed

I was put off by Firefox by some questionable opinionated decisions they made. I don't want a browser with a political agenda, just want one that that follows the specs and performs well.
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