EDIT: Apologies. Updated with a link to what gorhill REALLY said:
Manifest v2 uBO will not be automatically replaced by Manifest v3 uBOL[ight]. uBOL is too different from uBO for it to silently replace uBO – you will have to explicitly make a choice as to which extension should replace uBO according to your own prerogatives.
Ultimately whether uBOL is an acceptable alternative to uBO is up to you, it’s not a choice that will be made for you.
Will development of uBO continue? Yes, there are other browsers which are not deprecating Manifest v2, e.g. Firefox.
I’ve been using uBOLite for about a year and I’m pretty happy with it. You don’t have to give the extension access to the content on the page and all the filtering on the browser engine, not over JavaScript.
Well I don’t use Chrome, so…
They should recommend switching to Firefox instead. It’s clear that Google cannot be allowed to have a monopoly on browsers.
The title is misleading, or false.
https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-best-on-Firefox
This document explains why uBO works best in Firefox.
The title is misleading, or false.
Welcome to 2024, where people only read the headline and the article is compiled by AI
They should I’ve been using mull on mobile and Librewolf on Windows 10 since the first time Google announced these Anti Adblock intensions. Must be a few years now.
I did mess with Thorium a little when it claimed to be the fastest browser on earth but yeah apart from that I’ve been using hardened Firefox forks
Did I miss a piece? I don’t see anywhere in the original statement where firefox is actively recommended, just mentioned as an example.
memories of Internet Explorer doing the same thing intensifies
They did? Never used that garbage. Switched from Netscape Navigator to Opera to Firefox.
I used chrome on mobile since in the old days, Firefox mobile was unusable, but that’s been years ago.
Now for the 3 websites that stubbornly refuse to open in FF I use Edge on desktop, and kiwi on mobile.
PPAPI really ruined this all NPAPI FTW
Why not just recommend not using Chrome…?
Switching to another Chromium-based browser is a half-measure. Other Chromium-based browsers are on borrowed time.
As time goes on, it will become more difficult for them to maintain v2 support. Nobody has the resources to properly maintain a browser fork with more than minor modifications. And you can bet Google will go out of their way to make this difficult for everybody else.
I mean, sure, use what you’re comfortable with if you really can’t use a non-Chromium-based browser for some reason. But it means you’re likely going to have to jump ship again sooner or later. Why not just jump once, to something with better long-term prospects?
Then again, the folks behind Arc Browser have expressed interest in becoming engine-agnostic, so perhaps there will be a Chromium-free Arc version in the future. That would be very cool.
They don’t need to maintain V2, they can bundle native adblockers like Cromite.
Other Chromium-based browsers are on borrowed time. As time goes on, it will become more difficult for them to maintain v2 support.
And Firefox won’t? I just explained why you don’t even need v2 support.
Nobody has the resources to properly maintain a browser fork with more than minor modifications.
Except…all of them?
And you can bet Google will go out of their way to make this difficult for everybody else.
If and when that becomes a problem, I can change later just like I can today… Today it is not a problem.
You know there other ad blockers? Other browsers have them built into the browser itself so there’s no need for any extensions at all.
uBO is the best one though. And Firefox is one of the major mainstream browsers. Is easier to get people to change to something well known rather than an obscure browser like librewolf.
…no?
The ‘block element’ picker is the big one that can not be implemented in the lite version.
Also included block lists can’t update unless the extension itself updates.
If you’re not stuck on chrome due to workplace policy or something, now is the time to switch to Firefox
AdGuard browser extension is on manifest v3 and they have elements picker feature
Do you know if the lite version still blocks YouTube ads?
o7
I only use Firefox and have for the past few years. Yesterday I tried to schedule an appointment to get my oil changed at the dealer but was unable because the process on the site just flat-out breaks on Firefox. This is not a complaint about Firefox, but the fact that Chrome is so popular that some websites only work with Chrome. I don’t have a Chromium-based browser installed (besides Edge, which I’ve never opened intentionally) and I despise being on the phone (which is why I was trying to schedule online in the first place), so I just didn’t make the appointment. I’ll go somewhere else to get my oil changed. Sorry for the rant but it was extremely frustrating.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/chrome-mask
This addon will work if it’s not letting you
I’ll check it out. Thanks!
Not necessarily. The problem is often that chrome JavaScript implementation can be ever so slightly different from FFs. Or just that the web devs wrote fragile code that is barely working on chrome and doesn’t work on other browsers, where they failed to test.
Adding to this, Firefox’s JavaScript is much more strict than others (which I love). As a web developer I prioritize testing it in Firefox because it’s helped me find bugs other browsers just plow through.
Personally I use Safari daily and the number of websites that are broken due to poor security (but function fine in Chrome) is alarming. Chrome doesn’t even check content type on
<iframe>last time I checked.I tend to agree with you. Normally if something doesn’t work in firefox it makes sense, but less often is that the case in chrome.
I am fascinated by the idea of a web developer choosing to use Safari, honestly, though. Can I ask why? For me, the hesitancy of adopting new web standards, the lack of a real extensions, and lack of support for non-Apple OSes… combined with lots of random bugs that I only ever see so often in Safari, I absolutely loathe that browser. And I feel like being a web developer conditioned me to feel this way. And then there’s the business practice concerns (Apple selectively supporting new web features with the intention of keeping native apps seen as superior, because it makes them money)… but even ignoring this, I’m a Safari-hater through and through. It feels like Internet Explorer 7 vs Firefox to me.
On iOS I have to support a few major versions of Safari back and it’s nightmarish at times. For certain featuresets, you absolutely cannot assume things will probably work like you can with FF/Chromium browsers and it makes me so ragey sometimes. I’ve been spending the last few weeks trying to workaround an issue in various Safari iOS versions, and it’s not the first time I’ve been in this situation.
I’m curious – what versions of Safari are you required to support on the job?
Personally
This was my poor attempt to mean “as an end-user.” I just love that it’s tied in to the Apple ecosystem and the UI is so much cleaner than other browsers.
I’ve tried to make the switch to others but they always feel very clunky. I love Firefox to death but it looks awful (at least on macOS). I’m not a big extension guy because I’m filtering DNS and IP traffic at the network layer — if we’re talking about ad blocking, tracking and the like it doesn’t make sense to only protect against it in the browser, as apps tend to send traffic to the very same domains as the websites.
I actually hate the trend of apps being nothing more than a wrapper around web applications. It comes off as lazy development, and I miss native apps (regardless of platform) instead of these creepy wrappers around web applications. So I actually have to agree with Apple there.
As for browser support, my team works on an internal-only app and our security policy doesn’t allow outdated browsers, so there’s no hard rules when it comes to browser support.
Worth keeping around at least
Out of principle, I refuse to pretend I am not browsing with Firefox. 🦊❤️✊ Let website statistics show! And I will boycott sites that break due to not testing on multiple browsers!
That works until it’s your bank or credit card website. I cannot use Capital One’s (CC) “pay bill” any longer.
Change banks
Luckily it hasn’t come to that for me yet. But I have reported issues with my bank’s website to them, and it had been fixed.
Man, you never worked for a large corporation that that had internal web based apps that only work on Internet Explorer and refused to update it.
I worked somewhere like that back in the 2008-2010 time frame. Thankfully, there was a extension, I believe the name was “IETab”, that would spawn a new tab in Trident (IE’s browser engine). So you could set certain sites to launch in one of those tabs and everything else would use standard Firefox. None of the people I supported were any the wiser. They just thought everything worked in Firefox.
Granted it was only that seamless because Windows already had that rendering engine built in. There are some extensions that do something similar with Chrome, but because of more modern security standards and whatnot you have to install extension helper applications which is gross.
Chrome is so popular that some websites only work with Chrome.
It’s the Internet Explorer problem all over again, but this time from an even more invasive company.
The more people choosing non-Chomium browsers, the better. It’s the only way to preserve what little agency users still have on the mainstream web.
Comment from gorhill (the developer of uBO and uBOL):
I didn’t recommend to switch to uBO Lite, the article made that up. I merely pointed out Google Chrome currently presents uBO Lite as an alternative (along with 3 other content blockers), explained what uBO Lite is, and concluded that it may or may not be considered an acceptable alternative, it’s for each person to decide.
https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/1ejhpu5/comment/lgdmthd/
“uBlock Origin developer slams NeoWin, backpedals on recommendation!” —NeoWin editors, probably.
So what are the consequences of it being flagged? Does it change how it operates?
I don’t use chrome so it doesn’t directly impact me but I like being up-to-date on this stuff
Edit: actually read the article lol so this is related to compatibility with manifest v3
"This warning isn’t just for uBlock Origin users. All extensions built on MV2 will display this warning on the Chrome extensions page if users have updated to Chrome version 127. Users of Chrome’s Beta, Dev, and Canary channels have been seeing these warnings since June 3, 2024.
Although users can temporarily re-enable their MV2 extensions, Google plans to disable these extensions gradually over the next few months. Eventually, users won’t be able to use MV2 extensions at all and will have to switch to MV3 alternatives suggested by the Chrome Web Store."
I know, that some day I will have to switch to Firefox. But I’m putting it off as long as I can, as I don’t like that browser. I will have to instal a shit load of add-ons to get the customisability of Vivaldi, and I doubt k will get it all.
Do you even need uBO on vivaldi, though? A friend of mine recently had an issue of sites breaking, even with all addons disabled. As we found out, vivaldi already has a built-in adblocker, which uses pretty much the same lists as uBO. In the end it turned out to be one of the easylist’s borked rules…
What the uBlock dev actually said:
Manifest v2 uBO will not be automatically replaced by Manifest v3 uBOL[ight]. uBOL is too different from uBO for it to silently replace uBO – you will have to explicitly make a choice as to which extension should replace uBO according to your own prerogatives.
Ultimately whether uBOL is an acceptable alternative to uBO is up to you, it’s not a choice that will be made for you.
Will development of uBO continue? Yes, there are other browsers which are not deprecating Manifest v2, e.g. Firefox.
I switched somewhere in the early 2000s, from Internet Explorer (Microsoft), and never looked back. (Using IE and now Edge as alternatives only, when I get the rare non-functional Firefox issue.) Never created an account either. I manually save and port my bookmarks!
I see librewolf in the edge
