10mo ago

NoScript is revelatory

Sites like Hexbear source scripts from only one domain (hexbear.net). I like those sites.

Other sites loop in a few JavaScript libraries. They have a few domains asking for permissions. That's okay. A little lazy, but acceptable.

Then you have the corporate websites with, like, sixty JavaScript domains. Holy crap! What are scripts from facebook, pinterest, and amazon doing on this news article about jellyfish?

And the website is perfectly functional with just a couple domains enabled.

18 comments

I remember the days when it felt a little spicy just adding the google analytics script on a website that was entirely jquery... Aaaah jquery, peak of internet
- Is that still the default answer on stackoverflow?
  Q: I'm having trouble turning on my computer.
  A: Use jQuery!
  
  When node was becoming popular I was tempted to port jquery and make some demonic server side jquery library. Maybe one day. Just need to make an XML based OS first
  
  Ah, StackOverflow.
  "How do I do x with platform y?"
  Responses:
  "Platform z is better. Use that instead." [+57]
  "Nobody does x anymore. You should be doing w." [+108]
  "This is for work and company policy dictates I use platform y and my team could not get approval for w." [-1]
  "Thread closed. Question is a duplicate of another: 'How do I customize colors for the x I'm doing on platform y? (2007)'"
  
  Q: how to quit vim
  A: have you tried jQuery?
  It got to a point that it was almost like a religion, like we were going to see pairs of programmers walking through neighborhoods, handing out chic tracts on jQuery.
Ublock origin has a similar script disabling feature. https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Blocking-mode:-medium-mode
- I believe you can also enable scripts from specific domains by noop'ing only that domain.
I hate trying to figure out which domains are just for advertising/tracking/shady stuff and which are actually necessary for seeing the actual content I want.
- It can be a chore. I'll often say "fuck it" and temp enable everything in the tab, but I don't like letting them win.
install umatrix instead, more control over which assets can be loaded
- I thought Umatrix was unmaintained?
  Anyway, I used to use it till a few years ago. It's a really powerful extension, but it breaks some sites with the default settings and it can get tedious reenabling scripts one by one to find the bare working minimum. I have since switched to uBlock of the same developer and it seems to me an adequate compromise between privacy, better performance and working sites.
  Unfortunately the modern web has turned into tihs so you can't even browse without an ad blocker anymore.
  
  That's fair. I've used noscript for 4 years and the default is awful. I looked a bit into using uBlock for blocking scripts but I just noped out.
I hate trying to figure out which domains are just for advertising/tracking/shady stuff and which are actually necessary for seeing the actual content I want.

18 comments