Adblock Plus and (a little) more
Adblock - the evolution · 2006-09-10 00:31 by Wladimir Palant
Did you know when the Adblock project came to be? Have you ever wondered whether there ever was Adblock 0.1? Maybe also asking yourself what it looked like? Now you can get the answers to all these questions, and since one picture says more than a thousand words — you also get screenshots. Thanks to CVS’ long memory these screenshots are still there for us — take a look!
Adblock 0.1 — the very first version, released on 2002-12-04:
And we learn that Henrik Aasted Sorensen had a pretty weird theme in his browser. That’s already something, right?
Adblock 0.2 — released on 2002-12-28:
Adblock 0.3 — released on 2003-06-08:
Wait, you know this screenshot! Isn’t this the screenshot you see on adblock.mozdev.org? Right, that’s the one — after Adblock 0.3 the project changed hands and rue wasn’t too interested in keeping the site up-to-date. This also means that the following screenshots are mine since I don’t know of any official screenshots for Adblock 0.4/0.5.
Adblock 0.4 — released on… ehm, what is a release? Anyway, the first development build (d24) has been published on 2003-07-22, the last one (d31) on 2003-09-03, and I don’t know exactly which one this screenshot belongs to:
Adblock 0.5 development build 2 nightly 35 – yes, we are counting nightlies instead of development builds now, and this particular one has been published on 2004-01-12:
This last screenshot already looks exactly like Adblock Plus 0.5 n39 that has been the most recent Adblock version since 2004-06-27. And after that there was nothing for a long time — until Adblock Plus. Here is Adblock Plus 0.5.10, released on 2005-10-23:
Finally there was one more (minor) update for Adblock — Adblock Plus 0.5 n40 published on 2006-01-01:
Nightly 42 that came a few days later looks exactly the same — and at the moment there aren’t more Adblock versions (note that nightly 43 isn’t an official version). Which means that I can continue with the Adblock Plus 0.6, released on 2006-01-17:
Adblock Plus 0.6.1 — released on 2006-02-12:
Adblock Plus 0.7 — released on 2006-04-08:
Which brings me to the point of all this… I really should update the screenshots because Adblock Plus 0.7.1 looks a little different again. Or maybe wait until Adblock Plus 0.7.2 is finished? Oh, ignore that, it’s just me being lazy.
Comment [5]
Commenting is closed for this article.
ecjs · 2006-09-10 11:45 · #
Nice.
pirlouy · 2006-09-11 03:13 · #
Can I do a bit rude ? :-P
The last way to create a filter is maybe prettiest for the screenshot, simple and fast for some people… but I find it a bit hard to use, for example when scrolling or clicking somewhere. Filters are created very (too much) easily.
It’s just my belief after one month tests.
But it’s not a problem at all. I can block ads nethertheless.
Two questions:
* It tooks more than 1 year and a half to reach 0.5.n39 . What time did you need to reach 0.6.1 ? Did you use some common source code from AB ?
* Why do Rue NOT answer at any attack you’ve written ? Don’t you think he will appear again with a wonderful ad-blocker ? :-)
thanks for this nice historical.
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
The user interface changes always have disadvantages, certainly. I hope that the advantages outweight them however.
Adblock Plus 0.6.1 took two months (I started working on an Adblock rewrite in the middle of December), which doesn’t mean anything at all because it is always faster once you know the direction. I reused very little code from Adblock, though I did take some of my own code from three years ago that found its way into official Adblock.
As to rue — I could say that he doesn’t have anything to answer because I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true. Unfortunately the more likely explanation is that he doesn’t even know. Nobody heard anything from him since February, he simply disappeared once again. As to a wonderful re-appearance with a new great ad blocker — rue? Sorry, you must be kidding :)
Benoit · 2006-09-12 00:36 · #
Why were there “Hide ads” and “Remove ads” settings since 0.1? It was my understanding that “Remove ads” meant not just hiding, but also not downloading the ads, which was new in version 0.4 thanks to your content policy discovery. So what was it doing in 0.1 until 0.3?
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
Originally it had the same meaning as “Collapse blocked elements” option has now — “hide” would only hide the ads (set CSS style
visibility:hidden) whereas “remove” would make sure they don’t occupy any space (set CSS styledisplay:none). It was rue’s idea to use the content policies and really block downloads only in the “remove” mode — no chance talking him out of this.Jack · 2007-05-22 05:52 · #
The old adblock plus allowed me to move the ABP icon on my toolbar, the current one doesn’t allow it to move to someplace else on the navigation bar. This was very useful as it allowed me to customize my browser layout. Now I am forced to use it with the ABP icon stuck on the right hand side rather than over next to the OTHER navigation icons where it belongs. :(
How do I fix this?
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
http://adblockplus.org/en/faq_customization#statusdrag
Martin Englert · 2007-10-29 08:59 · #
I’m using Mac OS x and use AdblockPlus.
Somehow the red Adblock icon in the toolbar has disappeared, so I cannot disable and enable Adplus on some pages anymore.
What can I do to get the Adplus Icon back into the toolbar?
Thanks!
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
http://adblockplus.org/en/faq_customization#toolbar_add will probably help. Otherwise, go to menu Tools / Adblock Plus and make sure you have “Show in toolbar” checked in the Options menu (menu at the top of the screen).