Adblock Plus and (a little) more
Adblock Plus 3.0 for Firefox released · 2017-11-06 14:21 by Wladimir Palant
Install Adblock Plus 3.0 for Firefox
With Mozilla disallowing classic extensions in Firefox 57, Adblock Plus 3.0 is our first version based on the Web Extensions framework as announced before. The significant changes introduced here are unfortunate but sadly unavoidable. This is particularly visible in the user interface:
- The ABP icon in the toolbar will now display the number of blocked ads (optional, can be disabled). This replaces the status information in the tooltip.
- The toolbar icon will no longer open a native menu but rather a pop-up. This one uses an old design, we want to improve it soon.
- The options page is not a native dialog but a web page now. It should be easier to use, but it is lacking much of the functionality that Firefox users got used to. We plan to add more functionality to it in future.
- The issue reporter works mostly the same as it did before, but it won’t flag common issues locally at this point. Also, it will collect less information than it did before. We’ll keep improving it.
- The “Block element” dialog offers less assistance than it did before, we will improve that as well.
As to the good news:
- We largely fixed the performance degradation which has been an issue since we switched to a different storage format with Adblock Plus 2.9. The root issue is going to be addressed in Firefox 57.
- The experimental element hiding emulation syntax is now available in Firefox as well.
- Blocking WebRTC connections is also possible in Firefox now.
With this being a massive change, there are some known issues left which should be addressed in another release soon:
- The “Block element” dialog doesn’t work in Firefox 57 under some circumstances (issue 5817).
- On Firefox 57 for Android, the Adblock Plus menu item opens the (partly dysfunctional) pop-up rather than the options page (issue 5977).
- In older Firefox versions such as Firefox 50, saving custom filters won’t update the list and you need to reload the options page to see your changes (issue 5971).
abp:subscribelinks sometimes won’t work in Firefox 57 (issue 5965).
Comment [55]
Commenting is closed for this article.
Tyler · 2017-11-06 16:56 · #
Since updating to Adblock Plus 3.0 (I’m on Firefox 56.0.2), nearly all sites completely fail to load.
Tyler · 2017-11-06 17:15 · #
In fact, even this website is blocked. I had to disable the plugin just to see the website. Somebody goofed, ABP team.
Ann · 2017-11-06 21:30 · #
Oh this update is not an update. And when I try to submit an error, through the ABP interface, ABP tells me I am not connected to the internet!
Blocking way too much and no way to correct except by manually disabling on EVERY website.
Ready to uninstall.
me from home · 2017-11-06 22:05 · #
Wow. Since the new update, all websites are full of ads now. All my personally addes filters and blocks are gone, the work and filters of more than a year are dead now. But hurray, a new inconvinient interface that looks similar to the interface of the adblocker ultimate, needing a whole new tab…
No, no, no! This Update and now the whole AdBlock Plus is garbage. Completely ruined. All the blocked Ads are back.
And no possibility to reinstall them with my BackUps.
No need for this plugin anymore…
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
I can imagine only one scenario where your filters would be gone. Could it be that you updated from Adblock Plus 2.8.x straight to 3.0, skipping the 2.9 release? Then your data is still there, in your Firefox profile under adblockplus/patterns.ini – but Adblock Plus is no longer allowed to access it.
As to the user interface, we hear you but it’s not like we were allowed to keep the old one. Firefox 57 is being released in a week, and any classic extension (meaning in particularly any extension using native user interfaces) will stop working. Welcome to the new world of Web Extensions!
Andrey · 2017-11-06 22:10 · #
FF 56.0.2. I understand that ABP has updated when all websites start show me ads. Well, I can’t add language and block lists on options page. Install back 2.9.1
Panos · 2017-11-06 22:46 · #
I’m using Firefox 52.4.0; ABP doesn’t work well here. Please tell me how to downgrade ABP to version 2.9.1 and disable automatic updates.
Ed Straker · 2017-11-07 03:45 · #
3.0 is CRAP! I instantly disabled it and went back to 2.9. All options were removed from my Tools dropdown, and all options were removed from clicking the ABP icon on my upper right.
JUST DELETE THIS GARBAGE!! Go back to supporting 2.9. In fact, how about Adblock Plus just throw the 3.0 programmer to the crocodiles so that he never comes back. Thanks.
If I can find a way so that ABP never automatically updates itself, that’s what I’m going to do. If I could swear the worst profanities at AdBlock on this forum for what they just attempted to do, I would faster than lightning. Thanks.
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
We wouldn’t mind developing our original codebase further. However, if your read the article under the first link in this announcement – that’s not really an option. Next week Firefox 57 will come out and classic extensions will stop working. And that’s it, no more Adblock Plus 2.9. In order for Adblock Plus to be compatible with Firefox 57 we had to use the Web Extensions framework which in many areas meant starting from scratch. That’s why much of the functionality is missing, and some functionality simply is no longer possible.
As to your request, there are no native crocodiles around in my area, and the same goes for everybody else working on the Adblock Plus 3.0 release from what I know. So it’s only the zoo and on my last visit I had the impression that the crocodiles were well-fed already. But I’ll make sure to ask the staff next time I go there with my daughters. Your compassion for the poor animals is admirable.
Ed Straker · 2017-11-07 03:49 · #
And another thing….
I have 2.9.1 back on my Firefox and disabled Adblock updates to off. What a nerve! 3.0 is CRAP!
Bleh · 2017-11-07 03:56 · #
I use Firefox ESR. 3.0 sucks. Will downgrade aswell. I use Adblock Plus only for Custom Filters and UBlock for normal Content.
And unasked Auto-Updates are not OK, especially with such a huge GUI Usability Impact!
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
It’s not like we determine when or how the browser decides to update extensions. Also, it’s not like we will help anybody by letting them keep an older Adblock Plus version that will stop working in a week when Firefox 57 comes out. We already delayed that update as much as possible, which caused considerably complains by users on Beta and Nightly versions of Firefox – for those our previous Adblock Plus release stopped working earlier.
Hop · 2017-11-07 08:54 · #
“I have 2.9.1 back on my Firefox and disabled Adblock updates to off.”
Unless you’re using Firefox ESR what will that accomplish? 2.9.1 will be useless next Tuesday.
Deleted User · 2017-11-07 09:00 · #
--- This comment has been removed on request of the original author ---killhippie · 2017-11-07 09:43 · #
Have to say with what you have to work with it seems to work well. I am confused though does the ‘block additional tracking’ just use the Easy privacy list? because its turned off by default and I oddly ended up with two easy privacy lists, one of which I deleted (oldest one) which seemed to make sense then turned on ‘block additional tracking’ on
As to the wall of insults, I think ABP 3 works pretty well considering the issues you had to deal with theReply from Wladimir Palant:
Yes, “block additional tracking” adds Easy Privacy. I guess that you installed Easy Privacy from some non-default location before, otherwise you wouldn’t end up with two of them.
killhippie · 2017-11-07 10:16 · #
Is there a way to stop the ever increasing number of blocked sites even if you have it set to now show in the icon? Rather like when you have experimental adblocking turned on in safari? I have no need to see how many ads are blocked and it must be using resources that could help cut down the apps ram usage if it was switched off? maybe a toggle to change this behaviour for those of us that do not need it? Thanks for doing a great job just in time for 57 and so far its blocking ads just as well as it did before, well it is for me at least.
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
That’s a simple counter, not using any noteworthy resources. It also has no privacy impact, unlike the filter hit counts we had before. That’s why there is no “off” switch for it. If we reintroduce filter hit counts (quite likely in one way or another) then we’ll also have a way to disable statistics of course.
first impression · 2017-11-07 10:27 · #
Is there a way to use the blockable items log any longer?
Is there a way to uncheck/edit individual filters in a filter list any longer? There is an edit filters button for custom ones but nothing for filter lists. Are those now all or nothing only?
Under a privacy & security section in general, it lists two, unchecked, options that just say block additional tracking and block social media icons tracking. Are those different from what Fanboy+Easylist Merged Ultimate Filter and Fanboy’s Anti-thirdparty Fonts already includes? Those two settings do not list a source or anything specific for information.
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
Blockable items are now integrated into Firefox Developer Tools. You can press Ctrl+Shift+I (Cmd+Option+I on macOS) to open them, there is an Adblock Plus panel. We would like to provide a more straightforward way to get there from the Adblock Plus user interface, but that’s currently not possible (yes, we filed a Firefox bug on that a year ago). The biggest difference is that the new panel won’t show you requests that happened before the panel was opened, you might have to reload the page. This is consistent with the way Developer Tools behave in general, and doing it differently would cause a performance impact regardless of whether people use this feature or not.
The current user interface doesn’t allow disabling individual filters. That’s one of the features we hope to re-add in future.
The two options you ask about merely make adding specialized filter lists a bit easier. The former will add Easy Privacy, the latter Fanboy’s Social Blocking List. You can see the lists being added under “Advanced” after checking the option.
Ed Straker · 2017-11-07 13:48 · #
Hey Wladimir Palant,
Adblock Plus 3.0 is CRAP, and you knew it was——but you didn’t care and shoved it down all Firefox user’s throats. Delete the code, go back to supporting 2.9.1, and shove all of your comments up your butt. It’s that simple. The entire world will NEVER use Firefox 57 with Mozilla’s socialist-style conversion style 56.0.2 (and earlier) under the pluck that “everyone else” must bear their pain for change. Won’t happen!
You’re disabled as is Firefox and Adblock Plus for auto updates. Eat it.
Panos · 2017-11-07 14:01 · #
Really, was the update on ESR users necessary ? You could simply define your Firefox version requirement greater than 52 and leave us in peace without those undesirable changes.
I just can’t understand why you did this — but thank you for Adblock Plus, it has (and still does) helped me tremendously all these years to enjoy the web.
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
And then? Leave ESR users on an unsupported version? Even like that, it would only delay the inevitable. Firefox 59 is going to be the next ESR, in May next year. I sincerely hope that we’ll have a better product by then, but it will be a readjustment shock either way. And you’d be left on a codebase that is already outdated and cannot handle element hiding emulation filters.
Cerberus · 2017-11-07 14:32 · #
I understand your need to update but in time, will you bring back the useful features again, like ctrl+shift+v/u to look at blockable items?
That was the bee’s knees, easily adding custom entries. Default filters are too trigger happy, blocking everything and everything’s mother; allowing unintrusive ads works at best like a drunk trying to walk straight.
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
Just in case, blockable items list is now a Developer Tools panel – you can open it by pressing Ctrl+Shift+I (Cmd+Option+I on macOS) and switching to the Adblock Plus panel. We cannot currently provide a more obvious way to open it, this is a platform limitation (we filed a Firefox bug on that a year ago). Even when that limitation is resolved, shortcut key management isn’t implemented in Firefox at the moment, so keyboard shortcuts defined are unlikely to work in reality. Maybe in some future Firefox version we’ll be able to provide that functionality.
Note that this Developer Tools panel won’t show you requests that happened before the panel was opened, so you might need to reload the page. This is unlikely to change, as that behavior wouldn’t consistent to other panels and also impose a performance penalty on everybody regardless of whether this feature is used.
Cerberus · 2017-11-07 15:30 · #
Since I can’t reply to a reply, I just tested the developer panel thing. It leaves much wanting.
Past the shortcut issue, will ABP’s new blockable items pane someday come close to the classic mode? Where it lists EVERYTHING on the site, like looking under hood and then blocking just the one cancerous thing with scalpel-precision, compared the bludgeoning hamfist of the EZ List.
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
I’d hope so. The current panel is very much an ad hoc solution, created by a developer. Our UX people had bigger worries so far, but I hope that they will look into improving that panel as well at some point.
Tom · 2017-11-07 16:06 · #
The only reason I use Adblock Plus is to block ads. Now it does NOT block ads. I don’t know how write filters. I don’t know how to apply them or even if I can apply them in this new version. My old computer and OS cannot handle all the ads so Firefox is constantly crashing. Adblock Plus is of absolutely no use to me if I can’t block ads.
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
I assure you, it works perfectly fine for most people – all that without writing filters. You might want to ask for help in our forums first: https://adblockplus.org/forum/. The people there should also be able to help you with identifying the Adblock Plus bug if there is one.
Perk · 2017-11-07 16:47 · #
In Firefox Developer Tools, could you allow us to copy and paste each entry? Additionally, could you allow us to middle-click each entry and have it open in a new tab? Currently, it just lists each entry but doesn’t let us do anything with it.
I noticed that in My Filter List, almost all of my ||example.com^ filter rules have been replaced with simply example.com. Is this intentional?
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
Adding middle-click (or just left-click) support should be fairly easily, I’ll file an issue on that tomorrow. As to copying, that would work in Chrome but in Firefox this page has no context menu. I’ll see, maybe Mozilla would be willing to change that. A fake context menu might be another option, maybe that would work.
I cannot reproduce the options bug you are mentioning. If I add ||example.com^ to my filter list, it stays like that. It’s probably better if you create an issue on https://issues.adblockplus.org/ and add more details on your environment and the steps you are performing.
Perk · 2017-11-07 17:47 · #
Regarding my comment about ||example.com^ filter rules getting replaced with example.com, I was talking about what happened when I upgraded to v3.0 from the previous version. Currently in v3.0, if I add a new rule like ||example.net^, this gets saved properly without any problem.
Also, I just discovered a bug. During the upgrading process, filter rules that have the caret dollar-sign symbols next to each other did not get imported when I upgraded to v3.0. (I cannot write out the symbols because this comment system changes the caret into a superscript.) For example, the rule ||example.com carat dollar-sign image did not get imported.
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
That’s strange. There wasn’t any import process during the 2.9 => 3.0 upgrade, that import happened earlier when you upgraded from 2.8 to 2.9 (see https://adblockplus.org/development-builds/new-data-storage-in-adblock-plus-for-firefox). If anything, the presentation of the data changed. I have a bunch of filters using the form you mention – no issues from what I can tell. But I’ll definitely try to reproduce any irregularities here.
Note that filters of the form @@||example.com^$document won’t show up under “My filter list” but rather under “Whitelisted websites,” and then merely as “example.com” (only website domain).
Erick · 2017-11-07 18:36 · #
Hi, i’m a little surprised about the changes. I can understand the reason, but the console window was very helpfull for example. And i want to ask if you guys could bring it back. And i couldn’t find the backup option so far, and neither a filter list created by myself. It’s working, but it’s not showing there… after this update i’m feeling the win7 – win10 “changes” i feeling like a lost control and power… =/
Like i said, i understood why, but, if you guys could bring the console back for example… thanks for your time.
(Sorry for my English)
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
What’s the “console window” – do you mean the list of blockable items? It has been integrated into the Firefox Developer Tools. You can open it by pressing Ctrl+Shift+I (Cmd+Option+I on macOS) and switching to the Adblock Plus panel. The biggest change is that it no longer shows requests that happened while the panel wasn’t open, so you might need to reload the page.
Backup/restore is on our list of features to be added to the options page, pretty high on the list from what I know (mind you, I’m not really involved in the planning here).
Dan · 2017-11-07 19:34 · #
I have noticed a substantial slowdown in Firefox after this release. It works fine at first, but as the day goes on sites become slower and slower to the point of it being unusable. I have to end the process and restart firefox, rinse, repeat.
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
That’s symptoms of a memory leak. One thing for sure: nothing is leaking on our end. So it sounds like there is a Firefox bug, we’ll need to look into that. Note that performance should generally improve with Firefox 57.
Philippe · 2017-11-07 21:25 · #
Quoting Wladimir Palant:
“Firefox 59 is going to be the next ESR, in May next year. I sincerely hope that we’ll have a better product by then”
Then why not give people like me who will continue to use Firefox ESR 52 for another 6 months the option of continuing to use ABP 2.9 for another 6 months? At the end of those 6 months, ABP 3.? will have evolved into a better product, and the switch will be a lot less problematic for us than it is today.
I’m sure I’m not the only one in that situation who would be very grateful if you would provide a link to download version 2.9 again. Thanks.
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
You are free to download Adblock Plus 2.9.1, you can find it in the versions archive: https://addons.mozilla.org/addon/adblock-plus/versions/. This version won’t be maintained however, which is both a technical (Add-ons.Mozilla.Org supports only one “current” version, it cannot be different depending on your browser version) and a resources (we already have our hands full with improving Adblock Plus 3.0) limitation. Please don’t stick with Firefox 52 once it is discontinued, this isn’t safe.
Dcee · 2017-11-07 22:09 · #
blowing away my filter list sucks. Adblock plus does not work when it allows outbrain, taboola and zergnet. no matter how many people sugar coat it they are clickbait spam ads. I have rolled back to 2.9 and I am disabling auto updates on Firefox and Adblock Plus until we get proper functionality.
Adam A. · 2017-11-07 23:46 · #
Dang, I liked the middle-click-to-toggle toolbar button ABP had in the legacy version. I am willing to give the extension a transition period to work out the kinks (hopefully this is one of them). This is coming from someone who has done all the work updating an addon from legacy to multiprocess (a much smaller addon mind you, and I used my chrome version as a base like I believe you have done).
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
Processing middle clicks on the icon is not possible, that’s a general Web Extensions limitation. Click the icon, then click “Enabled on this site” – that’s the best we can do, really.
EskeRahn · 2017-11-08 14:09 · #
Thanks for the update! Great job under the strains of being forced to the new interface for FF57+ !!
(I wish others would bother reading before complaining, and want to feed you to the reptiles for trying to help us…)
A tiny wish: On the “Block element” the small pop up by default appears centred on the primary monitor, and this can be quite confusing when the active browser windows is on another monitor. Allow me to suggest to place it centred over the active browser window.
Suggestion: It would be useful for new users if the pop up somehow contained link to info that Asterisk can be used as wild-card in the filter pattern.
Suggestion: Put a note on the “element hiding helper” page that the functionality is now included in the new ABP 3.0, and that it thus will remain as “Legacy”. E.g. under General
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
You know what: we don’t actually center that “Block element” window, it’s currently supposed to appear in the upper-left corner of the screen and in Chrome it does. I found https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1396881 on this, thank you for noticing.
The “Block element” window is not very usable right now. We are aware of this, it’s on our list of things to improve.
And – you are correct, we need to mark Element Hiding Helper as deprecated.
EskeRahn · 2017-11-08 16:29 · #
Thanks :)
I found another issue.
When I press CANCEL to the pop-up, then selecting any element to block (same or different) gives an empty filter text in the pop-up
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
Nice one, I can reproduce. Could be the same thing as https://issues.adblockplus.org/ticket/5817 which I cannot yet reproduce or a different bug.
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
Actually, I am pretty sure now that it is https://issues.adblockplus.org/ticket/5817 – turned out to be a tricky timing issue. I have a fix for it ready, it should land in the development builds soon. It would be great if you could grab a development build from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-plus/versions/beta then and verify that the issue you saw is also fixed.
EskeRahn · 2017-11-08 17:13 · #
Additional: It also depends on what TYPE of element I try to block. a .jpg does NOT show this behaviour.
Refreshing by F5 or Ctrl+F5 does NOT clear the issue, but reopening the same url in a new tab does.
Philippe · 2017-11-08 18:07 · #
Following up on my comment #25, thank you for providing the link to download previous versions (for those of us who didn’t know about appending /versions to the add-on URL).
I’m fine with version 2.9(.1) not being maintained anymore, and my computer will automatically update Firefox to version ESR 49 when it becomes available.
And thank you for all your work in bringing ABP up to the new browser requirements with version 3!
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
That page is actually linked from the add-on page as “See all versions.”
Nguyen Phuong · 2017-11-09 10:20 · #
I miss the old adblock plus menu in Firefox. I really hate ABP menu in Chrome and now ABP in FF have the same menu as Chrome had. It only looks nice but no helpful. Where is blockable item list? Oh, I can’t even change if the element I want to block wider or narrower.
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
As already mentioned in replies to comments above, blockable items are now integrated into Firefox Developer Tools. You can press Ctrl+Shift+I (Cmd+Option+I on macOS) to open them, there is an Adblock Plus panel. We would like to provide a more straightforward way to get there from the Adblock Plus user interface, but that’s currently not possible (yes, we filed a Firefox bug on that a year ago). The biggest difference is that the new panel won’t show you requests that happened before the panel was opened, you might have to reload the page. This is consistent with the way Developer Tools behave in general, and doing it differently would cause a performance impact regardless of whether people use this feature or not.
As to the element selection, we would like to integrate parts of Element Hiding Helper functionality in future, usability can certainly improve here. This hasn’t happened so far because we have bigger issues to address.
I’m not sure why the Block Element dialog opens in a new tab for you, it certainly doesn’t for me. It’s not meant to be a tab, so broken functionality is somewhat expected. Maybe you could create an issue under https://issues.adblockplus.org/ and provide some information on your environment?
Nguyen Phuong · 2017-11-09 10:25 · #
One more thing: when I click on the “Block element” button, there’s no going back, mo cancel button. The only way is clicking on something, then it will open a new tab instead of a pop-up (as the old version does). And when I close that tab, there’s a red area where I’ve clicked.
Strazdas · 2017-11-09 13:49 · #
So, apperently this new version either does not block any ads that arent in my personal list or has absolutely no idea what unobtrusive advertisement mean (something that wasnt a problem in older version). Furtheremore, since i cannot locate the “blockable elements” list popup and block element button does not appear on half the stuff, let alone the 1 pixel hidden scripts, the addon has become unusable. I hope this will be addressed eventually, but unless that is soon ill have to find another blocking extension. Heck, the native dev-tools may end up easier especially given that the block element popup doesnt have any of easy selections anymore and is only the custom option from before, but in a worse UI.
EskeRahn · 2017-11-09 15:31 · #
To the #29 reply, sure, just post a reply when it is there, so I get a notification :)
Nguyen Phuong · 2017-11-09 16:21 · #
@Wladimir Palant: I have ‘Tab mix plus’ add-on installed so that I only have 1 FF window and any pop-up site/ads will show up as tabs. When I use ‘block elements’, the old version of Adblock Plus still shows a pop-up dialog but now the new version shows a tab instead.
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
I see. The bad news: there is nothing we can do about this while using the Web Extensions framework (which is not optional if you read the first link in this announcement). The good news: Tab Mix Plus is a legacy add-on which will stop working in Firefox 57 anyway. Having looked into the Tab Mix Plus source code a while ago, this is really good news for the stability of your browser. I’d bet that this isn’t the only issue it causes, whether you are aware of this or not.
Nguyen Phuong · 2017-11-09 16:27 · #
Here is a screenshot using ‘block elements’, a tab show up with a blank textbox, the buttons ‘add’ and ‘cancel’ do nothing. I can only close that tab.
https://snag.gy/Mz4J9R.jpg
And another screenshots that have clicked area has a transparent red fill.
https://snag.gy/umUfMT.jpg
https://snag.gy/etZcbP.jpg
Chibi Halo · 2017-11-13 07:22 · #
I’m sorry but version 3.0 makes things very unusable now. You see one of the main reasons I use Adblock Plus outside of blocking ads on a lot of sites, that it doesn’t do now anymore but that’s on the part of the web designers finding ways to get around Adblock Plus, is to cut down on the number of custom images on a forum site I go to every day. The way 2.9.1 and every version before that worked with being able to right click on an image and selecting “Block Image” to get the Adblock Plus Filter Rule window allowed me to be able to block the image once and keep it blocked. You see the website I go to runs all user added images through an image server and changes the address for each time the image is loaded. So unless I’m able to block it by say the actual imgur address I’m only blocking it once. However, lately I can’t even get that option on that site so I need the Open Blockable Items option back to Adblock because the only way I can remove things like .gifs that are over the allowed limit or images that break the rules for pixel size is to go through that option. In 3.0 I need to block each instance of the image showing up because the block element deal only blocks that particular instance of the image and I don’t get the option to edit a custom filter the way you could in 2.9. Please make the next version of ABP more useful and bring back some of those functions. As of now I’ve stopped all automatic updates and have rolled back to a more usable version of the extension. Please don’t fix what wasn’t broken.
Chris Raymond · 2017-11-13 19:50 · #
I open my in-progress, home page, hand coded, and my own footer with text links to my own social networks, no longer was displaying. Really? I had to remove Fanboy Social list from ABP. I thought I’d been hacked. It is not helpful to add a list that has such unintended consequences. Only because I know how to use web developer tools to look at my source code did I discern that ABP was now using a list that was hiding TEXT LINKS to social sites. No, just no. I’m a big girl, I can handle text links to Twitter, for god sake.
Michelle Six · 2017-11-14 17:47 · #
Would be nice if there was an explanation that this is a major functional downgrade. That it is caused by the major functional downgrade with Firefox 57. That you can keep functionality by not upgrading firefox or re-downloading firefox 56 and how to downgrade Adblock plus to a full featured version.
There is really no reason to keep using Firefox and ABP after this upgrade. :(
Perk · 2017-11-14 22:38 · #
This is regarding comment 22 and the errors I mentioned.
I just discovered that I still have v.2.9.1 on a different computer so I checked my custom filter rules. All of the ||example.com^ and ||example.com^$ rules are there and display properly. So if something happened during the v.2.8 to v.2.9 upgrade, it’s not noticeable in v.2.9.1. It is only after I upgraded to v.3.0 that the errors appeared.
(Btw, thanks for tweaking this site’s comment system and letting us post the caret without it turning the comment into a superscript.)
Laura · 2017-11-15 11:03 · #
I miss the “disable everywhere” button for easily toggling the add-on on and off. It allowed me to easily tell if the add-on was blocking something I wanted/expected to see, without having to know about filters or developer tools. Any chance of bringing this back?
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
I already forwarded that feedback to UX, they are considering comparable functionality. Thank you for explaining your use case by the way, it isn’t really obvious why “disable on example.com” won’t do.
Todd · 2017-11-21 13:51 · #
Nearly all previous functionality is missing from this add-on. I’m genuinely confused about what has happened. Is this going to be fixed? Are we going to be able to block individual elements again? Build our own filter lists? Differentiate between blocked and whitelisted items (previously color coded)? Will we be able to whitelist single pages via a single click or will we continue to have to copy the URL and go into the settings to whitelist a single page? I’m honestly confused about how much different and indeed inferior (sorry, but it’s true) this version of Adblock is. I’m quite discouraged—ABP was, at one point, hands down the most important add-on in the arsenal, and I spent years configuring it to block certain elements of sites I visit regularly. I’m researching uBlock and others now :-(
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
Just in case: the Blockable items list is now integrated in Developer Tools. You can press Ctrl+Shift+I (Cmd+Option+I on macOS) to open them, then switch to Adblock Plus tab. The functionality isn’t quite where it should be of course, as explained before we were forced to redevelop the entire user interface. This is going to improve, definitely.
popol888 · 2017-11-23 16:38 · #
The first improvement to do it’s to allow users to get the list of ads address actually blocked. It’s a good thing to see the qty of blocked ads in the toolbar but i also want to know WHICH ads are blocked. Thanks to all of you for this useful program.
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
You can see that in the Developer Tools – press Ctrl+Shift+I (Cmd+Option+I on macOS) and switch to Adblock Plus panel. You might need to reload the page, requests that already happened won’t be shown.
ryan · 2017-11-28 03:54 · #
Adblock plus 3.0 and new or lack of or removed features including custom filter lists being replaced with some pop up garbage sucks, i reverted back to Adblock plus 29 legacy and still use firfox version 55 and will not be updating ad block plus or firefox in the future simply because the new updates are pathetic.
Andrew · 2017-11-28 04:46 · #
latest version of Ad Block plus is garbage and a complete turn off. If you want to revert back to the previous version 2.9 go here. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-plus/versions/
Adblock Plus & Firefox updates gets worse with each version and have become absolute garbage, stick with Firefox 55 and Adblock plus 2.9 , dont update either of them.Brian · 2017-12-02 15:02 · #
-reporting 100% broken functionality and menu system using latest version and FF 56; — I have always used old outdated web browsers because its difficult to get so many add ons configured to work properly; every time firefox updates they remove functionality and screw up the interface. Adblock plus is my #1 addon that must work or I won’t bother browsing the web. Thanks for all the updates over the years — Today I updated (from ff32) to ff 56 (the latest 57 is not happening… not anytime soon until all the addons are 100% functional for me) — your latest ABP does not function at all; 100% broken. the integrated menu system has no options available and only a few gibberish looking characters that exist where english menu’s used to be… nothing clickable; I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled a few times… I’m going back to V2.8.2. – I block all cookies, all java, and only want bare bones TEXT with an occasional image to appear on any website I visit – I have a very limited bandwidth and must avoid any and all video unless its something I’m specifically looking for. – I miss the functionality of ‘element hiding helper ‘ and ‘pop up’ addon – for advanced removal of persistant websites that always try to circumvent your epic add on. – Please try to get this latest version working like the old tried and true versions did… maybe in a few months I’ll try again and see what progress you’ve made.
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
I assume that one of your settings is breaking Adblock Plus (and likely most other extensions compatible with Firefox 57) – sounds like you have a rather unusual configuration. You might want to create an issue under https://issues.adblockplus.org/ and paste your data from about:support into it, we should be able to figure out what is causing this and create a Firefox bug (doesn’t sound like it is something we can fix on our end).
John · 2017-12-02 18:18 · #
Andrew, thank you. I’ve done as you suggest in #46.
Robert Adsett · 2017-12-03 17:27 · #
I am finding the absence of the list of blockable items a rather large limitation. Reloading the page is often not a workable option.
Shane Mawer · 2017-12-04 09:40 · #
A Load of rubbish!!…….
Reply from Wladimir Palant:
I assume that one of your settings is breaking Adblock Plus (and likely most other extensions compatible with Firefox 57) – sounds like you have a rather unusual configuration. You might want to create an issue under https://issues.adblockplus.org/ and paste your data from about:support into it, we should be able to figure out what is causing this and create a Firefox bug (doesn’t sound like it is something we can fix on our end).
Firefox is the actual problem because with every update it gets worse and 57 is the worst of all. Ive been using Ad block plus and element hider helper as well;l as many other add ons and Ad block plus is just not compatible with Mozilla firefox 57, its vile, functionalities have been removed and the options are horrible as well as confusing, cannot hide elements i just dont like the update, reverted back to Ad block Plus 2.9.1 and Firefox 56 used ccleaner to remove Pocket and other garbage Firefox add with each update and no longer have any problems, functionalities have returned to normal and work how i like them. , i will not be updating either firefox or ad block plus at any stage in the future because there’s absolutely no point of using something that is no longer compatible and useless.
john · 2017-12-04 09:59 · #
Mozilla have installed so much bloatware into Firefox that it has actually ruined the browser. Previous versions were sh*t but 57 is a disgrace. Mozilla have fiddled with firefox to the point of destruction and there is no reason to keep updating and ruining something that was never broken in the first place and if mozilla keep doing what they are doing users will eventually refuse to use it. I have not seen one good report about FF 57 apart from the obvious shills who are paid to promote it. I use FF 55 and all add ons work very efficiently i wont be changing and i believe many others will do the same. Adblock plus are now good at making excuses but excuses know thats all they are, excuses!
Johnc@mailinator.com · 2017-12-04 10:03 · #
Mozilla have installed so much bloatware into Firefox that it has actually ruined the browser. Previous versions were sh*t but 57 is a disgrace. Mozilla have fiddled with firefox to the point of destruction and there is no reason to keep updating and ruining something that was never broken in the first place and if mozilla keep doing what they are doing users will eventually refuse to use it. I have not seen one good report about FF 57 apart from the obvious shills who are paid to promote it. I use FF 55 and all add ons work very efficiently i wont be changing and i believe many others will do the same. Adblock plus are now good at making excuses and thats all they are, excuses!
Have to say · 2017-12-04 10:08 · #
Mozilla FF 57 and AdblockPlus 3.0 & 3.0.1 are Garbage!!!
Previous versions were fine but not any longer.
craig · 2017-12-04 14:36 · #
Ad blocks Plus is not the problem but mozilla are with the constant changes, too many chiefs and not enough indians at mozilla who lost touch with the user base and only see the $$ signs leaving them with a bad rep.
Appreciate Wladimir Palant and Adblock + trying to keep up with the constant changes, so thankyou!
worse version of firefox ever · 2017-12-12 11:20 · #
Firefox 57 is the worst version of all, over hyped to be something it isnt, infested with bloatware and trash users will never use, incompatible with add ons and extensions and a complete waste of time,stick with version 55 or 56, there is no need to update firefox at any stage stick with what works
Joe · 2017-12-16 07:31 · #
You should be able to replicate this. Firefox ESR 52.5.2, ABP 3.0.2, Windows XP — and no filters will update on either computer. No problem on Firefox 57.0.1 on Mac.
Reply from Dave Vandyke:
Hey Joe,
Thanks for the bug report. I’ve opened issue 6240 for it, please could you check I’ve got the reproduction steps right and reply there? Then our QA team can see if they can reproduce the problem.
Thanks, Dave.