Major changes to the "Show tabs on Flash and Java" feature · 6 days ago by Wladimir Palant
The current Adblock Plus development build (1.1.3+.2010020302) brings major changes to the “Show tabs on Flash and Java” feature. While the tab displayed on Flash and Java content should mostly look the same as before, it is implemented in an entirely different way now.
About.com Reader's Choice Awards - Adblock Plus needs your vote! · 7 days ago by Wladimir Palant
Don’t have enough polls to participate in? Good news for you: About.com started its Reader’s Choice Awards program and you might know some of the finalists. Now it all depends on your vote. Head over to the poll page, page 4 is particularly interesting — it lists Adblock Plus as one of the finalists in the “Best Overall Add-On” category. You certainly want to go to page 2 as well and vote for Firefox in the “Best Major Desktop Browser” category. If you already had a chance to use Firefox Mobile (Fennec), maybe even with Adblock Plus installed, page 3 is where you can vote for it.
Getting screen coordinates for an HTML element · 10 days ago by Wladimir Palant
Yes, getBoxObjectFor() is deprecated, we all know that. And there is getBoundingClientRect() now which is much better anyway. But what should I do if I need the screen coordinates of an HTML element? getBoundingClientRect() won’t provide them and translating doesn’t seem possible (window.screenX is not the screen position of the window’s client area). Google found only a newsgroup discussion yet I already knew that popups can be positioned relative to a node automatically. I need to update the position of a popup that is already open and there doesn’t seem a way to realign the popup with its anchor node without closing it (at least not in Firefox 3.5).
Why Adblock Plus on download.com isn't being updated · 11 days ago by Wladimir Palant
- Dear CNET, so you own download.com? Very easy to remember, nice for you.
- No, I am not really interested in publishing my software there, addons.mozilla.org suits my needs much better.
- Oh, somebody already uploaded my software and I only need to keep it updated? Ok, I guess this won’t be too much of a problem.
- Why did you subscribe me to this newsletter? I didn’t ask for it!
One way to get outdated plugins on your computer · 12 days ago by Wladimir Palant
Only two days ago I wrote how browser plugins are the biggest security risk today. And yesterday I experienced first-hand how one would get outdated and insecure plugins installed. I installed Lexware Steuer 2009 (for the German readers: yes, that’s the one you get at Aldi and that always gets good marks in software tests). And then Secunia PSI went berserk warning me about various security threats on my computer. Turned out, this application installed without even telling me: Java Runtime Environment 1.6.0 Update 2 (released July 2007, current version is 1.6.0 Update 18), Flash Player ActiveX 9.0.124.0 (released April 2008, current version is 10.0.42.34), MSXML 4.0 SP2 (released June 2003, current version is 4.0 SP3).
The new browser security landscape · 14 days ago by Wladimir Palant
Brian Krebs came across one of those websites throwing a battery of exploits at users and took a close look at its administration page. It lists seven exploits, the two most successful ones being for Adobe Reader and Java, followed by two Internet Explorer exploits. At the far end of the list two Firefox exploits can be found as well. From what I understand, only one Adobe Reader vulnerability was unpatched at that time, all other vulnerabilities have been fixed already. For example, the Java exploit targets a security hole that was closed in December 2008, the exploited Firefox vulnerabilities have been closed in Firefox 1.0.5 and 1.5.0.5 respectively.
Adblock Plus 1.1.3 released · 33 days ago by Wladimir Palant
This is a bugfix release with minimal changes.
Changes
- Adblock Plus 1.1.2 regression fixed: Filter hits are counted in private browsing mode
- Fixed: Subscription dialog comes up on each update in Fennec, regardless of existing subscriptions
- Updated compatibility range for Songbird, 1.4.0 to 1.7.0a supported now
Adblock Plus 1.1.3 coming up · 35 days ago by Wladimir Palant
I messed up: private browsing integration no longer works in Adblock Plus 1.1.2, hits will be counted regardless of whether the user is in private browsing mode. This should be fixed in the current development build (1.1.2+.2010010502). I would be grateful if some people could confirm that things are working correctly now — I want to release Adblock Plus 1.1.3 from branch soon with this change only (other changes like subscription UI rework are still scheduled for Adblock Plus 1.2).
Subscription-related user interface parts reworked · 44 days ago by Wladimir Palant
The current development build (Adblock Plus 1.1.2+.2009122702) features many changes to the subscription-related user interface parts (mostly post-install subscription selection and “Add filter subscription” from Adblock Plus preferences):
- Less/simpler text
- User is immediately presented with the subscription suggestion matching his browser locale, other recommended subscriptions are available in dropdown list.
- A warning is shown if the user closes the post-install page without adding a subscription.
- Adding a different subscription no longer happens in a separate dialog window.
- No longer necessary to go to the webpage for the full list of subscriptions, when you choose to add a different subscription the full list is loaded automatically. A subscription can be selected with one click, subscriptions matching your browser locale are emphasized.
- Subscriptions are offered by languages rather than regions now.
- Việt Nam List is back as a recommendation.
These changes can be discussed in the corresponding forum topic. Older changes since Adblock Plus 1.1.2 release:
- HTML5 audio and video can now be blocked via context menu
- Toolbar icon tooltip shows more information (number of filters/subscriptions in use, number of whitelisted items and matching element hiding rules)
More extension signing adventures · 50 days ago by Wladimir Palant
Things got significantly better since the last time I tried to sign Adblock Plus. Firefox 3.5.6 will now show my name instead of “Author not verified” even if the organization field of the certificate is empty (thanks, Boris). And StartCom certificates are accepted by all main applications that Adblock Plus needs to support (meaning Firefox 3.0 starting with 3.0.12, Firefox 3.5/3.6/3.7, SeaMonkey 2.0 and Thunderbird 3.0). So I started signing development builds again and even released Adblock Plus 1.1.2 as a signed XPI a little more than a week ago.