First, let me add my appreciation for the tremendous work you have done on this extension. Although the previously adblock worked very well it was in dire need of some updates. I just have a couple UI suggestions that I believe would make adblock plus more accessible to the "average" user:
1. Integrate the new filterset.g updater extention into adblock plus (I realize that this is a new extension and that this might be in the works). This would also clear up confusion about the "synchronize settings" that don't seem to function currently. It would also mean that users could install one extension to block ads, and then forget about it forever.
2. Small UI suggestion: It doesn't make sense to have to click "cancel" to append the filter list when importing from a file. Why not rename the buttons to read "over-write" and "append" which is, afterall, what they do.
3. It seems to me that if you click of preferences, the window ought to show preferences by default and not a list a filters which aren't really preferences. The list of filter syntax can be very intimidating and might be enough to send some users running. I would suggest that the preference button load a dialog with two tabs, one for options and the other for filters, with the options tab selected by default.
4. Also, I believe some of the "Browser Window" options should be renamed or explained better so that someone not really well versed in the jargon of adblock could understand what they mean. It took me a while to figure our myself, and I'm still not sure I entirely understand what "check parents links" means.
5. It might be nice to have the block filters and white list filterset in two seperate text areas so that users could clearly see which ones were doing what.
In either case, excellent work -- this an extension is a major boon to the entire browser and you desire to be commended!
Small UI Suggestions
- Well, Adblock Plus is designed to work with any filterset but G wanted his contact details known so didn't provide a file with a static name for Adblock Plus to sync with. That's why there's a dedicated extension that provides enough contact details for Filterset.G.
- Before the code was using a built-in function in Firefox to display that prompt so the button labels were defined by the browser. Anyway it is possible to define your own prompt dialog box albeit a jump from one line of code to about 20. But at least now it has more meaningful labels and a way of cancelling the action which you couldn't before.
- I don't want to change the UI too much, I'm leaving that for the original developers with the 0.6 version.
- I agree, but ultimately when I have time I might look at replacing the Getting Started guide under help and provide a HTML interface similar to that of the browser.
- Not that convenient for people, but I have made it so the white filters are a different colour to more clearly distinguish them.