Mozilla Testing Click-to-Play Option For Plugin Content
Trailrunner7 writes "Mozilla is developing a feature in Firefox that would require some user interaction in order for Flash ads, Java scripts and other content that uses plugins to play. In addition to easing system slowdowns, the opt-in for Web plugins is expected to reduce threats posed by exploiting security vulnerabilities in plugins, including zero-day attacks. 'Whether you hate them or love them, content accessed through plugins is still a sizable chunk of the web. So much so, that over 99% of internet users have Flash installed on their browser,' writes Mozilla's Jared Wein, the lead software engineer on the project, in a blog post."
Seriously, this is a no-brainer, that has been implemented by tonnes of extensions. So now that we're at version 4000, why is it suddenly a good idea to implement it?
This should have been the default 10 years ago.
I'm a fan of Java, but I still cringe when I go to a web page and the Java console opens.
really? you'd get carpel tunnel if you had to click-to-run every script on most commercial sites these days.
no script is more effective but with a learning curve.
but either method will still have the masses turning the 'feature' off (essentially white-listing everything).
monopolized by google's chrome browser i would rather see HTML-5 make plugins like flash obsolete, i refuse to install google chrome just to have flash, and will remove the existing flash plugin at the first sign of vulnerability problems, for javascript and plugins i use noscript extension in firefox at the moment and if mozilla.org developers build something similar to noscript right in to the browser itself would be fine with me
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So much so, that over 99% of internet users have Flash installed on their browser,' writes Mozilla's Jared Wein, the lead software engineer on the project, in a blog post.
Yes, I have Flash installed in my browser.
No, I do not have Flash enabled all the time in my browser. I only enable Flash for the particular content I want to view via Flash.
I already have the "click to play" option for Flash.
FlashBlock, too.
noscript already blocks flash so flashblock would be redundant if you already have noscript
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The linked article says "Java scripts" but the actual blog post http://msujaws.wordpress.com/2012/04/11/opting-in-to-plugins-in-firefox/ she was writing about just says plugins. I'm guessing they wouldn't require permission for javascript.
Yeah those of us who care about security have been using NoScript for years but this will push the ignorant masses into better security.
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i would rather see HTML-5 make plugins like flash obsolete
So would I. But first, someone must fix these problems:
Just ban Flash outright! The whole world will be thankful.
flashblock and noscript provide this option since a looooong time. They could just ask the users of these addons for their experience.
i think you need to change the defaults for that. Might be a reason, why some noscript users still use flashblock.
Yeah, looks like he forgot to count smartphone and tablet users. Maybe he meant 99% of Firefox users ?
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I run ClickToPlugin in Safari for all the reasons above. During general browsing my fan no longer turns on and my battery lasts days.
you need to test scripted svg.
Result of same benchmark with SVG: eight times slower than Canvas.
I've tried this on numerous occasions, the more advanced users eventually click 'Allow Scripts Globally", the less advanced keep calling me until I click 'Allow Scripts Globally".
I personally love it, easy-peasy black/white-list. My other apps do not stutter and bog whenever I scroll a page or open a new one. Pages load faster or not at all(both good IMO). Google's auto-search doesn't clog up my 1MB connection or freeze FF trying to force feed me their assumptions(must remove Goog from pre-loaded whitelist). Minimal ad tracking tools/cookies/malware collecting in my system, bleachbit completes in record time. My whitelist allows mo-add-ons page, my local library and some local devices. I'm typing now with /. & FSDN blocked. With the exception of moderation, the site suits me better with them blocked!
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Yeah those of us who care about security have been using NoScript for years but this will push the ignorant masses into better security.
No, those of us who care about security, speed, and and hate ads and social crap have been using NoScript for years.
And we set it up so that clicking the button triggers "Temporarily allow all this page". If a site doesn't work, we just click the button repeatedly until it does.
I would like it if one could decide on a per-site basis to play the Flash with Gnash or with Adobe Flash.
Gnash is much faster, plays nicer with the graphic card, and is more secure. I had success using it on several websites.
However it doesn't support many of the newer Flash features, so everyone trying it out will turn away from it.
If there was a "SafeFlash" extension, that would, like HTTPSEverywhere, use Gnash where the website is compatible, a smooth transition away from Adobe Flash (which will be phased out for Linux anyway apparently) would be possible.
NB: The message above might reflect my opinion right now, but not necessarily tomorrow or next year.
IIRC, NoScript would allow every YouTube video to play automatically if I just allowed one YouTube video to play temporarily. So, I installed flashblock, which ALWAYS requires me to start each flash video manually.
People who allow scripts so the page will run/load, might not want flash running automatically. For example the entire Gawker family, including iO9 which occasionally posts interesting things. I might whitelist it to read the content, but I don't want flash loading automatically.
So you get the combination. By default, Java, Flash Silverlight, and 'other plugins' are disabled bu default.
Exactly. For example slashdot wants to run scripts from four domains viz., slashdot.org, fsdn.com, doubleclick.net and google-analytics.com, but I allow only those from the first two, and that too only when I want to post a reply. Similarly for most other sites I find that allowing scripts from the same domain as the site is usually enough to enable essential site functionality.
Like Opera's had for about 3 major versions now?
noscript will block flash too if you configure it, you need to set "Apply these restrictions to whitelisted sites too" on the "embeddings" tab in the option
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"..Blocks Flash so it won't get in your way, but if you want to see it, just click..."
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/flashblock/
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Well maybe not "years" but since Opera 10 came out. The Javascript operates normally, but if you turn-on the Turbo mode, Opera does not load any flash content but just displays a placeholder until you click it.
That's a nice way to avoid loading a lot of ads, or embedded youtube videos (thus speeding-up browsing). Opera also has a convenient "images off/on" toggle at the bottom, which I use on slow connections like Dialup or cellphone.
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yeah, and you can configure noscript to block plugins even when scripts are allowed.
you need to enable "block plugins even on whitelisted sites" or something like this. Then you have exactly the flashblock behaviour.
instead of stuffing more and more into the browser itself, put more of the stuff in plugins.
but not the old nsplugins, limited to their square area, but plugins which can for example improve the javascript engine, define new html-tags, and such stuff.
okay, much of this is done via javascript already nowadays, but everthing which would run faster with native code, should go to plugins. so what about and video? They could be plugins, just with a reasonable api, not the limited api which nsplugins use.
tl;dr: Plugins could mean, just make your code modular and load only when needed. Much like firefox-addons, but the concept should be cross-browser. At least stop putting more and more into firefox, when only a part of the users really use it.
Yes, it's a fairly old (2007 or earlier) desktop PC running Windows XP. But given the recent recession, I'd imagine that plenty of PCs of similar vintage are still in use, especially in workplaces.
On anything that is video (animated images count) or audio, I absolutely want confirmation.
I regularily open several tabs in the background, e.g. go through a news site, open all interesting articles in their own tabs, continue until end of summary page, then go read all of them. The next time some audio suddenly starts blasting through my speakers, drowning out my music, and I have to hunt down the fucking window that does it, I'll do berserk.
Seriously, audio in webpages should always require an explicit user start.
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OK, I don't use Firefox, I use Chrome. And I have plug-ins disabled by default, so they all show up as grey boxes. If I want to run one I right click and select Run. How is this any different?
Yeah those of us who care about security have been using NoScript for years but this will push the ignorant masses into better security.
A little bit... however, I doubt Mozilla is going to go as far as NoScript with the concept; likely, they'll stick to blocking media (read: Flash videos) and continue to allow the ad servers all the access they want.
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You're certainly right & that will mean that there will still be a good reason to use NoScript. However that doesn't mean that what Mozilla is planning still won't be a good thing for the less security consious.
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good argument for using more chromium.
So if analytics show a lot of Gecko (Firefox, SeaMonkey, etc.) and a lot of MSIE, what's the most polite way to encourage the user to install one of the Chromium browsers so that the frame rate will become acceptable?
"i think you need to change the defaults for that. Might be a reason, why some noscript users still use flashblock."
Interface for Flashblock is better. You just click the element, you don't need to go through a menu.
Addendum:
I just tested it, and the "Block Adobe Flash" option in my NoScript settings doesn't even work.
Or the users will just move to the browser that doesn't break things
In an office, public library computer lab, school computer lab, or other institutionally managed setting, it's not the user's choice; it's the IT administrator's choice. Users don't get to install browsers because they aren't administrators, and in some cases (such as AppLocker), users don't even get to download executables or bring them in on USB flash drives.
2 year old graphs
I wasn't intending to link to the graphs per se; I wasn't even aware that they were on that page. I was linking to a benchmark suite and stating my own results of running three of the benchmarks on the latest release-channel version of Firefox on a particular PC. Which benchmarks would you prefer that I had used instead?
same interface in noscript. i do not speak of the script blocking part,but of the click-to-start-plugin part.
[x] block adobe flash
[x] use on trusted websites, too
[x] show placeholder symbol
(not the exact text, as my system does not have an english locale)
Hard for me to tell, since the Flash blocking in my NoScript did not work at all. Even after restarting Firefox.
Yep. All of the above. Didn't work for me.
works fine, firefox 11. dunno if any other settings are relevant. but flashblock additional is fine, too.
And by "this plugin" I mean "this feature." My apologies for being stupid.