Extensions and custom buttons for UXP browsers - Corrections, modifications, adjustments, and special recommendations

[UCyborg]

1 hour ago, AstroSkipper said:

It should be mentioned at this point that I do not use uBO Legacy 1.16.4.35 at factory defaults. I use a different set of filter lists than the default one.

Sure, it was just a test of defaults and to see if there are any visible side effects of running newer scriptlets from upstream uBO in UXP browsers when running my version. I know for a fact not all of them behave equally, like the one dealing with Shadow Roots... But that one is not used on YouTube.

I also know your defaults rely on an old rule calling active scriptlet in legacy filter list, this list isn't getting much care and JustOff's version of uBO never included scriptlets that current day default filters call for dealing with YouTube.

1 hour ago, Sampei.Nihira said:

Hello,
You may want to try using UBO at least as an advanced user.
Also try checking with these rules updated 4 days ago (which I personally do not use):

https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/wiki/solutions/youtube/

As said above, it was just a test, I normally use my version supporting a bit more functionality, of course I have some of my own rules in there (medium mode, explicitly blocking some JavaScript files that don't seem to provide any functionality on the YouTube that I can tell). Ads weren't a problem for me in a long time, except few days ago when uBO corrupted its scriptlets somehow, purged the cache and triggered the update to get it working again. The popup about blocking ads on YouTube is new to me and so far seems to be rare occurrence. I don't seek out larger amount of content on YouTube in general.

But using UXP based browser, in my case Pale Moon in this age presents some unique challenges, it's updated enough to be good enough most of the time for my humble needs and allows me to have nice font rendering (except some odd fonts encountered on some websites), colorful tabs, glassy interface, full blown PDF reader/editor in a browser tab (in my case PDF-XChange Editor) and some other bells and whistles.

On the other hand, we don't have a single modern content blocker, only ancient version of uBO, to which I ported some of the smaller things, but it's a drop in the ocean. I'm not dedicated programmer, rather anti-talent at the whole thing, otherwise, I'd probably be employed somewhere to earn money with programming since you have to work a job anyway to get by unless you won a lottery or your parents are millionaires and gave you resources to get by. So we have what we have.

Someone said Pale Moon is Arch Linux of web browsers, except not bleeding edge.

Edited September 1, 2024 by UCyborg

[Guest]

@UCyborg

My compliments on the use of the Medium mode.

Have a good evening.

[Amigafever]

26 minutes ago, UCyborg said:

On the other hand, we don't have a single modern content blocker, only ancient version of uBO, to which I ported some of the smaller things, but it's a drop in the ocean.

I've had zero issues with either yours, or AstroSkipper's version. They work perfectly. Filterlists remain the most important ingredient for now and I don't feel uBO Legacy is superseded in a substantial way.

If you want/need something more "modern", why not try AdGuard for Windows, assuming you are on Windows? Should work on ALL browsers, since it's not a browser extension.

[UCyborg]

Looks I'll be waiting for that popup for quite some time. Probably not worth continuing at this point. 32 videos in, only thing wrong is that tab keeps hammering one CPU core at 100% when focused even if video is paused. I'd also need that script @NotHereToPlayGames mentioned that prevents the other popup that pauses video for inactivity / being away from the computer to be able to leave it unattended.

56 minutes ago, Amigafever said:

I've had zero issues with either yours, or AstroSkipper's version. They work perfectly. Filterlists remain the most important ingredient for now and I don't feel uBO Legacy is superseded in a substantial way.

Sure, it may work for the few of us, but uBO has large user base, there are many websites out there, and it's a fact that both filter authors' and users' feedback shaped it to become like it is today.

1 hour ago, Amigafever said:

If you want/need something more "modern", why not try AdGuard for Windows, assuming you are on Windows? Should work on ALL browsers, since it's not a browser extension.

Thanks, I'm aware of it, though I don't feel it to be needed for me at this time.

Also, well, Firefox with more recent uBO is just a click away. Sure, it's a bit different, but honestly it's not that bad even if my ramblings here would have you believe otherwise. I'm more bothered by other things in life that don't have to do with computers.

[NotHereToPlayGames]

2 hours ago, UCyborg said:

Looks I'll be waiting for that popup for quite some time. Probably not worth continuing at this point.

Same here.  None of our defenses were really blocking it, we just weren't getting it to begin with.  I may be able to replicate during the work week as that's really the only time I have YouTube running ad-free and fully unattended.

 

7 hours ago, AstroSkipper said:

You only talked about a certain number of videos.

I am 100% positive that it WAS triggered by a FIXED number of videos.  I was getting that overlay popup constantly.  I cannot recollect the exact "when", but it was when I requested uBO lists to try and you obliged with a web site.

You kind of seem to always divert the conversation when asked for your "lists".  I don't recall ever seeing you reveal just what lists you use.  That web site you directed me to is HUGE.  But it did not solve my issue at the time, useful resource nonetheless.

I have zero doubt that it was so long ago that YouTube has changed things several times since.  And will continue to change things...  over...  and over...  and over again...

Edited September 1, 2024 by NotHereToPlayGames

[UCyborg]

54 videos in, no popup, that's enough for today.

1 hour ago, NotHereToPlayGames said:

I have zero doubt that it was so long ago that YouTube has changed things several times since.  And will continue to change things...  over...  and over...  and over again...

The only constant is change.

[NotHereToPlayGames]

7 hours ago, AstroSkipper said:

now that various theories have been put forward about YouTube and overlay pop-ups with warnings to the user, I am happy to put forward my theory

My theory after trying all day (unsuccessfully) to reproduce that overlay popup is narrowed down to two  --

    1) The overlay popup is so RARE that none of us will be able to reproduce the "follow these steps to replicate" algorithm, and
    2) It's not rare and our defenses are blocking it 999 times out of every 1000 times that it is sent to us, with that 1-out-of-1000 time LEAKING through our defenses and we then need to track down what causes the LEAK

But in the case of UXP browsers, nobody has ever been able to SOLVE LEAKS.  We just all accept it as a fact of life and live with it.

Edited September 1, 2024 by NotHereToPlayGames

[UCyborg]

CuteButtons and its main stylesheet actually seems to slow down GUI response in all recent browsers still supporting XUL extensions, at least judging by looking at SeaMoney and Waterfox Classic. There also appears to be an issue switching icon style, seems browser caches the image with icons and something would have to be added to invalidate cache.

[UCyborg]

Crickets as usual. How come Firefox users can still get menus with icons without slowdown? If I buy computer for couple thousand euros, will it help??

[NotHereToPlayGames]

Your problem is XUL.  And no, a new computer will not fix that underlying issue.

Why do you feel you "need" XUL?  Sure, I "miss it" but I never really "needed" it, per se.

[AstroSkipper]

Legacy browsers like New Moon 28 and Serpent are totally moddable, and their extensions are not neutered as is the case with webextensions. Fortunately, I have made significant modifications in Mypal 68 to remove many restrictions. Extensions and themes no longer need to be signed, and my legacy custom buttons are not subject to any restrictions.  All this can't be done easily or at all with modern browsers. 

Edited September 22, 2024 by AstroSkipper
Update of content

[UCyborg]

Playing with Firefox 52.9 a bit, there are circumstances where those icons don't cause as prominent delay, but most of the time they do. I haven't got to any conclusion, so I leave it at that.

3 hours ago, NotHereToPlayGames said:

Why do you feel you "need" XUL?

Eye candy just feels good psychologically. It behaved that way since forever, though only realized recently it's connected to those icons.

[AstroSkipper]

Regarding the UXP browsers, I stopped using full themes or extensions that change the GUI a long time ago to avoid unnecessary CPU load and negative effects. If I notice that an extension is putting a strain on the browser, it is uninstalled immediately. 

[UCyborg]

It's not that bothersome, just got me thinking. One I time I read about the guy complaining about Pale Moon being slow on some Core i7 running at 4 GHz. Of course most of us take it as just how things are with the browser architecture. I did notice faster computers don't improve things much, never tried on particularly expensive ones though. I have the impression browser feels about the same as long as the slowest computer you tried isn't a total pile of poo.

I tried Pale Moon on Raspberry Pi 5 a while ago, it could be that CPU is actually faster in some ways than the rusty Phenom II in my desktop. I'd need some sort of decent cross-platform benchmark to prove it, scores in Speedometer are the best among machines I have, but I really don't trust Speedometer. Oh, I didn't even run Speedometer on Pale Moon on Raspberry, just Vivaldi and Firefox. Difference with Pale Moon might be in single digit. In either case, launching from SD card, launching from RAM disk, none do anything for browser startup time with my combination of extensions.

Newer computer would certainly help with consistently holding higher frame rates in games!

Edited September 23, 2024 by UCyborg

[NotHereToPlayGames]

I've never had any issues with Speedometer as a quantifiable measurement.  Though scores cannot be compared directly between two people on different machines.  More of a test for one computer relative to the same exact computer.

But as far as comparing "my" computer/browser to "your" computer/browser, Speedometer does give the same best-to-worst even if the scores differ.

I've been away from Official Pale Moon for a few years but seem to recall Speedometer would even indicate a score difference when a laptop web browser was testing while running on battery versus running when plugged in.