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But is it better than using extensions like Wipr that used the built-in ad-blocking system?

arm 10y ago
Well, this is what the developer of the JS Blocker extension for Safari has to say about it¹: “Safari has a new feature called "Content Blockers" that allows for extremely efficient resource blocking on both the desktop and iOS version of Safari. As much as I'd like to incorporate this into JS Blocker, it is not feasible to do so. Using a content blocker will prevent JS Blocker from showing you exactly what's going on on a website (i.e. you won't see what's allowed or blocked.) It'll also break all of JS Blocker's "other" features, such as showing alerts within the webpage and canvas fingerprinting protection. Besides the loss of features, content blockers are limited to 50,000 rules. While this seems like a high number, it isn't enough for efficient protection and a lot of rules would need to be cut out to even run a content blocker. Until Apple eases the restrictions (or at least raises the number of rules that can be in a content blocker), JS Blocker will not be using this API.” ―――――― ¹ — http://jsblocker.toggleable.com/ http://jsblocker.toggleable.com/
- LeoPanthera 10y ago
  The whole point of the content blocking API is to protect the users privacy. Without it, the plugin gets to see every single web page you visit, and its contents, and could do anything with that information. I've been using 1Blocker which, while not free, uses the API and seems to work very well. (And can sync your block settings with the iOS.)
  - fredsir 10y ago
    It works very well indeed!
  - stephenr 10y ago
    Agreed. Content blockers are also not executing js code for every resource the page tries to load: it's just the defined blocking rules that get processed. I'm also using 1blocker. Lacking an existing site (or time to build one myself) for sharing 1blocker packages, I've started storing them here: https://bitbucket.org/stephenreay/1blocker-packages https://bitbucket.org/stephenreay/1blocker-packages
- Animats 10y ago
  If you're doing this with a huge number of manually maintained rules which depend on the specifics of the ad code, you're doomed to endlessly updating signatures. That's labor-intensive. It's more effective to blacklist the ad domains and then try to infer the boundaries of the ad by looking at the DOM. That's how I did it in Ad Limiter, which filters Google search results. Google changes their ad code all the time, but Ad Limiter seldom needs to be changed.

arm 10y ago

Well, this is what the developer of the JS Blocker extension for Safari has to say about it¹: “Safari has a new feature called "Content Blockers" that allows for extremely efficient resource blocking on both the desktop and iOS version of Safari. As much as I'd like to incorporate this into JS Blocker, it is not feasible to do so. Using a content blocker will prevent JS Blocker from showing you exactly what's going on on a website (i.e. you won't see what's allowed or blocked.) It'll also break all of JS Blocker's "other" features, such as showing alerts within the webpage and canvas fingerprinting protection. Besides the loss of features, content blockers are limited to 50,000 rules. While this seems like a high number, it isn't enough for efficient protection and a lot of rules would need to be cut out to even run a content blocker. Until Apple eases the restrictions (or at least raises the number of rules that can be in a content blocker), JS Blocker will not be using this API.” ―――――― ¹ — http://jsblocker.toggleable.com/ http://jsblocker.toggleable.com/

LeoPanthera 10y ago
The whole point of the content blocking API is to protect the users privacy. Without it, the plugin gets to see every single web page you visit, and its contents, and could do anything with that information. I've been using 1Blocker which, while not free, uses the API and seems to work very well. (And can sync your block settings with the iOS.)
- fredsir 10y ago
  It works very well indeed!
- stephenr 10y ago
  Agreed. Content blockers are also not executing js code for every resource the page tries to load: it's just the defined blocking rules that get processed. I'm also using 1blocker. Lacking an existing site (or time to build one myself) for sharing 1blocker packages, I've started storing them here: https://bitbucket.org/stephenreay/1blocker-packages https://bitbucket.org/stephenreay/1blocker-packages
Animats 10y ago
If you're doing this with a huge number of manually maintained rules which depend on the specifics of the ad code, you're doomed to endlessly updating signatures. That's labor-intensive. It's more effective to blacklist the ad domains and then try to infer the boundaries of the ad by looking at the DOM. That's how I did it in Ad Limiter, which filters Google search results. Google changes their ad code all the time, but Ad Limiter seldom needs to be changed.