safariblock
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Safari Block 2 released
Mat posted about Safari 3 Adblock earlier this week. To me, the most impressive feature of that plug-in is its support for Adblock Plus filter subscriptions. In that same vein, SafariBlock, a program TUAW has covered in the past has received a significant update. In version 2.0, not only is the plug-in now open souce, but it is also compatible with AdBlock Plus subscriptions! It's Leopard compatibility has been improved from version 1.3.1 as well. I had some trouble getting SafariBlock 2 installed (the installer and a manual installation gave me errors), but the plug-in ended up working just fine.Having played around with both plug-ins, I think that they both have their pros and cons. While SafariAdblock seems to be a little bit better at distinguishing between ad and non-ad flash videos (SafariBlock automatically whites out some video windows that are actual content, even if they appear near an ad header), SafariBlock is much better at working with web forms and sites that need to launch an action in either another window or in some sort of pop-up.In any event, AdBlock Plus filter support has instantly transformed my Safari experience - bringing one of my favorite Firefox features to a browser that tends to be more stable on my system. Plus, SafariBlock is free - and I'm a big fan of free.Thanks egordin!
SafariBlock: More powerful ad blocking
Since its inception, Safari has been able to block pesky popup ads from clogging your display, but it's fallen short when it comes to blocking ads on a web page. Firefox, with its open plug-in architecture and enthusiastic community, has enjoyed an AdBlock add-on for some time which allows users to right-click an ad section and forever filter it from that page. But what's a programmer who prefers Safari to do? Why, write a plug-in that brings the same functionality to Apple's browser, of course! SafariBlock from FSB Software (click on SafariBlock in the sidebar; I can't link directly to it) aims to duplicate Firefox's AdBlock features by bringing the same right-click-to-filter functionality to remove ads from your browsing experience. A recent update even brought compatibility for Safari 3 beta users so everyone can give it a whirl.It should be noted, however, that SafariBlock functions as an InputManager. The specifics of what that means aren't really necessary to delve into right now, but as far as I know, the rumor is still that Mac OS X Leopard will remove support for plug-ins that run as InputManagers when it's released (hopefully) in October. What this means for the future of plug-ins like SafariBlock is still unsure, but it seemed worthy of mentioning.
