Ad blockers or not – your choice matters
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The only problem with having a limited extensions store would be the lack of interest from devs.
Vivaldi is still small. Sure, that change could bring users to it, but still. -
@algy whilst I haven't looked at the code for either Chromium or anything Gecko in years, Firefox's move to Webextensions a few years ago makes this seem tantalisingly possible. I know it's all of a sudden much easier to port extensions from Chrome to Firefox, but I've only ever worked on Firefox's old extension format, which is completely different - so I've little idea of the developer effort that might be involved. All I can say is, from the very little I know, it's a very logical suggestion and not beyond the realms of possibility.
Interestingly, there used to be an extension for Firefox that allowed one to run Chrome extensions within it. I forget the name. Also, there are a few Firefox extensions that are direct ports from the Chromium-based extension format to the Firefox Webextension format (e.g. "Keyboard Privacy"). I therefore don't see why it should be more difficult to port extensions in the opposite direction, i.e. from the Gecko-world back to the Webkit-world. Now wouldn't that be a fantastic feature in Vivaldi!
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Google is the new Microsoft.
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Google seems to not care to much about users (they don't really have customer service).
Some sites abuse ads and it takes 15 times longer to load a page due to ad content, other sites still load ads over HTTP breaking the HTTPS of the main site. Many ads cause CPU or spikes (a single tab might be using 60% cpu while idle).
Not everyone I know uses ad blockers & those who do are not blocking all ads. -
@fakku I've already pointed a lot of chrome users to Vivaldi and they hesitated at first till they tried it and now i don't think they would ever
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If and only if Vivaldi create a store of extension, this extensions only would be a mods for the browser.
The others common features should be take it of extensions in Chrome Store. If Vivaldi make your own store with extensions maybe could be outdated versions of Chrome Store extensions, how happend in Opera Store.The Vivaldi extensions maybe should be a feature unique of the browser, extensions that will modify the browser.html, and will inject a custom JS in the UI.
The support of mods natively would do the most interesting things in the forum.
Is only me opinion.
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I don't think anybody wants to say, or hear this, but I suspect it's time for the major chromium-based browser vendors (Vivaldi, Opera, Brave, others) and extension makers to start discussing forking the chromium base and working separately from Google. No, the decision does not have to be made yet, but the infrastructure will take time to sort out and discussions should be started well in advance of the actual decision.
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@driverop: And Microsoft must be the new one someone else, since over the last 4 or 5 years, they've demonstrated under Nadella that they're as close to an entirely different company as you can get.
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Thought I read that Adblock Plus wouldn't be affected, since it uses a different system. Not that I use AB+.
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Thanks for the response to this, and for [at least partially] committing to keeping the webRequest API or developing something different.
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Thank you, Vivaldi, for caring about our choice!
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Content blocker are an essential part of my web experience, I really can't imagine not using them.
When I first heard about this I was disappointed, also because the supposed "enterprise" version of chrome my keep the feature, who knows.
Hopefully Vivaldi will reintroduce the feature or someone will maintain it publicly. I can see Microsoft investing in this since they just moved Edge to Chromium. -
I'm glad to hear you guys are going to do something about this.
Can't say I'm a fan of creating an extension store though because it will still be reliant on developers submitting to yet another repository.
Ad blocking has become an essential feature and that's why I would like to see it baked into the browser. Most likely having to use the old API method because of the limitations of the one Google wants to transition to (unless or until they reduce the limitations).
I would like to see something that would allow us to load multiple lists in our settings panel (either by pointing to outside sources or loading local files like is now possible in the snapshot with
css). Then having the loaded lists displayed in a panel tab that would allow us to select and deselect as well as add whitelist exceptions.Here's a quick mockup
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I wouldn't know what I would do without having content blockers. The most important part about the internet and browsing in general is letting users have the choice for what content they view and spend resources showing on their browser. I'm glad that Vivaldi is on the right side this time!
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Vivaldi could have an own store but just for some kind of extension that there is no on Chrome Store like Opera do.
And about an adblock built-in, if Vivaldi is worried about block some kind of content that could be useful for users (even for own business like advert from partners) I think the company could reach a mid term with the users, but adblock is, particularly, an important feature for a browser, even for myself to browser without have problems with sites that fill themselves of them and it makes the sites impossible to browse. -
@LonM several are not promise based if I saw that right - it always depends on which APIs you use. That's why I wrote "don't require special functions"
btw.:
Seems that Chromium supports / will prefer promise based APIs in Manifest V3 too:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nPu6Wy4LWR66EFLeYInl3NzzhHzc-qnk4w4PX-0XMw8/edit#heading=h.kgd5124ymvn0
which will make the switch between browser (Mozilla based) and chrome (well, Chromium based) easier. When complete there might be only one API left. -
Hey there. I'm so happy to see this topic being picked up on a visible spot like this blog. The decision not only shows that you're interested in your users' desires, but also that you're open to customizing Blink. That's news to me, which I greet happily. Zhe corporate politics behind Chromium decisions have long been the major reason why I never used Chrome, or Chromium for that matter, but if I needed any extra reasons to use Vivaldi, this blog post is adding one more.
Here's the thing though. If Google should prevail with their decision, that the broad public won't have access to the current powerful ad-blocking capability through one of its to-be-deprecated APIs, then this will open up a new market. It would be a real shame if every browser developer decided on his or her own implementation and not work together.
With Opera, Brave and gasp Microsoft we have three alternative browsers that are sitting in the same boat, but there are other small forks too (Cent Browser anyone?). Could this group of companies find common ground to keep development on Blink engine customizations unified, so extension developers aren't confronted with an even more fractured ecosystem?
If this doesn't happen, then as time goes on. we will see that only a subset of extensions are going to work on each of those browsers. To some degree that's already the case today: Opera has a Sidebar Action API, but Vivaldi could theoretically support it too, since it already has its own panel.
Once the API capabilities differ from Chrome, this is also going to mess up access to extensions on non-Chrome/Chromium browsers. An alternative extensions store is a must, but like before I question if it wouldn't be smarter to partner up with other Blink fork developers. Granted, Microsoft is unlikely to be interested in that, but if a somewhat unified platform could be achieved, that would be one more unique selling point to draw users away from Chrome.
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@cqoicebordel: Maybe, having a common store with Brave and Opera might be welcome for that particular case though...
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This was heartwarming to hear... Thanks.
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I like the of Vivaldi resisting the Google changes but I can also see when backporting the fix can become a maintenance nightmare. I hope you succeed for the better browsing experience of all of us.
