Firefox 1.5 and Adblock
Listservs are a great way to keep current in Education. One such listserv I belong to is the Friday 5 hosted by Lucy Gray. Five sites, based on a theme, are emailed to participants every Friday. The most recent one was on Firefox. Lucy listed sites with useful information on FireFox. Another participant on the list added another Firefox recommendation called Adblock. This blocker gets rid of not just popup ads but almost all text ads like banner ads and side panel ads. Here is how it works:
1. Using Firefox 1.5, go to the Adblock download page.
2. Click on the install now link.
3. Restart Firefox.
4. Go to a website with ads like Yahoo.
5. Right-click on an ad and choose Adblock Image and click ok (on the Mac, hold down the Control key as you click)
6. The image will be gone and added to a block list for future viewings of the site.
These adblock filters can be exported and imported onto other computers.
Reflections
Having students go to sites with ads is a common complaint in education. This tool is perfect for those which you may not use because of the ads. However, as Mozilla pointed out on their website:
However you should note that many websites are supported by revenue from ads. You should consider this carefully before you block all the ads on the site. Perhaps just blocking intrusive ads like popups and flash ads with sound is enough? If everyone blocked all the ads on that site, then the webmaster might be forced to close it.
