[Brad]

Thank you times infinity to Mister Gruber for linking to ClickToFlash here (moved here), a relatively new web browser plugin (Google Code says it's been around since at least August). The Fireball sums it up best:

BSD-licensed open source WebKit browser plugin that prevents Flash content from loading automatically. Instead, each Flash element appears as a simple gradient; to load it, you click it. Works in both Safari and WebKit nightly builds, and, in my testing, significantly decreases the amount of CPU used when you have a slew of open windows and tabs. And it’s a legitimate browser plugin that goes in ~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/, not a dirty input manager hack. I can’t remember the last time a piece of software made me this happy.

Extra emphasis mine.

This is one of the features I love about Camino. I guess there's probably a dozen different Firefox extensions for it, too.

Installed it. So far, everything is working nicely in both "vanilla" Safari and the latest WebKit nightly build!

[Kickaha]

NICE! I have looked for something like this for quite a while. Thank you uberBrad!

[Dorian Gray]

Nice. I plan to try this. The internet is no longer usable on a G4 with Flash ads everywhere. I've been doing the old trick of leaving Preferences with the Security tab open and shutting down all plug-ins when Flash gets too much (a lot of the time). But this is more elegant and lets other plug-ins work.

[Kraetos]

Super awesome. Thanks Brad! (and J.G.)

[curiousuburb]

Impromptu ClicktoFlash Test Report:

Test Machine:
2.5GHz MBP17 : 4 Gb RAM
OS X.5.6 (9G55)
Safari 3.2.1 (5525.27.1)

• YouTube = Pass. Does what it says on the tin.
• BBC = Pass. Flash Audio/VIdeo as well as interactive maps/timelines/etc
• CNN.com/video = General Error. No video window or selector, even after click
• DailyShow = Fail. Sidebar elements load after click, but centre column content (video and/or links) non-functional.

I'm confused here... unless something on DailyShow's Flash implementation is borked in the central column but fine elsewhere on the page... Embedded Player -vs- Player in a wrapper (or nested further)?
Web Inspector in the Developer Menu shows an error parsing a setclipboard.js file and rewritten mime types as a result, but I don't know that those are related to ClicktoFlash.

I'm happy to skip annoying ads, but don't leave me without Jon Stewart!

Anybody else having trouble with those links?

If so, where's the options pane... or the uninstall...

[Brad]

I'm guessing the failing sites are doing something wonky in JavaScript to load the Flash content and that there's a disconnect here. DailyShow.com's JS is obfuscated, though, making it painful to try to debug.

To uninstall, delete the ClickToFlash.plugin plugin from Library/Internet Plug-Ins. No options panel yet.

[chucker]

And now there's a fork that adds whitelisting.

[Brad]

That was quick!

Also... curious.



Did the project get overwhelmed/hacked/shutdown?

[chucker]

Originally Posted by Brad That was quick! Also... curious. Did the project get overwhelmed/hacked/shutdown?

Not that I know of. Perhaps the guy is moving it away from Google Code?

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by curiousuburb Impromptu ClicktoFlash Test Report: Test Machine: 2.5GHz MBP17 : 4 Gb RAM OS X.5.6 (9G55) Safari 3.2.1 (5525.27.1) YouTube = Pass. Does what it says on the tin. BBC = Pass. Flash Audio/VIdeo as well as interactive maps/timelines/etc CNN.com/video = General Error. No video window or selector, even after click DailyShow = Fail. Sidebar elements load after click, but centre column content (video and/or links) non-functional.

So what's the problem here, exactly?

[Brad]

Originally Posted by chucker Not that I know of. Perhaps the guy is moving it away from Google Code?

Well, Gruber just more or less confirmed what we found.

So it appears the original project page at Google Code for ClickToFlash is no longer accessible, for reasons unknown. That’s OK, though, because the project was open source, and it’s already been forked and slightly improved. Wolf Rentzsch is now maintaining a forked version hosted at GitHub, and it now supports Option-clicking to add the current domain to a whitelist so that Flash content will subsequently load automatically. You can add domains to the whitelist manually with the following command-line invocation: defaults write com.apple.Safari ClickToFlash.whitelist -array-add 'vimeo.com' Most of you probably just want the binary installer, not the source code. There’s a download link for the installer at the bottom of the page. ClickToFlash’s original author took care to remain anonymous. Whoever you are, thank you.

[Brad]

*bump*

For anyone who hasn't been following rentzsch's site (like me), there have been a few updates including most notably a [Flash] overlay, a context menu that can present a whitelist editor, and improved support for Flash embedded into buggy HTML.



This little project is developing quite nicely!

(Note: when you go to the aforementioned rentzsch site, clicking the "Download" button at the top actually gives you the source code which is useless to most folks. You probably instead want to scroll down to "Version History" and click the download link next to the latest version.)

[hmurchison]

sweet! This is a lovely little app.

[kieran]

I love this plugin.

I am so glad to be able to finally get rid of all the Flash ads.

I'll have to go and check out the new version when I get back on my MBA.

[thegeriatric]

Nice really nice. Cheers Brad.

[Meli]

This is pretty cool. Keeps the fans from going on every time there's a flash ad somewhere. But unfortunately I can't watch Lost on abc.com anymore

[Kickaha]

Right/ctrl-click on any Flash field when you go to abc.com, and enter abc.com on the whitelist.

[bassplayinMacFiend]

Cool! Will have to install this on my MacBook.

[Meli]

Originally Posted by Kickaha Right/ctrl-click on any Flash field when you go to abc.com, and enter abc.com on the whitelist.

Thanks I'll try that.

[kieran]

The whitelist feature only works if you have the most current version though.

I didn't have that until after I updated to the newer version.

[atomicbartbeans]

Oh wow. I've been wanting something like this ever since I stopped using Camino about a year ago.

[Kickaha]

Originally Posted by kieran The whitelist feature only works if you have the most current version though. I didn't have that until after I updated to the newer version.

True. I sort of assume that we're all running the latest and greatest bleeding edge version of crap like this.

ARE WE NOT GEEKS?!?

[Maciej]

Is the rentzsch site down, or gone? I can't seem to load it up anymore. I wanted to install this on my mom's computer.

[kieran]

It just loaded for me.

[kieran]

Originally Posted by Kickaha True. I sort of assume that we're all running the latest and greatest bleeding edge version of crap like this. ARE WE NOT GEEKS?!?

haha, yes, we are....but I usually put of updating until I absolutely have to. I just hate interrupting what I'm doing to update software.

[Maciej]

Originally Posted by kieran It just loaded for me.

Just came back up for me too, thanks for remind me.

[chucker]

Yes, github was down earlier today.

[Partial]

Do any of you guys know if this works with the standard way of embedding a swf AND using swfobject, the next gen open-source method of embedding a swf? I see someone above had some issues and that could potentially be why.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by Partial Do any of you guys know if this works with the standard way of embedding a swf AND using swfobject, the next gen open-source method of embedding a swf? I see someone above had some issues and that could potentially be why.

Example? Post a link and I'll tell you if it works with the latest version of ClickToFlash.

[Mugge]

I started using it yesterday, and what an improvement to my browsing it has been already!

Nice to get rid of all those obnoxious Flash ads.