Site-Specific JS Disable Topic is solved

[noellarkin]

I really like Pale Moon's site specific User Agent override, it has helped me with sites that were denying me access based on UA. Could something similar be made for site-specific disabling of javascript? Some sites I use, like Medium, don't work in Pale Moon anymore, but are atleast readable when I disable JS. I'm wondering if having an about:config based site-specific JS disable would be a good idea...?

[Potkeny]

I dont know if its up-to-date enough, but sounds like https://addons.palemoon.org/addon/javascriptblock/ is something like that?

[noellarkin]

Thanks! I've been using an older extension "Block Content 0.3" for global JS block, I'll look into ScriptBlock!

[noellarkin]

Okay so I just tried out ScriptBlock, and while it gets the job done, things like RegExp/WildCards don't work - - so, if I blacklist https://medium.com, it only works for that site and not for its subdomains (for example: https://sdfsdf.medium.com - - as most of the URLs in medium are subdomains).
Something that blacklists based on the root domain would probably be more appropriate for blocking, or something that can use an input such as "*.medium.com". The content blocking add on I'm using right now (Block Content 0.3) does have the wildcard/regexp feature but it's somewhat unwieldy.

[Blacklab]

Cough, cough. I am well aware NoScript is not an 'approved' extension for Pale Moon. A forum search will bring up many previous threads and posts on the subject... e.g. Moonchild's explanation here: viewtopic.php?f=46&t=28266&p=227681#p227677.
However, having successfully used NoScript for over 10 years I find it no problem to live with at all. I like it a lot. In fact it has become second nature, the way I use the web. Block all JS first, then only allow JS to run as and when required.
IMHO most websites load faster and work faster and better without all the hideous surplus JS (mostly Ads, trackers, social media, and other unwanted c***?) slowing everything down!

I fully appreciate Moonchild's point-of-view that NoScript is almost guaranteed to cause problems for the novice or casual user who installs it and then cries for help on Pale Moon's forum wondering why virtually every website is now not working or not even opening as it did when all JS was being allowed to load unhindered. Er... 'Duh'... that is rather the point of using as JS blocker surely?
If you are talking about and/or wanting a configurable JS blocker for all sites... and are happy to accept that virtually every website visited will be broken... and require you to 'tweak' NoScript for each site... then I would recommend trying NoScript.

However, if you want all websites to 'just work' and 'open instantly'... then NoScript is very definitely NOT for you! Please AVOID!

NoScript still offers a legacy build (scroll down to bottom of builds page), very sadly no longer updated by long-time developer Giorgio Maone, that can be installed in Pale Moon after accepting the 'Not Recommended, NoScript is known to cause issues' warning notice that will appear whilst installing.
Again, a forum search will bring up discussions on the subject of Pale Moon's advisory blocklist and how it works.

PS. The 'Advanced Mode' of uBlock Origin can achieve very much the same... and one day I will learn how to use it!

[Moonchild]

I fully appreciate Moonchild's point-of-view that NoScript is almost guaranteed to cause problems for the novice or casual user

While it is the most obvious problem, that's only part of the issue. The other part is that it can actually cause application crashes and the NoScript dev never really addressed that as far as i know. There is something really odd it does that not only breaks websites but actually the application -- I've seen it happen first-hand when I tried it. This is why it's been permanently placed on the "you should be warned" list.

[gepus]

IMHO most websites load faster and work faster and better without all the hideous surplus JS (mostly Ads, trackers, social media, and other unwanted c***?) slowing everything down!

I'd replace the word "most" with "all".
If necessary, it only takes a click to enable/disable JS globally. It's what I'm doing for more than a decade.
Of course, my method isn't convenient for everyone. It mainly depends on what sites one is consuming on a regularly basis.

As mentioned blocking/allowing JS selective per site basis, uBlock Origin can do it as well and it is easy to learn how.

[vannilla]

You can do this with eMatrix: navigate to the website, open the popup and make the whole "Script" column red.
That will disable all scripts for the domain you are visiting; wildcards are supported but using them requires a more advanced configuration.
However please note that like NoScript, the out-of-the-box eMatrix configuration is to block everything but first-party cookies and scripts, so a large number of websites will stop working until you manually configure the extension to allow the stuff to make things work.

[frostknight]

by Blacklab » Jan 2nd, '23, 06:04
Cough, cough. I am well aware NoScript is not an 'approved' extension for Pale Moon.

Its also beyond old and hasn't been updated in an extremely long time. It would be nice if someone could make something like that from scratch and make it efficient like ublock origin is to adblock plus.

If someone would do this, in a way that is very user friendly, I wonder if Moonchild would still object the same way.

Not really sure, but it would be nice, given that ublock origin is in a weird state, like limbo and ematrix is more difficult.

I felt the need to correct, because bad is inaccurate.

That being said, I am glad ematrix is not dead.

Athough, I dunno if there any addons from the archive that could be forked for such a purpose.

Nor do I know, anything else... meh... oh well. But yeah, still wondered.

[vannilla]

I wonder if Moonchild would still object the same way.

Off-topic:
The problem with NoScript isn't what it does or even its UI, but rather that it breaks the browser and this breakage persists even after uninstalling the extension.

[therube]

Off-topic:

this breakage persists even after uninstalling the extension

How?
If you remove the extension, it's gone.
Any prefs in about:preferences are of the noscript.* ilk (& capability.policy.maonoscript.sites).
(Which "mozilla" knows nothing of. Nor could I imagine any other extension would piggy-back onto?)
AFAIK, it does not set/change any "mozilla" prefs.
So how?

[Moonchild]

Off-topic:

So how?

The main issue was that people would still run into trouble while just having it installed, even if disabled from within the extension. Uninstalling was the only remedy, and even then some people had intermittent profile corruption (possibly due to its behavior causing instability and crashes) in which case only a new profile would fully clear it. If it wasn't for the massive screeching of users of it, I would have kept it on the level 3 block for being damaging to the browser.

[Kris_88]

It is not entirely clear what is meant by site-specific blocking.
The page may have inline scripts, scripts loaded from the same domain, scripts loaded from subdomains and scripts loaded from other domains. What scripts of the above need to be blocked?

[Moonchild]

I think the answer would be "all of them if possible" but I'll let the OP clarify.

[Kris_88]

The "permissions.manager.defaultsUrl" preference still works. And the "script" permission works too.
Generally, per-host "script" permissions can be set in a text file.
Although this is not very convenient, but no add-ons are required.

[Weasel]

As someone who stuck with NoScript for ages, and has used it despite all the problems it caused, I'm just going to say that I'm glad I ditched it for nMatrix (or is it eMatrix? I never figured this one out).

It's just better in every way. Not even harder to use, now that I got used to it. In fact, it's easier to use, it's also more compact UI, and a lot more powerful, but you can use it just for blocking scripts if you want.

Sure, in hindsight, it looks different than for someone "making the change". But you have to do it at some point, because NoScript is dead anyway (for PaleMoon, that is, it's not being updated). Might as well do it now. The faster you get used to eMatrix, the better.

[moonbat]

nMatrix (or is it eMatrix?

The latter.

[noellarkin]

Just wanted to post an update: I've been using ηMatrix for a week now, and it's perfect for the site specific asset blocking I needed.