Mark Wagner - Yet Another Blog

I’ve been using Firefox to block ads so long, when I use someone else’s computer I’m sometimes thrown off when I see advertisements.

First off, I recommend getting Adblock Plus. This plugin will download a list of report online advertising sites and block them from even showing up on any website in the first place.  It’s as simple as installing and setting it up with the initial setup, and you’re done.

Now we are going to use Firefox and Stylish to block various ads and restyle websites with those ads removed.

• Download Firefox (Well, for some reason you might be using IE and trying to figure this out)
  
• Download the plugin called Stylish
• Restart Firefox

What Stylish does is filters websites to remove content that isn’t really wanted. While Adblock Plus will filter out the ads, they sometimes leave blank spaces in its place.  Stylish actually “recodes” the website to completely remove the content.  Also it can be used to change the way websites look.  Here is a list of userstyles that I use.

• WellRounded 2 - This simple style will change the default boxes in Firefox from square to round.
• Mininova.org :: Adblocked & Tweaked - Just as the title suggests. Removes ads and cleans up the site.
• Wikipedia :: Gray Lady Look - This really cleans up how Wikipedia looks. Takes a little getting used, but after you do you won’t look back.
• Gmail Air Skin - One of my personal favorites. This cleans up how Gmail looks. Really nice.

I have a few more that are for specific sites, but you get the idea. You can go to http://www.userstyles.org for a large list. Just search for the sites you visit and you’re bound to find a new style for it.

Oh, and while we’re on the subject of Firefox, if you want to change the look of “about:blank” you can do the following:

1. Right-click on the Stylish icon in the lower right color
2. Click Write Style -> Blank Style…
3. Give it a description (I just called it “about:blank” without the quotes)
4. Paste the contents of this text document into the box.
5. Click “Save” and now when you go to about:blank you get a nice image instead of a blank white screen.

Good luck!