I really recommend you download all the rules first by clicking the button, because this speeds it up rapidly. This new version can be downloaded here and of course I still expect a lot of bug reports. This install will not auto-update, so keep watching my blog for new versions, which will probably happen a lot. A site can be removed from the disabled list on the options page.

Basically, it’s the same thing as what I announced a few days ago, only this is even easier. I also plan on making a normal one-page script for any Opera/Firefox users, this will take a bit longer though and I’m not sure I can cache…

Chrome’s extension system provides a few advantages. First of all, I have a background page, which is simply a web-page that runs in the background, once per extension. This means that instead of loading all the rules for all the sites included into memory, I can store them once per session. This reduces memory usage by a factor of the amount of tabs open. It also means that retrieving the rules is done in the background and no longer slows down loading the site itself. Another advantage is local storage. What this means is that when rules are downloaded, they can be stored in a cache in the browser, so I can retrieve the rules, store them in a cache and then serve them from the cache the next time they’re needed.

So the way it’s set up now is this. Whenever a page is loaded, a request is made to the background page. This page will serve the page the rules it has in cache, if available. Whenever a page receives rules, it applies them. However, also in the background, the rules are downloaded again, from my site, the cache is updated and the rules the site receive are too. But, in order not to have to visit all those sites, you can also decide to click a button on the options page to download all the rules into the cache, greatly speeding up ad retrieval.

As I’m not going to throw it out immediately without thorough testing, please leave a comment below if you’re interested in testing this idea.

Edit: Seeing as this is all probably quite confusing, I’ve made a flowchart which displays how AdSweep is going to work. It’s available here.

Why does AdSweep block YouTube videos?
It doesn’t. What happens is that AdSweep uses some code to remove ads from the YouTube player. Usually this works well, but occasionally something seems to go wrong in the script. Refreshing should fix the problem.

Why do you never answer my emails?
I get a lot of AdSweep emails daily. In an effort to preserve my sanity and my time, I usually won’t respond unless I need to ask something or need to provide feedback. I do read all the emails though, don’t worry.

I sent you an email about this website x days ago and it still shows ads/is broken. What gives?
Again, I read every email sent to me. However, updating a Chrome extension takes some time, and Chrome’s auto-update system can be quite quirky, so I try to pack as much into one update I can, adding features as well. I’m due for an update though, so expect it soon.

Add features? What features are you going to add?
I don’t have a definitive list, but I’m going to at least add a settings page, being able to whitelist pages and a button next to the address bar to disable AdSweep for that page. This can be used to fix broken pages, and to support a certain website who’s ads you don’t want to block.

More questions pending.

Since then, I have received a lot of feedback, with sites with unblocked ads and also sites which it breaks. I am currently working on updating them all and hoping I can release near January. However, seeing as this is the holiday season, I can’t make any guarentees. I’m planning to incorporate a button next to Chrome’s address bar which would disable AdSweep for that website on your computer, as a hotfix.

Now that that’s out of the way, I’d like to discuss something else. AdSweep’s home gets about 2 000 visitors daily. This also means the extension is downloaded a lot, which costs bandwidth. I’m fine with that, but it does bring bills I need to pay and as a student, I don’t have too much money to spare. So while I can understand not a lot of people have the cash, if you do, please donate any amount you feel you can spare. It will help me make the time to work on AdSweep.