Is there a low-stim or low sensory browser plugin?

[Not dead yet!]

I've been looking for something like a low-stim environment for your browser (I use Firefox but would switch if some other one had it). I mean, to stop the silly videos from playing, the flickering ads, the sudden sounds of a video that's offscreen, even, etc. Or some kind of software like the f.lux which also incorporates a stim-lowering effect on all other programs. I mean, if you can use heuristics to predict when something is a virus, then you can use it to predict when something is going to redraw your whole screen, or flicker, or animate... etc.

I'm noticing I'm much more affected by it if I'm not doing well. Other times, it's fine, I can ignore it. But the stress of ignoring it can also wear me out.

I'm actually surprised that with all the "low stim" stuff and "sensory awareness" stuff out there for kids, it doesn't seem to exist yet. Anyone find something like that, something that works on websites?

 

[zzz]

You can do this easily in Firefox.

To stop videos from auto playing, open up a new tab and type about:config into the URL box. Acknowledge the warning. Then in the Search box, type "autoplay" (no quotes). You'll see a line labeled "media.autoplay.enabled", and it will have a value of true. Double-click on this line, and the the value will change to false. No more auto play!

To get rid of ads with all of their obnoxiousness, download and install uBlock Origin.

To stop GIF files from playing, you can use either Gif Block or Toggle animated GIFs.

To stop sounds from videos or recordings from tabs other than the current one, you can use Mute all inactive tabs.

That should calm down your Web browsing experience substantially.

 

[Not dead yet!]

Neither of the gif blockers are compatible with my version of firefox. Wondering if I should downgrade, lol.

 

[zzz]

Neither of the gif blockers are compatible with my version of firefox.

Sorry about that. I checked, and there are no GIF blockers compatible with the current Firefox.

When Mozilla released Firefox 57 (Quantum), they dropped support for all extensions except Web extensions. As the vast majority of extensions were not Web extensions, this means that Mozilla drastically reduced the ability to customize Firefox, simply making it more of a Chrome clone.

Wondering if I should downgrade, lol.

The problem with this is that earlier versions of Firefox are no longer supported, and are vulnerable to any new malware attacks that appear. And Firefox 52 ESR is the only earlier version of Firefox that is protected against the Spectre and Meltdown bugs. However, it is no longer being updated, either.

As I was a big user of Firefox extensions (I have over 100 of them), none of the current Firefox options worked for me. Instead, I switched to Pale Moon, which is a browser that was forked from Firefox 24 a number of years ago. It supports the vast majority of Firefox extensions (except the new Web extensions), and it can do what you need. Specifically:

Stopping autoplay works just as I describe before.

Blocking ads works with uBlock Origin, as I mentioned before, but you have to use Version 1.13.8. You also need to install uBlock Origin Updater, which will keep uBlock Origin up to date with the Pale Moon version.

Either Gif Block or Toggle animated GIFs should work with Pale Moon to block GIFs. Personally, I use Active Stop Button.

To find tabs that are playing audio and mute them, you can use Expose Noisy Tabs.

 

[Not dead yet!]

Sorry about that. I checked, and there are no GIF blockers compatible with the current Firefox.

When Mozilla released Firefox 57 (Quantum), they dropped support for all extensions except Web extensions. As the vast majority of extensions were not Web extensions, this means that Mozilla drastically reduced the ability to customize Firefox, simply making it more of a Chrome clone.


The problem with this is that earlier versions of Firefox are no longer supported, and are vulnerable to any new malware attacks that appear. And Firefox 52 ESR is the only earlier version of Firefox that is protected against the Spectre and Meltdown bugs. However, it is no longer being updated, either.

As I was a big user of Firefox extensions (I have over 100 of them), none of the current Firefox options worked for me. Instead, I switched to Pale Moon, which is a browser that was forked from Firefox 24 a number of years ago. It supports the vast majority of Firefox extensions (except the new Web extensions), and it can do what you need. Specifically:

Stopping autoplay works just as I describe before.

Blocking ads works with uBlock Origin, as I mentioned before, but you have to use Version 1.13.8. You also need to install uBlock Origin Updater, which will keep uBlock Origin up to date with the Pale Moon version.

Either Gif Block or Toggle animated GIFs should work with Pale Moon to block GIFs. Personally, I use Active Stop Button.

To find tabs that are playing audio and mute them, you can use Expose Noisy Tabs.

I was wondering what happened. Chrome seems to be all the rage atm, and I never figured out why until now. When Netscape finally fell apart, I was one of the mourners but I've been too far away from IT to keep up with what's going on. Thanks for the tip about Pale Moon.