Users of adblockers might be having trouble with site scheme CSS

[foxfirefey]

Lately there's been a spate of Support complaints about site CSS not loading, or the site looking plain or not having any styling, which is a result of the CSS not loading.

This is because AdBlock or other ad blocking software is blocking the CSS's URL because it contains the text "ad_base.css". (Kind of like how every now and again someone can

Comments

[tiferet]

I use Dystopia because I have bad wrists and don't like menus that change if your mousing is imprecise; after I've been working Photoshop a while I can't do it that fine any more.

And it really is better.

[foxfirefey]

Hopefully Vertigo will work for you in much the same way so you can have an updated scheem that works!

[tiferet]

Are they even still doing Vertigo? Because I loathe Horizon, I think it's f-ing ugly.

[foxfirefey]

I haven't heard anything about it not being done, so I would assume yes.

[stargaz3r]

I use my /etc/hosts file to block ads. So far it works great, I didn't even know Vox had ads until I read about it in this community.

[foxfirefey]

Mmm, that reminds me, I oughter right up an entry about the Vox ads development.

I also need to write a guide about taking steps to anonymize yourself in the face of Google.

[zombiegoat]

Oooookay, so I'm using le Firefox and AdBloocker Plus and seem to be really stupid because I can't get this problem resolved. *growls* What is the step-by-step solution to fix this for the idiots like myself?

[foxfirefey]

Okay, here is the way to whitelist the CSS. Add this to your list of filters:

@@http://stat.livejournal.com/*

Now everything coming from stat.livejournal.com/ will come through. Try that and tell me if it works, please.

I now intend to compose an article about AdBlock right now and will post it to no_lj_ads when I finish. There are a few scripts being served that should definitely be blocked, among other things. But since I am unfamiliar with AdBlock (and Plus) currently, it will take me a little while to fiddle with it to get all the information I need to write the guide.

[zombiegoat]

To a point, yes, as the layout now looks the way it should. However, no user icons are visible. The ones denoting mood show up just fine, but as for others (including my own), no dice.

Odd.

[foxfirefey]

That's interesting--try whitelisting:

http://www.livejournal.com/userpic/

Maybe and see if that helps?

[zombiegoat]

Here's a new one to add to the ever-growing list: when AdBlock Plus is engaged, the drop-down menus on the front page of LJ no longer function, and the rich text option on the "Post To Journal" page is gone as well with no way to bring it back.

I'll post more annoyances as I come across them.

[foxfirefey]

I've got the drop down one screenshotted and ready to go.

I'm also seeing what kind of third party cookies are being used with all these ads. Answer: A SLUTTY AVALANCE OF THEM.

The Bigger Picture

[zorkfox]

While it's fine to set Dystopia or Lynx as your site scheme, that doesn't solve the problem of when you first visit the site. If, like me, you log out every time you leave (or don't store cookies) you have to log in every time, and until you've done that, the site looks like a trashy HTML 2.0 garbage bag. Modification of Adblock Plus (or whatever you might be using to hide the advertisements) is a more complete option.

(Thanks to everyone who posted comments explaining how to fix this. It's been vexing me for a few days. I should have known y'all would know what was up. :)

Re: The Bigger Picture

[foxfirefey]

Hahaha, yeah, there's a more complete list of modified filtering here.