some browser advice
brief summary of advice:
- use firefox if you can https://www.firefox.com/en-GB/ and use reader view within firefox if a page is particularly noisy
- install ublock origin https://ublockorigin.com/ the website above should detect your browser and send you to the appropriate place to install it from (typically the add-on store for your browser) the default settings in the addin are typically fine for most people.
- use a privacy respecting default search engine over google/bing/etc: https://duckduckgo.com/
intro / reasoning
Writing this initially off the back of a scouts evening covering “digital citizen” in which the scouts aired their grievances about web popups, adverts and whatnot and I had some suggested actions.
The idea here is that I’m attempting to provide advice which is straight forward to follow with links to help avoid potential pitfalls.
This guidance is aimed at users on mobile devices as well as desktops or laptops.
The main point here is to improve your experience on the web
added side effects of the three actions here are that your browsing will be slightly less tracked than before, and big companies will have a marginally harder time building their profiles on you.
detailed recommendations:
1. web browser choice
I anticipate a lot of people use the default browser which comes with their device.
on an iphone this will be safari
on most android phones this is usually chrome, but on a samsung device it’s “samsung internet”
on windows this is probably edge
my general recommendation here is to switch to firefox.
firefox is a browser which isn’t owned by one of the large tech companies who would like to collect LOTS OF information about your browser usage.
where to install from:
If you’re using an iphone/ipad, the link is: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/firefox-fast-private-browser/id989804926
on android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.firefox&hl=en-GB
on any other device: https://www.firefox.com/en-GB/
further info
you don’t need an account, it may offer you one when opened for the first time. This is optional. I do use it however, to keep tabs in sync between my devices
even if you don’t do this step, you can do the ublock portion on most modern browsers too… but the experience is significantly better outside of chrome/edge.
firefox is by no means perfect, but it’s a far better option than the defaults on most mainstream devices
google (chrome) has a huge monopoly on browsers currently, and their cracking down on ad blockers within their ecosystem is a pretty serious overreach in my opinion.
reader view in firefox
This feature is killer, if you ever get sick of going to a webpage to read something and seeing:
- a bunch of videos autoplaying
- JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
- cookie popups
- etc
reader view shows on some (but not all) sites and collapses the page into pure text and images, without all of the clutter, bloat, and distractions
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-reader-view-clutter-free-web-pages
2. ublock origin
if you use multiple browsers, you can likely get this for -all- of them.
I have it on chrome and firefox on my home pc, firefox on my phone
It is -less- good on chrome or edge or safari which is why I recommend firefox.
Apple and google (who own the aforementioned browsers) have cracked down on extensions like ublock because it is probably in their interests to serve you adverts.
where to install from:
install ublock origin https://ublockorigin.com/
I’d recommend doing so on all browsers on all of your devices
the default settings are fine, no config or further steps needed. Enjoy ad free web browsing.
limitations
obviously this doesn’t work on e.g. instagram which is a purely app based experience. That’s by design. sorry.
and youtube (the website, rather than the app) does have its ads blocked by this at the moment, but there is an active battle going on between google and ublock, where google tries to degrade your experience to make you turn it off.
- I’ve seen:
- videos occasionally failing to play immediately
- occasional skips or jumps forward
The experience is still significantly better than using it without.
3. search engine use
setting your default search engine to a privacy respecting search engine is strongly recommended
I use duckduckgo: https://duckduckgo.com/