I realize that websites have to advertise in order to remain profitable but sometimes I think that the ads can get so "media rich" that any older computer will slow to a snail's pace because of some silly gorilla dancing across the screen juggling bananas with various credit scores on them. I don't mind the ad itself but I certainly don't want it to consume the little bit of resources that I have on my PC.

So I propose a filter be added to the web browser that tells the site, "I don't mind your ads.. I just don't have the bandwidth to support flash animation"
-- Jscotty, Sep 28 2009

AdBlock Plus Firefox plug-in https://addons.mozi.../firefox/addon/1865
You can rationalize it however you like, but it gets the job done. [tatterdemalion, Sep 30 2009]

there isn't much in the way of protocol for your computer to "talk" to the servers that are addressed in html. The browser simply loads the requested content (by way of requesting it from the other server) or it does not. There is not official avenue to "tell" the ad server anything. The currently available modes of "telling off" an irritating server are illegal.
-- WcW, Sep 28 2009


The hypertext transport protocol "accept" header can be used to tell the server to avoid sending flash animations, if possible.
-- goldbb, Sep 28 2009


... is there anyone who would not activate that filter?
-- loonquawl, Sep 29 2009


plenty: some people's favorite sites would be given the short shrift by a filter.
-- FlyingToaster, Sep 29 2009


Flash is altogether counter to the spirit of the World-Wide Web, as it merges content and formatting in a non-seperable way. You should be able to apply whatever formatting you like to a chunk of content - and this formatting may depend on your needs (e.g. if you are partially sighted) or the device you're viewing the content on (which may be underpowered, or have a tiny screen). Flash subverts all this good intention, usually in order to preserve a website's 'branding' and in the mistaken belief that primitive animations are entertaining.
-- hippo, Sep 29 2009


I guess the thing that I find frustrating is that sometimes the browser on my older machine will "hang" while I see a bunch urls shooting through the status bar while I hear the grinding noise of the hard drive. And it will just sit there doing that for a good 2 to 3 minutes only to discover that it was the "Punch the Monkey" banner ad holding things up.
-- Jscotty, Sep 29 2009


Well, no - that's the point. Why should [Jscotty] have to buy a new computer just because some idiot web designer thinks a cpu-intensive Flash animation is a good idea. His browser should just be able to ignore it.
-- hippo, Sep 29 2009


In some of my browsers, a flash blocker takes care of this problem. (In my case, it's about the distraction, not about the bandwidth, but the fix is the same.) It replaces each flash animation with a button; if I click on that button, the animation loads and plays, otherwise not.

There is no such plug-in or extension for the browser you're using?
-- jutta, Sep 29 2009


A transparent proxy could do this in a browser-independent way.
-- Spacecoyote, Sep 30 2009


Lynx.
-- vincevincevince, Sep 30 2009



random, halfbakery