1. What is Rule Blocker?

Rule Blocker is a lite and multi-browser addon that let you easily block unwanted contents with regular expression matching. Simply write a desired rule and reload a webpage to see blocked contents in the browser console. By default, there are 28 rules available in toolbar popup. You can add, edit or remove these rules at any time. Moreover, you can specify which resource type needs to be blocked by regular expression rules. There are 13 resource types that are monitored with this addon. By default, 10 types are marked in toolbar popup. There is also an ON|OFF switch in the popup (top left corner) to enable you activate or deactivate this addon.

2. How do I work with this addon?

In order to work with this addon, please open toolbar popup UI. First, adjust desired settings in section 1. This section lists all the resource types that are monitored in this addon. Please mark all the resource types that you would like to block. By default, all rules are marked except 3, which are font, mainframe and stylesheet (CSS). Please note that, all changes are auto saved to the memory. Next, please head to section 2, and write regular expression rules in order to block URLs. By default, there are 26 rules in toolbar popup. You can remove or edit any of these rules if you want. In order to add a new rule, please click on the - Add a new rule - button, then write your rule in regular expression format in the designated area. If you are not familiar with regular expressions, please visit this Wikipedia page to get more information about regular expressions. Once all the settings in sections 1 and 2 are set, please click on the ON|OFF button to activate the addon. Toolbar icon color, will also change according to the addon state. Normal color is red, but when the addon is disabled, the color will turn to grey. Moreover, badge icon text will show you the number of blocked items.

3. How can I download the source code for Rule Blocker?

To download the source code for this extension from Chrome Web Store, it is recommended to use Extension Source Downloader. With this addon, you can download the source code as a ZIP or CRX format to your machine. If you want to download the source code from the Firefox addons store, please open the firefox download link (if available) in the Firefox browser and then right-click on the - Add to Firefox - button and select - Save Link As... - item. Choose the destination folder on your machine and then save the file in XPI format. You can then rename the XPI format to a RAR or ZIP file. Some extensions may have a GitHub repo address, which you can use to download the source code as well. But, it may not be the latest version of the addon. Therefore, downloading the source code from the official web stores is the best option as it always gives you the latest version of the addon.

4. How do I add a RegExp rule for this addon?

In order to write a rule, as mentioned above, please open toolbar popup UI and click on the - Add a new rule - button in the popup. You need to write these rules in Regular Expression format. Any URL that matches these rule(s) will be blocked. For example the following rules will block all URLs in the format of (.test.com/?keyword) or (sample-url.com): (sample\-url\.com|\.test\.com\/\?keyword). A regular expression (regex or regexp for short) is a special text string for describing a search pattern. You can think of regular expressions as wild-cards on steroids. It is similar to wild-card notations such as *.txt to find all text files in a file manager. Please visit this Wikipedia page to get more info about Regular Expressions.

5. How do I remove a blocking rule?

In order to remove a rule, please open toolbar popup UI and click on the cross-sign next to each rule (remove button at the right-side).

6. How can I see all the blocked URLs?

In order to see blocked URLs, please click on the - Console log - button in toolbar popup and then open the browser console. In windows machine, please press on the - Ctrl + Shift + J – combination on your keyboard. In MAC, please press on the - Cmd + Opt + J - combination. Now, reload a webpage to see blocked URL(s) printed in the console. Please note that, keep this option active only if you want to monitor blocked URLs, otherwise it might slow down your browsing speed.

7. Can I reload the active tab to check my blocking rule?

Yes, there is a button in toolbar popup UI which you can use to reload the active tab. Please click on this button to reload the current tab and see if your blocking rule is working or not.

8. How to uninstall this extension from your browser?

In order to uninstall, please go to your browser extensions tab, then press on the uninstall button.

9. Does this addon work instantly when I add it to my browser?

No, when you first add this addon to your browser, it is NOT active. Please open toolbar popup and adjust desired changes and then click on the ON|OFF button once to activate the addon.

10. Is this addon available for mobile browsers?

Yes, this addon is available for both desktop and mobile devices. Please note that, currently only Firefox has support for extensions/addons in its mobile browsers.

11. Can I whitelist a website from blocking?

No, currently there is no option to whitelist a website from blocking in Rule Blocker. However, you can write rules to ignore a specific website or keyword easily with regular expressions.

12. Is there any options or settings page for this addon?

No, there is not a separate options or settings page for this addon. All the required settings are available in toolbar popup.

13. Is this addon available for Safari browser?

Unfortunately not. Currently this addon is only available for Firefox, Chrome and Opera browsers. In future, support for Safari will be added as well.

14. Where can I find the privacy policy for Rule Blocker?

Please read the privacy policy for this extension here.