Blocking everything in Firefox
Firefox enjoys many of the same content-blocking options as Chrome. The following can be found in the regular privacy settings (about:preferences#privacy):
- cookies / site data;
- trackers,
- location tracking,
- camera and microphone,
- notifications,
- popups and autoplay sound All of these include exception lists. The list is strictly practical, and lacks certain important types of content, some long included in Chrome:
- images,
- JavaScript,
- autoplaying video. While fewer users may want to restrict these key site components, the need arises. All can be handled to varying degrees in Firefox’s about:config,
Images
A search for “image” turns up permissions.default.image
- 1: Allow all images to load (default)
- 2: Block all
- 3: Block third-party images (a valuable equivalent to blocking 3rd-party cookies).
JavaScript
Globally, JavaScript can be disabled by changing javascript.enabled to false. The lack of built-in site-by-site settings has been discussed and is mostly addressed with extensions.
Autoplay video
This turns up in the “media” class. Disabling autoplay can involve changing several settings:
- By default, media.autoplay.default = 0 (allow). Changing to 1 will block and 2 will require user permission.
- Of course, there’s more to it. If you select 2, set media.autoplay.ask-permission to true to enable the prompts, and media.autoplay.enabled.user-gestures-needed to true to require a click or other “gesture” for a video to start.