Quick Pop-Up Display of Tracker Info

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It would be helpful for those of us who have slower internet connections for the "What is ... ?-link to the tracking definition to be shown is a 'hover-box', instead of having to load another web page. This info could be d/l'ed with the 'definitions' or by request and stored until needed to display.

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Eric P. Scott March 12, 2011 06:48
It doesn't matter how the information is displayed visually; the same network activity would be required in any case. Plus, what you see on a "What is" page can change from one day to the next, and that isn't coupled to the regular database updates. Besides, you're only likely to encounter a small fraction of the hundreds of bugs Ghostery knows about — and how often are you going to click "What is," anyway? So it really only makes sense to download this information on demand.

We can easily assess impact, by looking at what actually happens when you use this feature. Suppose you were to select "What is Doubleclick?"

Displaying the selected information requires retrieving seven page elements [assuming, of course, you're blocking the GetSatisfaction silliness]. Only two are specific to this bug:
1. http://www.ghostery.com/apps/doubleclick — 3294 bytes
2. http://www.doubleclick.com/images/top... — 8930 bytes
The other five elements are reused on other "What is" pages:
1. http://www.ghostery.com/includes/css/... — 25458 bytes
2. http://cdn.betteradvertising.com/ghos... — 16958 bytes
3. http://www.ghostery.com/images/Ghoste... — 13590 bytes
4. http://www.ghostery.com/images/ghostr... — 158 bytes
5. http://www.ghostery.com/images/flags/... — 367 bytes
All of those are going to be stored in your browser's cache — meaning the next time you click a different "What is," — even if you're stuck using a dialup connection to access the Internet — every bit your browser needs to render the complete page can still be downloaded in about three seconds. That's what's making you "frustrated?"

So, I have to ask what you mean by slower. Are you talking about low bandwidth, high latency, unreliable communication channel, or some combination of the three? Is it possible for you to set up a local caching proxy? There's something to be said for repurposing an old Pentium III to run pfSense [www.pfsense.org] with the optional Squid [www.squid-cache.org] package. There are Linux-based solutions, too, if you prefer that approach. If want something pretty, you could put something together using a Small Form Factor PC that would be quiet and energy-efficient.
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good point! good point! (undo)
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- bobevans3200 March 13, 2011 02:48
  
  OK, I see your point. I'll have to do some testing using your links, and then get back to you. Thx for your explanation.
  
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- Eric P. Scott March 13, 2011 22:25
  
  There may be some things you can adjust in Firefox that will help.
  
  Open about:config
  
  Type prefetch in the Filter: field.
  
  If the value for network.prefetch-next is true, double-click it to change it to false.
  
  If you're not using IPv6 (nearly all residences and small businesses are not), tell Firefox not to perform (useless!) DNS lookups for AAAA records.
  
  You can find articles online that discuss some of the more esoteric preferences (e.g. browser.microsummary.*, network.http.*) that might be significant on slow networks.
  
  Also, if you have extraneous Live Bookmarks, go into Organize Bookmarks... and delete them.
  
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<a href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/satisfaction-production/s3_images/435625/hatethis.png"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/satisfaction-production/s3_images/435625/hatethis_inline.png" width="171" height="37" alt="I hate this idea!" /></a> It doesn't matter how the information is displayed visually; the same network activity would be required in any case. Plus, what you see on a "What is" page can change from one day to the next, and that isn't coupled to the regular database updates. Besides, you're only likely to encounter a small fraction of the hundreds of bugs Ghostery knows about — and how often are you going to click "What is," anyway? So it really only makes sense to download this information on demand. We can easily assess impact, by looking at what actually happens when you use this feature. Suppose you were to select "What is Doubleclick?" Displaying the selected information requires retrieving seven page elements [assuming, of course, you're blocking the GetSatisfaction silliness]. Only two are specific to this bug: <ol><li>http://www.ghostery.com/apps/doubleclick — 3294 bytes</li><li>http://www.doubleclick.com/images/top-logo.jpg — 8930 bytes</li></ol> The other five elements are reused on other "What is" pages: <ol><li>http://www.ghostery.com/includes/css/ghostery.css — 25458 bytes</li><li>http://cdn.betteradvertising.com/ghostery/site/ghostery.ico — 16958 bytes</li><li>http://www.ghostery.com/images/Ghostery_200px.png — 13590 bytes</li><li>http://www.ghostery.com/images/ghostrank-sprite-sml.png — 158 bytes</li><li>http://www.ghostery.com/images/flags/us.gif — 367 bytes</li></ol> All of those are going to be stored in your browser's cache — meaning the next time you click a different "What is," — even if you're stuck using a dialup connection to access the Internet — every bit your browser needs to render the complete page can still be downloaded in about three seconds. That's what's making you "frustrated?" So, I have to ask what you mean by slower. Are you talking about low bandwidth, high latency, unreliable communication channel, or some combination of the three? Is it possible for you to set up a local caching proxy? There's something to be said for repurposing an old Pentium III to run pfSense [www.pfsense.org] with the optional Squid [www.squid-cache.org] package. There are Linux-based solutions, too, if you prefer that approach. If want something pretty, you could put something together using a Small Form Factor PC that would be quiet and energy-efficient.

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