03.03.06
Sanitizing MySpace
Note: This solution is outdated! I strongly suggest using this greasemonkey script instead.
Everyone’s got gripes about MySpace. I’m no exception. Here are the things I loathe most:
- Embedded audio, especially when it plays automatically. If you’ve got a song you want me to hear, link to it and tell me why you like it. I’ll decide whether or not I want to listen, thanks.
- Background images that interfere with the foreground text or are otherwise distracting. I hate not being able to read things that I’m meant to.
- Giant images that screw with the page layout. Can’t you create a thumbnail? In addition to the borked layouts, I hate having big distracting images on my screen that other people can see from across the room. If I want to see the original size, I can Right Click > View Image.
- Ads of all shapes and sizes. I hate banner ads, large and small, whether they’re little animated gifs that dance on my screen or big flash banners that make noise when I accidentally move my mouse cursor over them.
- Wantonly “dimmed” text and images. So you discovered -moz-opacity, eh? Don’t abuse it.
So I did what I always do before I write a blog post - I fixed it. Now, there’s already a greasemonkey script out there that does some of this things, and more, in some cases, but to be honest: I don’t like it. Maybe it’s just the “Flash of Unstyled Content” that happens while the page is still loading and before the script triggers; maybe I think the script goes too far in what it takes out; maybe, in some areas, it doesn’t do enough.
I decided to take a different route towards fixing the problem. Instead of a javascript solution, I opted for a pure CSS solution in the form of site-specific rules within a user stylesheet. My final version takes care of all of the things that bug me most, making MySpace usable again.
It’s a cinch to install it yourself (requires Mozilla Firefox, of course):
- Download the MySpace Sanitizer Stylesheet and save it into your Firefox chrome directory in your user profile. Don’t know where that is? Mine is in
C:\Documents and Settings\Danny Dawson\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\gobbledygook.default\chrome\. Yours is likely in almost the same place. If not, checkC:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\. I have faith in you. - Restart Firefox.
Keep in mind that this solution isn’t meant to remove all of the custom styles that people use within their profiles - just the ones that annoy me. That said, if you run into something really annoying, let me know about it and I’ll look into it if I have the time.
claudine said,
March 3, 2006 at 12:43 pm
Hmmm…
Can’t seem to get it working yet. I’m wondering whether it conflicts with Greasemonkey, though I’ve disabled gm for the moment…
Danny Dawson said,
March 3, 2006 at 6:53 pm
Make sure to look first in Documents and Settings\*\Application Data\. Chances are good you’ll have multiple chrome folders, but the ones in Docs & Settings seem to be the more commonly-used ones.
I aslo updated the .css file to get rid of <marquee> and <blink> elements, which I had forgotten about because, well, I guess I thought people knew better.
Melvin said,
March 7, 2006 at 6:52 am
Amen, my man! ‘Stumbled’ on your blogs from links on Flickr.
Stewf said,
March 27, 2006 at 5:51 pm
Sweet on. Haven’t tried it because I am not running Firefox daily until they are fully OS X savvy, but I applaud the effort to clean the MySpace mess.
Leo of BORG said,
April 28, 2006 at 2:03 pm
This is sweet! It probably works much better with the Firefox extension ‘Stylish’…
I use this with multiple GM scripts to totally KILL all MyS crud. On Mac OS X. So, y’all should try this. Links:
At userscripts.org: http://userstyles.org/style/show/185
My blog entry on killing MyS crud: http://expat-leo.blogspot.com/2006/04/geek-monkey-is-not-happy-with-myspace.html
Mike Grabowski said,
May 13, 2006 at 4:13 am
Hey, thanks for this great tip. I’m writing a small tutorial on how to use the firefox extension Stylish. And I’d like to use your CSS for myspace as a great example of how to use stylish to fix a webpage. The thing I like about stylish is you can easily turn it on and off, where putting it in the chrome is a little more of an always on solution. So with this, when you come across a bad myspace layout, you can click on your stylish icon and turn it into something that you can actually read. Thanks again, and let me know if you have any problems with me using your CSS.
Scott said,
August 21, 2006 at 5:04 pm
You sir, are a godsend. This is just the type of thing I’ve wanted for ages. Thank you!
Justin said,
August 23, 2006 at 5:48 pm
Thought about adding lines to disable the changing of the mouse cursor?
OWN-the-NWO said,
December 1, 2006 at 7:28 pm
Hey man I found one problem with the sheet, It kills the links to leave someone a comment. If you ever end up fixing that in the style sheet let me know so I can come get a new one.
Chad said,
December 6, 2006 at 1:11 pm
This disables the link to post comments and view all comments.
Danny Dawson said,
December 6, 2006 at 3:25 pm
Hmm…I’m pretty sure it didn’t used to do that, but to be honest, myspace comments are a feature I don’t use very often, if ever, so it’s possible this is something I overlooked.
To be perfectly honest, there are now a number of things that annoy me about the specific userstyles I chose, and I haven’t taken the time to tweak them. In addition, I’ve come to believe that this might be a job more suited to greasemonkey, which can easily traverse the DOM to remove extra style tags from places they don’t belong. When I get around to it, I’ll contact those of you who posted a comment using a real email address, and I will certainly update the blog.
Don’t hold your breath, though. Personal projects don’t usually get pushed high on my priority list.
Danny Dawson said,
December 19, 2006 at 11:33 pm
Ha! Someone else did a perfectly fine job already. I highly recommend their script over my solution. Greasemonkey is without a doubt the right way to do this.