The lifesaver for me has been the "Remove This Permanently" Firefox plugin (well, that an the Flashblock plugin).
If something's sufficiently annoying, I just find its xpath and remove it.
Does this put me in the top fractional 1% of browsers? I have no doubt. Does this work for me? Yes. Does the 1% bit bother me? Not in the least.
If anything, it's the final trump card in an argument I've had with web-design geeks that the end-user ultimately trumps style.
Video very likely does bring in the money. I can live with that. But so long as I can rip out the offending content, I'm cool with it.
I've also seen some other good/bad paper designs. In the Bay Area, I'm continually amazed at how good the _design_ of the SF Chronicle is (the content's of course gone fully to crap), and how poor that of the San Jose Mercury News (in the capital of Silicon Valley) is. I actually did an analysis of how much (and respectively little) content was presented above the fold in each design.
Sadly each, even in their online incarnation, is becoming increasingly irrelevant and local-focus blogs/news services are emerging.
On the topic -- if you haven't read John Sealy Brown's _Information Rules_, I'd highly recommend his section on the community-binding element of newspapers (and sports teams). It's a strong indictment of micro-targeted / individualized news streams.
If something's sufficiently annoying, I just find its xpath and remove it.
Does this put me in the top fractional 1% of browsers? I have no doubt. Does this work for me? Yes. Does the 1% bit bother me? Not in the least.
If anything, it's the final trump card in an argument I've had with web-design geeks that the end-user ultimately trumps style.
Video very likely does bring in the money. I can live with that. But so long as I can rip out the offending content, I'm cool with it.
I've also seen some other good/bad paper designs. In the Bay Area, I'm continually amazed at how good the _design_ of the SF Chronicle is (the content's of course gone fully to crap), and how poor that of the San Jose Mercury News (in the capital of Silicon Valley) is. I actually did an analysis of how much (and respectively little) content was presented above the fold in each design.
Sadly each, even in their online incarnation, is becoming increasingly irrelevant and local-focus blogs/news services are emerging.
On the topic -- if you haven't read John Sealy Brown's _Information Rules_, I'd highly recommend his section on the community-binding element of newspapers (and sports teams). It's a strong indictment of micro-targeted / individualized news streams.