Browser extension that globally blocks vertical video? | Hacker News Reader

Browser extension that globally blocks vertical video?

23 pointskradeelav16 comments

I dislike nearly everything about the recent vertical video format/medium that's taken over the internet since ~2018 or so. Is there an extension that globally blocks it across twitter/tumblr/youtube/anywhere embedded? Feels like it'd be pretty trivial to code if not, and I know there's a few other old web farts who would gladly use such an extension.

View on HN

I'm probably much older than you and I don't mind, and in fact, I regularly watch vertical videos. They don't bother me.

But here is some sloppy code you could create a basic browser extension and shove in content.js:

  function hideVerticalVideos() {
    const videos = document.querySelectorAll('video');
    videos.forEach(video => {
      if (video.videoHeight > video.videoWidth) {
        video.style.display = 'none';
      }
    });
  }

  // Run hideVerticalVideos() when the page loads
  window.addEventListener('load', hideVerticalVideos);

  // Run when the DOM updates
  const observer = new MutationObserver(hideVerticalVideos);
  observer.observe(document.body, { childList: true, subtree: true });

I wish everything was so great in my life that this could be a concern.

I need a browser extension to block video autoplay because no browser setting seems to work consistently.

Safari in particular has never worked, but I've had bad luck with Chrome and Firefox as well.

On youtube you can block the section with shorts in them with ublock (rclick > block element), this was good enough for my use. I don't know about other sites.

Someone should use generative AI to convert portrait video into landscape by extending the sides (rather than cropping).

I dislike vertical video also. Last I checked, phones can rotate 90 degrees to play landscape video.

On a related note, is there a browser that can completely block auto-playing video with a setting that actually works?

I find it depressing that web developers seem willing to do anything to ignore user preferences, especially when intrusive advertising is involved.

I don’t want to rotate my phone just to view your video.

Funny, I have the same thought about vertical video and rotating my laptop and desktop display.

Phones are commonly used in horizontal mode for games, photos, and video streaming.

If I’m watching a two hour video, I’ll flip my phone. But if I’m cycling between reading articles and other activities for which I prefer vertical mode, then I’d rather keep it in that orientation than switch it just to watch a video.

For desktop FF (ESR) at least.

In about:config:

media.autoplay.default = 5

media.autoplay.blocking_policy = 2

From https://www.privacy-handbuch.de/handbuch_21h.htm?q=autoplay

Searching on that site for autoplay leads to the same settings for Fennec on Android, but I don't dream of electric sheep, so ...

I’m not wild about vertical videos either. But are you sure a technical solution is the best solution for this issue?

It would be very hard to get rid of portrait videos that were uploaded as landscape but padded with black bars.

But I would instantly install a browser extension that makes youtube shorts go away. I avoid them studiously because I find that whenever I click them, I come to 45 minutes later, deep inside a rabbit hole of everything that makes the internet horrible. Making them go away altogether would significanly improve my mental health.

  https://www.youtube.com/shorts/KaSmgzaKgYM

and

  https://www.youtube.com/v/KaSmgzaKgYM

are the same, so at least you can use some redirection extensions to always show you the full interface.

Or use something like 'Simple Blocker' (FF) which would just block everything which includes `youtube.com/shorts/` in the URL.

Look up uBlock filters to remove shorts.

I also recommend blocking "feed" page, side suggestions and comment section.

I use https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/redirect-shor... which does exactly this. It's a simple redirect rule that shows the same video but in the normal video player.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com