Robert James Gabriel

My Markdown Editor for Safari Just Hit 26 in Developer Tools on the App Store!

2024-09-01T00:00:00Z

I'm really excited to share some good news. My extension, Markdown Editor for Safari, has climbed up to #26 in the Developer Tools category on the Apple App Store!

This isn’t just a direct copy of my old extension; it’s a full rebuild. I poured a lot of time and effort into making sure it’s a smooth, user-friendly experience for anyone who loves working with Markdown. So, seeing it get recognized like this really makes me proud.

For those who haven’t checked it out yet, the extension lets you write, edit, and preview Markdown right in Safari. Whether you’re coding, writing, or just enjoying the simplicity of Markdown, it’s a handy tool to have.

A big thank you to everyone who’s downloaded it so far. Your support means a lot, and it’s what keeps me motivated to keep improving and adding new features. If you haven’t tried it out yet, I’d love for you to give it a go!

Here’s to reaching even more milestones together!

Finding an Exploit and Annoying the Xbox Dev Team

2024-03-17T00:00:00Z

Introduction

So this is the story of how I accidentally annoyed the Xbox dev team and got Major Nelson's attention — all from a late-night coding session.

How It Started

I was gaming one night, half-listening to the Rooster Teeth podcast (episode 355). They were talking about how you could view Xbox game clips and screenshots, including ones people had marked as private. That got me thinking.

Building the Tool

Xbox One lets players record game clips and screenshots. I wondered — could I build a simple tool that pulls anyone's clips using just their gamertag? So I started writing a JavaScript script and a little website to do exactly that.

Finding the Exploit

I started poking around the Xbox website using Chrome DevTools. Turns out there were JSON endpoints that loaded game clips and screenshots with zero authentication. You could just swap out the gamertag in the URL and see anyone's stuff. That was the whole exploit.

Here's a glimpse into the JSON file structure:

{  
   "result": true,
   "data": {  
      "ContinuationToken": null,
      "Screenshots": [  
         {  
            "Id": "9e8a5803-a495-4a29-b21a-c64602434393",
            "Scid": "c4060100-4951-4a51-a630-dce26c15b8c5",
            "Name": "",
            "Uri": "http://screenshotscontent-t5002.xboxlive.com/000900000284f400-9e8a5803-a495-4a29-b21a-c64602434393/Screenshot-Original.png?sv=2014-02-14\u0026sr=c\u0026sig=K8Tn%2FgFZeSH8hi6porRPNC18RXkIIfveQoKa00D6zp4%3D\u0026st=2015-09-07T21%3A31%3A54Z\u0026se=2015-09-07T22%3A36%3A54Z\u0026sp=r\u0026__gda__=1441665414_1a6bf18ae80dc665c7f877f53f10d049",
            "Preview": "http://screenshotscontent-t5002.xboxlive.com/000900000284f400-9e8a5803-a495-4a29-b21a-c64602434393/Thumbnail_Large.PNG",
            "Thumbnail": "http://screenshotscontent-t5002.xboxlive.com/000900000284f400-9e8a5803-a495-4a29-b21a-c64602434393/Thumbnail_Small.PNG",
            "Expiration": "2015-09-07T22:36:54.5126079Z",
            "Duration": 0,
            "CaptureTime": "Uploaded 8/5/2015",
            "ViewCount": 4,
            "Views": "4 views",
            "TitleId": 1813362885,
            "TitleName": "FIFA 14",
            "TitleLink": "https://store.xbox.com/en-US/Xbox-One/Games/FIFA-14/f04f7029-01ea-4d65-988b-56f583fb7f6c",
            "OwnerGamerTag": null,
            "OwnerProfile": null,
            "OwnerGamerPic": null
         },
         {  
            "Id": "196aad38-cc91-4760-9beb-fb0c07e0c8a5",
            "Scid": "1b180100-2e72-4297-a9e6-b79d5a9771a4",
            "Name": "",
            "Uri": "http://screenshotscontent-t4002.xboxlive.com/000900000284f400-196aad38-cc91-4760-9beb-fb0c07e0c8a5/Screenshot-Original.png?sv=2014-02-14\u0026sr=c\u0026sig=s9dqA1I%2Bdjv1oTxM%2FmX%2B0tYj8RD2eysCWgp1XAQ6xA4%3D\u0026st=2015-09-07T21%3A31%3A54Z\u0026se=2015-09-07T22%3A36%3A54Z\u0026sp=r\u0026__gda__=1441665414_379050eaf43b062e85d9af7811df2300",
            "Preview": "http://screenshotscontent-t4002.xboxlive.com/000900000284f400-196aad38-cc91-4760-9beb-fb0c07e0c8a5/Thumbnail_Large.PNG",
            "Thumbnail": "http://screenshotscontent-t4002.xboxlive.com/000900000284f400-196aad38-cc91-4760-9beb-fb0c07e0c8a5/Thumbnail_Small.PNG",
            "Expiration": "2015-09-07T22:36:54.5126079Z",
            "Duration": 0,
            "CaptureTime": "Uploaded 5/30/2015",
            "ViewCount": 0,
            "Views": "0 views",
            "TitleId": 1519874468,
            "TitleName": "Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious",
            "TitleLink": "https://store.xbox.com/en-US/Xbox-One/Games/Forza-Horizon-2-Presents-Fast-Furious/aaae1849-53dc-453f-8b38-27955610925d",
            "OwnerGamerTag": null,
            "OwnerProfile": null,
            "OwnerGamerPic": null
         }
      ]
   }
}

One interesting thing — there was a "ContinuationToken" that meant clips loaded in batches of 12. If someone had more than 12, you needed this token to get the rest.

https://account.xbox.com/en-us/gameclips/loadByUser?gamerTag=rob%20gabriel&ContinuationToken=token

Reminder you can access the code here. I built some fixtures to allow for valuation and options like so.

So the parameters (Flags) you need to send are the following:

Flag: 1 equals all screenshots/videos, 0 equals random screenshot/video.
Type: "screenshots" means screenshot, "gameclips" means videos.
gamerTag: The Gamer Tag you want to get videos from.
width: The width of the Video Player.
height: The height of the video player.
Number of Videos/images: In case you want to limit it.

About two hours later, I posted it on Reddit in the Rooster Teeth subreddit. It blew up — loads of people were excited about it, sharing it around, and giving feedback. One comment in particular really got the ball rolling.

Then They Shut It Down

About four months later, the JSON endpoints started requiring authentication. My tool stopped working overnight. I can't say for sure it was because of me, but I'd like to think I had something to do with Xbox tightening things up.

Looking Back

It was a fun project and a good reminder of what you can find when you're curious enough to poke around. The whole thing — from idea to getting shut down — only took a few months but it's one of my favourite stories.

The code is still up here if you want to have a look.

What's in my Bag 2018

2017-07-13T00:00:00Z

What's this about?

I recently read a book about the minimal life. I'm no hipster, and I am a privileged, white Irish man. So, I don't have to worry about some things and have savings and a job. I thought I would write about what I need for my day-to-day life.

I recently came across an article on Medium, and it kind of inspired me to redo this.

What is What

MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Mid 2017)
Apple Airpods
Adidas Originals NMD Runner - Men's
iPad Air (2nd generation)
Apple iPhone 8 ‑ 64 GB ‑ Gold
Seagate Game Drive for Xbox 2TB Green
Tommy Hilfiger Soft-Shell Bomber Hooded Jacket
Moleskine Plain Notebook
Sharpie Permanent Markers, Fine Point, Assorted Colors
12 Pack coloring pencils
Listerine Antiseptic Mouthwash, Cool Mint, 0.25 L, Green
Apple Watch Series 1 42mm Gold Aluminum Case with Concrete Sport Band, Red
Nylon Swisslander Laptop backpack Waterproof
Apple iPhone, Watch, and Mac chargers

Web Accessibility and OpenDyslexic

2016-06-01T00:00:00Z

Introduction

There are few published papers about usability testing with dyslexia focused fonts, but there is a considerable collection of knowledge on dyslexia as well as many suggestions for authoring dyslexia-friendly interfaces. Existing accessibility guidelines for dyslexic and non-dyslexic users suggest that dyslexic-accessible practices may redress difficulties encountered by all Internet users. This paper reviews two existing papers about dyslexia-focused fonts (OpenDyslexia font) and accessibility.

It will examine the font itself, as well as how the use of the font affects the visual perception, readability, and comprehension of the website and text with general web accessibility. The report is interested in the effects the font has, if any, for people with dyslexia, in comparison with those of Comic Sans or Times New Roman, and on improving human-computer interactions.

Typography

It is necessary to be familiar with the particulars of typography in order to understand the importance of font use in web accessibility. Typography is the technique of arranging text for print or on screens for aesthetics and readability. It involves the use of different font types, faces, sizes and layout restrictions such as line height, column width and spacing between characters and colors. Typography has been around for thousands of years, from stone tablets right through history up to the GUI (graphical user interface).

In the context of human-computer interaction, typography has critical importance in some applications. The primary purpose of a significant proportion of websites and web applications (web apps) is to display/render textual content. Included in this are instructions, labels, and navigation for the web app which can be presented in text (web icons or symbols are in fact a font), and must be readable for users to have fruitful and efficient interactions with the application.

Key Typography Terms

Font face describes the overall letter form, for example, Comic Sans or Times New Roman. Font faces may have serifs (a slight projection finishing off a stroke of a letter in certain typefaces such as Times New Roman) or may be sans serif (Don’t use serifs which are small lines at the ends/tips of characters such as in Comic Sans).

Fonts may be display fonts, designed for headlines, or text fonts, designed for large bodies of smaller text.

When measuring font size, there are two key areas to focus on:

The body size: Measures the full height of letters, from the bottom of the descenders (the part of the character that lies below the baseline) to the top of the ascenders (the part of the character that lies above the baseline) and three additional gutter spaces above and below.
X-Height: The top of the main body height of lowercase letters excluding the spacing or ascenders or descenders. X-Height is a huge factor in typeface regarding readability.

What is OpenDyslexia

OpenDyslexia is a free font face designed to mitigate some of the common reading errors caused by dyslexia. It was made with the goal of helping with some of the symptoms of dyslexia. The font is based on the concept that the letters have heavily weighted bottoms to indicate direction. This aids in recognizing the correct letter and which part of the letter is down as it helps your brain from rotating them. Consistently weighted bottoms can also contribute to reinforcing the line of text.

The unique shape of each letter in the OpenDyslexia font can help prevent confusion through flipping and swapping as the font is unlike that of other fonts the brain has seen before.

As you can see below:

The History of OpenDyslexia’s Development

The font was created by a dyslexic and software developer Abelardo Gonzalez, who released it under an open-source license. The design for the font is based on that of DejaVu Sans, also open-source.

Like many dyslexia-intervention font-faces, most notably Dyslexia or even DejaVu Sans, OpenDyslexia furthers the research of Dyslexia. It is more of a reading aid, but it is to be noted that this is not a cure for dyslexia even though it is very popular. The typeface includes regular, bold, italic, bold-italic, and monospaced font styles. In 2012, Gonzalez explained his motivation to the BBC: "I had seen similar fonts, but at the time they were completely unaffordable and so impractical as far as costs go.”

The Theory on OpenDyslexia

The OpenDyslexia font uses heavy weighted bottoms to the font, this, in theory, will figure out fast which part of the letter is down. This helps in spotting the correct letter and sometimes contributes to keeping the user's brain from rotating them around. Consistently weighted bottoms can also contribute to reinforcing the line of text. The unique shapes of each letter can help prevent confusion through flipping and swapping.

Pre-existing Studies on OpenDyslexia

There are many reports of the positive impacts of using OpenDyslexia in both traditional media and within online forms and schools. Currently, as of 7 February 2016, there is no research paper or text-based paper on the effect of the OpenDyslexia that shows OpenDyslexia to be effective with English readers with dyslexia.

One study by Boyarski in 1998 examined the varying features of legacy fonts and modern typefaces designed for digital displays. This study wasn’t planned to determine which fonts were better than others regarding readability. It did offer a scientific way to discern which features of new typefaces affect readability. This scientific method has been used by other researchers in their investigations of the links between typography and readability for dyslexics.

Currently, two major studies have investigated the effect of specialized fonts with students with dyslexia. One paper by Rello and Baeza-Yates written in 2013 titled "Good Fonts for Dyslexia," examined the effects of fonts, namely OpenDyslexia, Arial, Times New Roman and Comic Sans on the reading time and eye fixation (i.e. squinting and returning to particular points on a page to double check) of a group of dyslexic subjects from the ages of 12-59. They found that OpenDyslexia did not hugely improve reading time nor reduce eye fixation when reading and processing text.

Fonts for Dyslexia - Rello and Baeza-Yates’ Paper

In the paper co-authored by Rello, Rello noted that dyslexia is a visual reading disability. It is characterized by having difficulties with fluent word recognition and commonly having poor spelling. Also, in the paper it is estimated to affect 10% of the population in the US has dyslexia. During her research for the paper, Rello looked into how different algorithms could be used to replace words with more common synonyms that are hard or confusing for dyslexics.

Rello also investigated the possibility of using eye tracking and facial expression analysis to discover problem areas on the internet for dyslexics and to test the impact of key interface design elements on sample groups of people with dyslexia. The list of variables stated in Rello's experiments was very complete: paragraph spacing, character spacing, line spacing, font size, type, column width, gray scales color pairs.

A summarized version of Rello's findings is presented in an upcoming paper in which Rello details visual details that make reading online much easier for dyslexics, for example, Rello learned that the larger the font size, the better, up to a point. "’14 pt.’ seemed to be the optimal setting" Rello stated. Another significant highlight from the paper was font types; Rello concluded that italics tended to have an enormous negative impact. Rello noticed that sans serif, monospaced and Roman font styles significantly improved the reading performance of those with dyslexia.

Rello stated in the report, that the use of the fonts Helvetica, OpenDyslexia, Courier and Computer Modern Unicode are excellent typefaces to make sure your website is dyslexia-friendly, because they are sans serif and their simple, clean design is very easy for the dyslexic eye to process, as it doesn’t have the curves at the end of the tips of the font to cause confusion of processing the text on a webpage.

Despite the fact that there were already dozens of available fonts claiming to be dyslexia-friendly, none of them had the backing of scientific proof. Rello’s study was one of the first times that HCI techniques were used to investigate the effects of key aspects of type design on readability for dyslexics, thus providing the basis for designing a font which could potentially make the internet a dyslexia-friendly space.

Special Fonts for Dyslexia - Renske De Leeuw

In the second paper, masters student Renske de Leeuw (2010) compared Arial with the font Dyslexie (Dyslexie is a typeface/font designed to mitigate some of the issues that dyslexics experience when reading. It was developed by Dutch graphic designer Christian Boer while in college to help combat her own dyslexia). Rello took 21 Dutch students with dyslexia as her sample group, gave them texts to read in both fonts and monitored the differences in reading speed and accuracy the fonts produced.

Rello found that Dyslexie did not lead to quicker reading, however it did help some students make less dyslexia-related errors, another inserting aspect was from the questionnaires. Renske found that users wouldn't use the font, because other people, who would have to read their work, would not like the font. This gives the impression that dyslexics are adapting to others, instead of asking for understanding of the use of an adapted font, so that a dyslexic can cope with his/her handicap.

Overall the dyslexics read fewer errors while reading the words printed in the font "Dyslexie".

Results of the Papers

While there is currently a lack of definite evidence that a dyslexia-friendly font can make a difference to reading rate and accuracy for students with dyslexia, the results of the papers do suggest that these fonts might improve accuracy for dyslexic students if not reading times: further research is needed to determine whether this is actually the case. However, it is clear that the variable design elements of fonts impact dyslexic students in some way, therefore the creation of an effective dyslexia-friendly font should be possible, if there were enough research to indicate which elements have negative or positive effects.

The Effect of Optimal Colours on Readability

Another important area in web accessibility is color. This is dealt with in the research report by the W3C communities (Web developers who make the W3C specifications).

In the study, they analyze how the aspects of text customization, text and background colors can improve readability for people with dyslexia, through different color mixes and brightness levels. In previous studies, it came to light that particular text and background color combinations can be beneficial for reading on the screen for those with dyslexia.

Several text customization suggestions agree that users with dyslexia prefer lower brightness color differences between the text and the background compared to the average user (British Dyslexia Association, 2012). It must be noted that no studies have been carried out upon the relationship between this preference and the minimum color luminosity ratio which the W3C suggested would be suitable for dyslexic users.

W3C Study

In the study taken by the W3C, they got 200 people and showed them several pieces of text with different color combinations and asked them which they preferred to read along with reading time. They then tested previous recommendations and compared them with the W3C algorithm (The W3C algorithm suggests avoidance of brightness differences less than 125 and color differences less than 500). The user performance and preferences from the tests, among the different color values across people with and without dyslexia are shown in the chart below.

In the report, the areas of focus were broken down as follows:

The performance, measured in reading time.
Preferences, represented by the percentage of participants who chose certain colors.

Eye movement (Performance)

Shorter fixations are preferred to longer ones, as according to other studies, readers pause longer at points where processing loads are larger. In their results, it was evident the greatest difference among groups is on the black and white pair, as seen in the chart. Most of the users tested who didn’t have dyslexia (32.5%) preferred a color mixture and only 13.5% of people with dyslexia chose black text on white background in terms of text.

Accessibility needs and Personal Preferences and Testing

The testing approach is designed so that accessibility needs and personal preferences can be studied separately, rather than being mixed up as they frequently are in recommendations regarding colors and readability.

The tests were composed of two parts:

Set of texts to be read with the use of the eye-tracking to study the reading performance.
A survey to collect the user's preferences.

The benefit of this separation is that they could see whether there was a difference in reading speed and accuracy before and after color customization, which in turn allowed them to determine trends in color choice.

It must also be noted that during these experiments, the color pairs were displayed randomly rather than in order of brightest to darkest or vice versa, because that would have allowed the subjects’ eyes to adjust to each setting and they would not have been able to make a judgment as to which colors are most advantageous to their reading.

Possible problems with the tests include:

The texts used are too small to draw firm conclusions.
The texts were alone on the screen. Thus, the researchers couldn’t predict the effect of color differences in other reading contexts such as web browsing, where there are multiple color schemes on the page.

Results of Study

The outcome of the results from the paper (see figure 1) did not match the WC3 algorithm. Brown and Dark presented high fixation for both groups; that was second and third highest for people without and with dyslexia. These colors were also hardly selected by the users, with only 4.55% without dyslexia and 0.99% of the users with dyslexia.

However, one surprising outcome of the study was that the pairing of dark brown and light green, which is very similar to the brown and dark green pair in terms of the color hue but different in terms of brightness and color contrast, presented the lowest and second lowest fixations duration for people with dyslexia and without dyslexia.

The results suggest that text customization preferences need to be complemented by measured data from actual reading performance since there is no correlation observed between the reading performance and the personal choices of users with dyslexia.

In the research it was also reported that the use of colors should be taken into consideration by UX developers. It was even noted that if the users with dyslexia seem to be reading more quickly using lower color contrasts than the control group of users these are not below the W3C algorithm, which is to avoid brightness differences less than 125 and color differences less than 500.

My Research

In my own research, I followed the methods used in the other papers, in order to discover if my results might back up their findings.

I developed a survey, which consisted of 12 questions ranging from details such as age to the color combinations they preferred to use. I also showed them samples of Ariel and Comic Sans alongside samples of OpenDyslexia and asked them to pick the one they preferred, similar to the method from Renske De Leeuw’s paper.

In total, I got 43 people to take the survey by posting the link on Reddit sub categories for both dyslexia and web design. I allowed for a section for personal comments so that I could get a better understanding of what the user thought of the fonts. One user wrote "I don’t like using OpenDyslexia all the time because I feel like it’s not very discreet, using it would be immediately obvious to everyone that I was ‘different.’”

For the most part, the results followed the same patterns as that of the papers cited, with the exception of the W3C study, where the results were mixed, as dyslexia is different from person to person. The people who were surveyed did not stick to the standard 12px body but preferred the 14px body size which was inline with the recommendation of that from Rello’s paper.

Doing Research on Dyslexia and Fonts for college, quick survey https://t.co/6xRe7SWXwy Please rt :) #dyslexia #fonts pic.twitter.com/tw6gcSJY3v
— Robert James Gabriel (@RobertJGabriel) February 22, 2016

Conclusion

The results of the existing research and the research of this paper into dyslexic focused fonts in terms of web accessibility for dyslexics can be put into effect by developers to improve the readability of their applications in both software, website or web application for those with dyslexia.

Web accessibility recommendations

Some recommendations from the above mentioned papers include:

Choose a common font with recognizable letter forms for large bodies of text, such the OpenDyslexia font, Comic Sans or Arial.
Include the option for different fonts
Allow the user to choose between color combinations
Set the body text size to least 14px, instead of the existing 12px.
Present blocks of texts in columns; don’t let text span the entire length of the screen on a widescreen display, allowing for better use of whitespace.
Choose text and background colors with a high luminance contrast, or better yet allow the user to select the combination.
Use lower case letters. Avoid the use of capital letters. Using all capital letters makes it harder to read for people with dyslexia.
Double spacing after periods.
Avoid pure black text on a pure white background (Many dyslexic users can be sensitive to the brightness the high contrast colors cause, as stated in the W3C report as well.)
Avoid Serif fonts (A sans-serif font would allow dyslexic users to see the shapes of letters more clearly. This is because of the lack of hooks increases the spacing between letters and makes them more distinguishable.

As is evident from the suggestions, there are multiple possible avenues for future studies on typography for dyslexic users, and in fact, such research is desperately needed in order to create a web which is universally accessible.

Despite the fact that the research papers cited and lack of existing research do not offer concrete evidence of a correlation between readability for dyslexic users and the use of dyslexia-focused fonts, there are so many people suffering from dyslexia and even more having trouble reading on the web, that web designers and developers should feel obliged to make their websites accessible to everyone by fixing bad practices or at least considering the above mentioned suggestions. Aside from developing more user friendly fonts, true web accessibility entails always providing users with several options so that they can customize the website to suit their needs.

This report should offer an insight into the way dyslexic users experience the web and demonstrate how dyslexic focus fonts try to fix some of their problems and improve web accessibility in general.

Bibliography

Problems Posed by Ad-blockers

2015-04-01T00:00:00Z

Introduction

Ad blocking, one of the fastest-growing phenomena in internet usage [1], is a type of software that removes or alters advertising content on a web page, most commonly in the form of browser extensions. It allows users to disable the ad blocker on websites by whitelisting them, which is a list of sites where ads are allowed to run. Ad blocking has existed for the past 15 years, initially gaining popularity on Firefox and later becoming more prevalent on other systems and browsers such as Google's Chrome and Kali Linux.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Publishers and ad-dependent websites have attempted to fight back against the growing adoption of ad-blockers. In response, they've employed various methods, from introducing paywalls and limiting content access to fully blocking users of ad blockers.

Ad-blocking is experiencing a popularity explosion, posing a challenging, universal issue across the global publishing industry. While ad-blocking is most common among video game and technology sites (30-50 percent) [2], the use of ad blockers on other sites, such as business news, entertainment, and sports news, is also on the rise, according to PageFair [3].

The challenges posed by ad blockers for publishers are quite concerning. However, it is easy to understand why people frequently resort to ad blockers, as they offer improvements in performance and speed, enhanced privacy and security, and a distraction-free browsing experience. It's crucial to comprehend these reasons so that solutions can be developed to address the rise in ad blocker usage. This increase has already had a significant impact on many websites and is likely to influence the future of internet advertising. Both the methods used to combat ad blockers and the necessary changes in revenue models will be affected by this new challenge. Given that advertising is a central part of international economies, the increasing use of ad blockers could have far-reaching effects on our society as a whole.

What is Ad Blocking

Ad blocking, in this context, is a term not limited to a specific platform or device; it is a general term for software designed solely to remove advertisements from websites or web applications. Many modern web browsers, such as Google's Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, automatically block pop-up adverts by default. The use of browser extension ad blockers to prevent ads from loading is also common. It has been estimated that 9% of all website views come from browsers with ad-blocking extensions installed [4], and for some publishers, 40% or more of their visitors are using ad blockers [3].

Several ad blockers are available, with the most popular being Adblock Plus. Adblock Plus itself has no functionality, meaning it does not block anything until instructed to do so. However, the ad blocker comes bundled with pre-selected lists of what to block, known as filter lists. Filter lists are extensive sets of rules that instruct Adblock Plus on which parts of a website to block. Users can also add any filter lists they want, such as those for blocking tracking or malware. Almost all filters are open source, and many are created and maintained by a large online community of users [5].

Ad blocking as a whole has experienced a 41% growth from 2014 to the end of 2015, showcasing its significant increase in popularity [3]. In the US alone, it grew by 48% over a 12-month period from June 2014 to June 2015, reaching 45 million active users in the U.S. as of January 2016 for both mobile and desktop users [3].

Benefits to the User

Ad blockers offer several useful benefits to the user. They block or hide offensive material and other unpleasant elements, and they can also prevent malicious code from running. While ads on the web can be irritating and intrusive, some users choose not to block every ad as they understand that websites rely on advertising to generate income, enabling them to provide free content.

However, even for users who prefer not to block ads, installing an ad blocker can be worthwhile. It allows web pages to load more quickly, providing cleaner-looking pages that are easier to read, especially for those with reading disabilities. Ad-free web pages consume fewer resources, leading to extended battery life on mobile phones and substantial energy savings. Filtering ads before they load also has financial benefits for users who pay for total transferred bandwidth, like many mobile users worldwide. Additionally, ad blockers enhance security, as online advertising poses a higher risk of infecting devices compared to surfing pornographic sites [6]. These benefits are discussed in further detail below.

Performance Issues

Using an ad blocker significantly impacts loading speeds [7]. However, improved loading comes with some side effects, such as memory or RAM consumption [5]. According to Mozilla Firefox engineer Nicholas Nethercutt, running Adblock Plus in the background on Firefox 40 results in an increase in RAM usage ranging from 80-100MB. The primary issue arises from the process by which Adblock Plus blocks ads [8]. Adblock Plus inserts a substantial CSS stylesheet, consuming approximately 4MB of RAM, into every web page visited. This stylesheet removes ads and overrides existing stylesheets.

In the modern era of the web, known as web 2.0, it is common for a web page to have multiple iframes and various website elements loading through API calls. These iframes represent separate web pages loaded and embedded within the page the user is viewing. An example is the feature-loaded social sharing widgets on platforms like Facebook.

When you add a widget to your site, it consists of an iframe containing a separate web page hosted on Facebook's servers. As web pages become more complex, having an ad blocker that consumes 4MB of RAM per tab may not be sustainable.

In Nethercote’s testing, TechCrunch served as an example. The site utilized around 194MB of RAM without Adblock Plus (ABP) enabled, but that figure doubled to 417MB with ABP enabled, particularly after triggering all the social widgets and plugins.

Intrigued by these results, I replicated the experiment using the Los Angeles Times website. Employing Google’s PageInsider development tools, I measured the machine's resources when loading the Los Angeles Times website with and without Adblock Plus [9]. The impact on RAM use in Chrome was comparable to Nethercote’s findings, yielding very similar results.

Despite the unfortunate effect ad blocking has on RAM, the reduction in loading ads (pre-rendering the page and injecting the CSS) leads to a significant performance improvement, particularly in loading time. The test results below showcase the homepage of the popular website, The Los Angeles Times [10].

The Los Angeles Times	With Adblock	Without Adblock
Loading Times (seconds)	11	4
Size of page (MB)	5.7	1.4

Speed

Download speed and rendering of websites and content are critical issues for users, with the average load time expected to be under 5 seconds. It would make sense for developers to be committed to increasing loading speed and reducing rendering time; however, that does not seem to be the case. I conducted informal research on developers' attitudes toward ad loading to confirm my suspicions. In my poll, I asked developers whether they optimize the loading of ads on their web pages, using tools such as asynchronous loading [11].

In computer programs, asynchronous operation means that a process operates independently of other processes [12]. According to my results, the majority of web developers do not prioritize this, making it easy to understand why users would opt for ad blockers. Developers often do not consider the time taken for loading ads in their apps or websites.

Security

Third-party advertisements can pose a serious threat to computer security. For example, in a high-profile case, malware was distributed through advertisements provided to YouTube by a malicious customer using Google's Doubleclick network [13]. In August 2015, a 0-day exploit in Firefox browsers was discovered in an advertisement running on a website [14]. The website Forbes requires users to disable ad blocking before viewing their website. However, in one incident, some of the website’s users were served with pop-under malware once they had disabled their ad blockers [15]. These examples demonstrate that ad blockers not only make surfing the internet more comfortable for the user but also safer.

Privacy

Users employ ad blockers because some advertisements abuse privacy by adding features in the website's code to track users online. This can be easily exploited to gain access to users’ cookies, which may contain sensitive information. Advertising platforms take advantage of tracking user behavior based on the sites they visit. Ad blockers are popular among users who do not want their browsing history sold to advertisers and advertising networks, making Adblock Plus particularly popular among users who prioritize privacy.

Problems Posed by Ad Blockers

The economic consequences of ad blocking for online businesses were reported by Adobe/PageFair, estimating the cost to publishers in 2016 alone could be as much as €22 billion [3]. If an ad is running on a website but is snubbed by the user because their ad-blocker is hiding it, this ad provides no value to the website owner. Advertisers perceive little value in putting brands in front of users who ignore advertisements. As a result, sites are rarely paid “per click” anymore, with the standard metric for selling web display ads being “CPM” or “cost per mille” – the cost for a thousand views [16].

The majority of websites on the internet would not exist without advertising. Websites, from personal WordPress sites to online magazines like Wired, depend on advertising revenues to keep running. Apple endorsing ad blockers, allowing people to produce ad-blocking technology for their app store [17], is significant news. With Apple's user base of 1.2 billion [18], this will introduce ad blocking to a whole new set of users on a larger scale.

According to data from Adobe and PageFair, the adoption of desktop ad blockers has risen from approximately 21 million users in 2010 to more than 181 million users in January 2016 [19]. The report states that the growth of ad-blocking will cost advertisers more than $40 billion by 2016 [24], although other reports have given much lower estimations.

It is inevitable that the rise of ad blockers will affect advertisers. Some advertisers may notice a huge impact on the performance of their price per click campaigns, while others won’t notice any change at all. This development can be compared to Google’s algorithm updates [7], during which some sites get badly affected by changes in the ordering and display of search results.

Text-based and price per click ads used by advertising networks such as Google AdWords are universally affected by ad blockers. An increase in ad blocker usage would negatively impact many advertising campaigns. For example, if a website owner is running a price per click campaign targeting mobile users on devices such as Apple’s, and they have an ad blocker installed, the users won’t see your ads.

On the other hand, it is important to note that the majority of people browsing the web don't have any ad blocker installed at all. Just because the option is there and growing in popularity does not mean that all users are going to completely alter their behavior and install ad blockers.

In an official blog post on September 30th, 2015, Google (Alphabet) announced they will no longer charge advertisers for impressions that are not viewable to users [20] [21]. If an ad isn't seen by the user, whether in another tab, out of view on the screen, or if the ad is being blocked by an ad blocker, the advertiser won’t be charged. This move is likely a reaction to concerns about the adoption of ad blockers in both iOS and browser extensions, as the problems stated in the blog post have been an issue for advertisers for some time.

There are still many potential problems caused by ad blockers. Reports suggest that they will force sites to stop providing free content or decrease the quality of content while increasing the quantity, as seen in clickbait articles. This means that not only will users have access to incomplete information, as in the case of paywalls, but because the sites can no longer track users, this will also result in a loss of revenue and the inability to understand the customer because of their anonymity. These issues stem from ad blockers because publishers are being forced to try other means to increase revenue, such as paywalls and by publishing more low-quantity articles.

Possible Solutions and the Future of Advertising

When Apple announced last September that it would allow ad blocking in Safari for iOS 9.3, it brought a conflict that had been building in the web community. Many of the possible solutions included:

The Freemium Model (Paywall)

Freemium model pricing strategy is in which a product or service, such as games or web services, is free of charge, but money is charged for proprietary features, functionality, and extra content.

Subscription Model

The subscription model is where a customer must pay a subscription price to have access to the product/service. The model is now used by many businesses, websites, and magazines.

Go Native

Native advertising is a form of paid media where the ad experience follows the natural form and function of the user experience in which it is placed [22]. Native ads look a lot like that of the content produced by web publishers, but they usually carry some kind of design or banner feature to distinguish it from non-sponsored content, normally at the end of the article. Mobile video is proving so popular as an ad format because it is engaging if done correctly. Mobile video will account for 87% of global advertising spend by 2018, according to ZenithOptimedia [23].

Pay the Ad Blockers

Where the publisher pays the ad blocker companies, such as Adblock Plus, to not run the ad blocker on their website.

Ask Audiences for Sympathy

This method involves asking the visitor, using a popup, if they will consider whitelisting the site they’re visiting or disabling ad blockers on it and describing how the use of ad blockers can negatively affect them. For example, on the New York Times website [23], users with ad blockers enabled are shown the following message: “The best things in life aren’t free. You currently have an ad blocker installed. Advertising helps fund our journalism. To continue to enjoy The New York Times, please support us in one of the following ways.”

Wired.com, which will not let users view their website if they are using an ad blocker of some kind, offers the following alternative:

“You can simply add WIRED.com to your ad blocker’s whitelist so you can view ads. When you do, we will keep the ads as ‘polite’ as we can, and you will only see standard display advertising.”

They also offer the user the opportunity to subscribe to a brand-new Ad-Free version of WIRED.com. For $1 a week, they can get complete access to their content, with no display advertising or ad tracking.

Block Content from People Who Use Ad Blockers

Blocking content from people who use ad blockers is becoming more and more popular; this involves removing content or links from the user and displaying an ad about it. For example, Forbes.com is one of many sites that does not allow access to the site without disabling the extension or whitelisting the website, but not everyone is convinced by this method. Johnny Ryan of PageFair believes ad-blocking walls are relatively easy to bypass [24], and he is right. "Often publishers only update their code, forcing the ad-blocking community to get working again. It is a coding tug of war," he stated.

Offer Ads Free Versions

Offer Ads Free Versions allow the user to support the website or web application. It removes adverts while supporting the services.

Designated Apps

Another approach to the war on ad blockers is exemplified by former Mozilla co-founder Brendan Eich, who launched a browser called Brave [25]. This browser replaces ads on websites with safe, non-tracking ones that do not take users’ data or slow downloading speeds. Brendan Eich stated that the company plans to pay publishers a higher proportion of ad revenues generated by not going through a third-party middleman.

Privacy app Ghostery shows users which ad-serving technologies a website or web app is using and offers the option to blacklist (block) or whitelist those ad-serving technologies. This is significant because it offers the user the choice of seeing the ads rather than hiding them automatically, as many ad blockers do.

Redesigning Ads

As the methods of fighting ad blockers are not particularly successful, it would be better to change the adverts themselves so that they are less irritating and harmful to users. It would be possible to improve the use of ad blockers by optimizing the delivery of ads on websites using an asynchronous tag, as stated earlier in this report, or by integrating them into the site in such a way that it is not annoying to the user.

As stated by Google’s former senior vice president of advertising, Susan Wojcicki [26], the future of ads depends on whether advertisers choose to follow the suggestions, which would encourage users not to rely on ad blockers. She stated that ad views will be voluntary; users will participate in the ecosystem if we provide enough value and control. Ads will be more interactive and beautiful at scale, and ads will help people live their lives on the go. For example, PageFair, among other sites, has been employing more user-friendly methods of circumventing ad blockers. They enable publishers to display "respectful and unobtrusive ads" that do not get blocked by ad blockers.

Similar to what Susan Wojcicki said in 2013, an online organization called acceptableads.org [27] formed in late 2015 with the manifesto of following on from Wojcicki's idea because major sites and the organization understand that advertising is the backbone that drives the Internet and gives us web content for free. As click rates on adverts continue to decline, many online advertisements/publishers have become obnoxious and annoying in an effort to be heard. Many popular websites have signed the manifesto, such as Reddit, DuckDuckGo, and Google.

Some websites have adopted these futuristic, interactive ad formats, with a great deal of success, such as with engagement ads, which show standard ad formats; when users hover their mouse over the ad, more features come up. This gives users an opportunity to be more creative and involved in the advertising process, making them more popular.

This method has been used very effectively by companies such as Samsung, who live-streamed their 90-minute Galaxy S4 launch event via multiple channels, including ads [28]. Susan Wojcicki also advocates advertising where the user is choosing to view an ad, so that publishers are paid on a cost-per-click basis. It’s up to the ad network and the publisher/developer to show the right ad at the right time to the user.

TrueView ads on YouTube follow this model. About 70% of ads on YouTube are now classified as TrueView, which has led to a reduction of 40% in the drop-off of ad viewing. One ad on YouTube got 33 million views, an ad by Pepsi featuring NASCAR car driver Jeff Gordon, going undercover to buy a car. It got 33 million views even though it was four minutes long because it was entertaining and relevant [29].

According to common guidelines, a good advert on a website should not be annoying and should not disrupt or distort the page content the user is trying to read. It should also be transparent with the user about being an ad; it must be effective without shouting at the user and it must be appropriate to the site that the user is on.

Unfortunately, many websites do not follow these rules, and with the ever-changing landscape of the internet, it remains impossible to predict what exactly ads should be in the future.

Conclusion

While it is difficult to determine what exactly the future of advertising on the internet should be, all the evidence discussed in this report indicates that steps must be taken to make web advertising less invasive and more user-friendly if the internet economy is to survive.

In the ever-changing landscape of web advertising and the ad-blocking world, it is up to both the developers and the advertisers to better understand their target audience and to improve their engagement with the user, thus making them more likely to click on the ad than to be annoyed. Ideally, advertisers should follow the guidelines suggested by Susan Wojcicki. However, different sites host different content and therefore should employ different methods, be that a request for whitelisting, a paywall, or native apps.

At the end of the day, it is impossible to prevent people from using ad blockers; therefore, publishers and advertisers must make it worth the user’s while to surf the web without this software, by creating entertaining, non-invasive adverts tailored to their needs and interests and follow the manifests and guidelines set out by recognized organizations like acceptableads.org.

On the other hand, users need to be aware that they cannot expect free content if they do not also accept a certain amount of advertising. Therefore, the future of web advertising hinges on the willingness of both sides to compromise. Fortunately, users can whitelist websites and ad networks that follow the acceptable ads manifest and want to support. This means that users can use ad blockers selectively to tip the balance in favor of ads that truly inform them and send a message to the publishers.

In our modern world, the internet economy has become such a fundamental part of our society that the world economy has come to depend on it. The internet economy is mostly dependent on advertising for revenue; therefore, the uptick in the usage of ad blockers poses a considerable threat to that system. If users continue to avoid advertising, the foundation of the web economy will be shaken, which could lead to a global economic crisis bigger than anything ever seen before. With that in mind, it is vital that we change advertising to make it appeal to users so that the web economy may continue to grow and flourish.

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Robert James Gabriel

My Markdown Editor for Safari Just Hit 26 in Developer Tools on the App Store!

Finding an Exploit and Annoying the Xbox Dev Team

Introduction

How It Started

Building the Tool

Finding the Exploit

Sharing It

Then They Shut It Down

Looking Back

What's in my Bag 2018

What's this about?

What is What

Web Accessibility and OpenDyslexic

Introduction

Typography

Key Typography Terms

What is OpenDyslexia

The History of OpenDyslexia’s Development

The Theory on OpenDyslexia

Pre-existing Studies on OpenDyslexia

Fonts for Dyslexia - Rello and Baeza-Yates’ Paper

Special Fonts for Dyslexia - Renske De Leeuw

Results of the Papers

The Effect of Optimal Colours on Readability

W3C Study

Eye movement (Performance)

Accessibility needs and Personal Preferences and Testing

Results of Study

My Research

Conclusion

Web accessibility recommendations

Bibliography

Problems Posed by Ad-blockers

Introduction

What is Ad Blocking

Benefits to the User

Performance Issues

Speed

Security

Privacy

Problems Posed by Ad Blockers

Possible Solutions and the Future of Advertising

The Freemium Model (Paywall)

Subscription Model

Go Native

Pay the Ad Blockers

Ask Audiences for Sympathy

Block Content from People Who Use Ad Blockers

Offer Ads Free Versions

Designated Apps

Redesigning Ads

Conclusion

Bibliography