The Jolly Teapot ❧ by Nicolas Magand

Another rant about web browsing

Yes, I’m writing again about my ongoing experiment with blocking JavaScript on a per-site basis. This time, I’m not here to explain how I operate in detail, but to complain about the work needed to maintain this web browsing hygiene.

In short, the web is a mess, and while messy things can be fun, I’ve recently grown very frustrated with the need to dance around my extensions every time I visit a new site where displaying simple text apparently requires JavaScript, or where scrolling requires dismissing a cookie modal that is only visible if content blockers are turned off first.

I’ve come to the conclusion that blocking JavaScript by default on all websites, as I’ve been doing lately, is a source of frustration. Yes, the web is light as a feather and my browser feels very fast when it doesn’t have to deal with all the JavaScript, I do love that. But this “strategy” breaks too many websites, pushing me to take detours so often that they can barely be called detours any more. You see, I can’t be bothered to manage an efficient “allow” list in the long run, so web browsing often feels like a series of new obstacles, as if every day is the first day of this setup.*1

This strategy is therefore a bad one. Just as bad as the other strategy I tried before, the one where I only block JavaScript after visiting the site, if it feels necessary. My discipline with that second strategy tends to fade away as days go by, and I end up barely ever blocking anything, even forgetting that this is something I can do. This strategy often encourages me to download a proper content blocker or use a filtering DNS.

Not only are these strategies inefficient in their initial goal of making my web browsing experience better, but they are also only work on the Mac. On iOS, due to the way Safari extensions work — which is a bit shitty — neither of the two strategies for blocking JavaScript on a per-site basis is practical to use, pushing me to adopt another strategy just for my phone (which, in turn, makes everything feel so much more complex than it needs to be).

On the iPhone, accessing the settings for each Safari extension is already complicated, but there seems to be no way to manage a per-site setting if the extension is not recognised as a content blocker and if it is set to “allow on all websites”. With StopTheScript for instance, I can only manage the per-site setting if I set the extension to “ask”. Also, per-site settings only seem to sync between the phone and the Mac if the extension is a content blocker.*2

So, if I were to rate my JavaScript-off web browsing strategies, taking into account the browsing experience itself (the way the websites look and behave), the impact on my computer’s CPU (if the fan turns on or not, if it lags), and the amount of maintenance required (having to manage exception lists):

  1. JavaScript-off by default, allowing a few selected sites permanently, visiting others temporarily in a private tab (where the extension is inactive): 8/20

  2. JavaScript-on by default, managing the JS-off list extensively but facing the terribleness of raw webpages: 6/20

Both are bad strategies, but the truth is that none of the alternatives I’m thinking of are better.

For example, using a full content blocker like Wipr is a frustrating experience in itself. Having to manage another list of sites and constantly refreshing pages with or without content blockers is a pain. That, and the fact that it seems to be a heavier workload for my old Mac, as are third-party browsers.

  1. Content-blocker-enabled Safari, managing the exception list and dealing with a laggy computer: 7/20

  2. Third-party browser, like Helium, Quiche Browser, or Orion, combining content blocking and a neat JavaScript toggle (uBlock Origin is pretty great at both): 7/20

  3. Naked browser, meaning no content blockers, no JavaScript limitation, no list to manage, nothing to do, just the natural web: 1/20

I think the best setup is the following, even if I’ll stick with strategy 1 for a while:

  1. Strategy 2, with a DNS resolver like Mullvad or NextDNS, effectively blocking most crap without making my laptop choke. 9/20

The main issue with strategy 6 is that I’ve had issues with these DNS resolvers, like not being able to access common websites for hours, even my own website, resulting in a quick investigation only to realise that everything was working fine and that the issue was with the DNS resolver.

This is the state of web browsing in 2026, terrible at best.

Allowing JavaScript, blocking JavaScript, whatever; either way the experience is bad. Most websites are stuffed with invasive ads, surveillance tracking, dickpanels, noise, and junk. Nothing we can do really works, unless one spends hours fine-tuning everything and therefore adds extra layers of complexity.

The more effort I put into filtering the filth, the more ready I am to give up at the first little hiccup. It doesn’t feel right to reload a webpage three times to view it properly and to take the time to ensure it’s properly set up for future visits. While content blockers and JS toggle tricks are improving things drastically, the added amount of work required is a pain in itself.

The browser on one side, the extensions on the other. The more we consume websites as the filling in a sort of software sandwich, the more they resist. The thicker our bread, the more sauce they add. The more bread we bring to absorb it, the more junk they add to the filling. At what point does it become too disgusting to eat?

Meanwhile, reading articles outside the web browser, via email newsletters or within my RSS reader, is pure bliss; a delightful, gourmet, delicious cuisine that stimulates my appetite instead of making me want to throw up. It’s so good that I don’t even need extra bread.*3 It just works.

Just like it’s increasingly better to search for an answer using an A.I chatbot rather than a traditional search engine, it’s now better to read articles from websites by using apps that are not traditional web browsers. It feels wrong, like driving on the smooth cycle lane rather than a pothole-filled road.

How long can this situation last? Between difficult business models — the source of most problems, driving us to use content blockers in the first place — and new A.I. chatbot intermediaries, I don’t know what will happen to the web in the next three or four years. Some web browsers are already in a weird spot.

In the meantime, I will keep overthinking this, as I want my next laptop to inherit a “final” and well-thought-out setup, developed on this early 2020 MacBook Air. Its lack of a powerful chip and its limited memory forces me to face the inefficiency of overloaded webpages and third-party browsers.

Maybe I’m obsessing a little too much about this. Or maybe I need to sleep more.