Version 1.9.0 was released over the weekend by the Chrome Extensions store. It has LOTS of great upgrades and your version should auto-update if you’ve installed from the chrome store and not manually. If you installed manually, you will need to either install from chrome store or update manually.
Huge Performance Upgrades
Some of the biggest improvements in 1.9.0 are performance updates. We’ve completely rewritten the way we interact with the page, eliminating conflicts and reducing the amount of CPU is used to make pages run faster, smoother, etc. Here’s some of the highlights:
Faster. Period.
The new version has been optimized to cache page data points in a way that makes everything run much, much faster and smoother, especially on older computers that have some trouble keeping up with the amount of media on video heavy sites these days. If you have a new-ish computer you may not have noticed any slowdowns at all, but for others, this will be a big improvement speed-wise.
Side Scrollers & Page Scrollers Fixed
The side-scrollers were changing directions too soon without scrolling the whole list. This bug is fixed. The page scrollers had a little glitch that we knocked out as well, though we are still working on how to make it a little smoother still for 1.9.1.
Ads Auto-Disconnect
The ad-hider and ad-remover features have just been improved in a cool way. Now, in addition to removing the ads from the page layout, we also disconnect the https:// connection from it, so that it’s not using bandwidth or slowing down the page or tracking you while it’s hidden. The only downside to this, which is not really a downside, is that if you “show all ads” again, it will restore the original ad’s connection to it’s original URL, but the ad may refuse to show that way. In that case, just use the new “reload disabled” feature to load the page with ads. But really, who would even want to reload a page with ads. In any case, you can if you need to, but otherwise, ‘dem ads be disconnected for a Smuuvr page!
Conflicts Resolved with Improved Sandboxing
Some sites had javascript conflicts with jQuery and other miscellaneous annoying stuff that would cause Google sheets, or certain sites, to not work quite right while Smuuvr was loaded. Well, that has been fixed. We now only load our javascript libraries in an extension sandbox where it’s isolated and separated from the sites it’s working with, so that there are no conflicts. This should resolve 99.9% of sites that had small bugs with Smuuvr and allows each to run nice and independent-like.
New Features
We fixed a lot of stuff with this release. But, we added some new features, too.
YouTube Dark Mode (beta)
YouTube is too white. No racial connotations intended. The page itself is just all an white background and it puts out a lot of white light, which kind of sucks. In fact, it can hurt your eyes, cause eye strain, and also burn out your monitors pixels faster. A dark theme is the way to go. The new dark mode will change the background to dark grey, and the text to white, for a much easier experience on the eyes. This is a new beta feature (still testing it out) and already has improvements being wrapped up for 1.9.1. It’s live though, so see how you like it!
Reload With Smuuvr Disabled
Sometimes, on some sites, you just want to reload the page without Smuuvr removing any ads or anything. Why you would do this, who knows, but occasionally, it can be useful. Press the “Reload Disabled” button to reload any page with Smuuvr disabled.
No More Janky Icons
The icons such as [ > ] or [ ^ ] or [ v ] etc have been upgraded to actual icons. Much better looking and easier to see and use, too.
More in 1.9.0
There are some more goodies in the last release,too, but these are the highlights. Try out the new version and discover all the new goodness yourself!