There's a recent trend in website design in which a site presents the viewer with a full-page overlay containing a "sign up for our newsletter" or similar dialog. The actual page content is covered with a translucent overlay to bring visual focus on the dialog, and to get to the actual content, you either have to fill in the dialog, or find and click a checkbox to dismiss it. Here is an example chosen at random:
I personally find this design pattern obnoxious and intrusive, and apparently I'm not the only one who does. Neither Adblock nor Adblock Plus remove them (at least for me).
Someone created an extension for Google Chrome that helps deal with these things. Is there something similar for Safari? Ideally, I would like an extension that would automatically detect such overlays and hide them. However, I would equally be happy to find an AppleScript or other means of automating the dismissal of these overlays.
Preemptive comment #1: Some people may think that clicking the "x" to dismiss the overlay shouldn't be a big deal. I respectfully disagree. I'm a heavy keyboard user and having to move my hand off the keyboard to a pointing device, to find and click a small "x", is mentally disruptive and wastes my time. (It's worth noting that the "x" is not in the same location on every overlay, forcing you to hunt around for it.)
Preemptive comment #2: Some people may object that hiding such overlays would take away ad revenue from the site owners. I have sympathy for efforts to pay one's bills, and am not trying to do hurt the site owners. I am only looking for a way to stop these devices on a voluntary per-user basis, not for everyone on the site.
Best Answer
Have you tried Adblock Plus?