Image blocking leaves whitespace

[ghost]

Prerequisites

• I verified that this is not a filter list issue. Report any issues with filter lists or broken website functionality in the uAssets issue tracker.
• This is NOT a YouTube, Facebook or Twitch report. These sites MUST be reported by clicking their respective links.
• This is not a support issue or a question. For support, questions, or help, visit /r/uBlockOrigin.
• I performed a cursory search of the issue tracker to avoid opening a duplicate issue.
• The issue is not present after disabling uBO in the browser.
• I checked the documentation to understand that the issue I am reporting is not normal behavior.

I tried to reproduce the issue when...

• uBO is the only extension.
• uBO uses default lists and settings.
• using a new, unmodified browser profile.

Description

When blocking images uBlock Origin often leaves whitespace. It should remove such whitespace.

A specific URL where the issue occurs.

https://ghacks.net
https://nos.nl
https://www.rtl.nl
https://www.volkskrant.nl/

Steps to Reproduce

1. Block images on mentioned sites
2. See whitespace left.

Expected behavior

The whitespace should be removed.

Troubleshooting information

uBlock Origin: 1.70.0
Firefox: 149
filterset (summary):
 network: 345802
 cosmetic: 117578
 scriptlet: 46764
 html: 3304
listset (total-discarded, last-updated):
 added:
  https://gitflic.ru/project/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-clean-filters/blob/raw?file=bpc-paywall-filter.txt: 1165-2, 22h.41m
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hansjansen2/no-comments/refs/heads/main/filter.txt: 30-0, 17h.59m
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/laylavish/uBlockOrigin-HUGE-AI-Blocklist/main/list_uBlacklist.txt: 1674-15, 12h.41m
  fanboy-cookiemonster: 46192-104, 1d.21h.53m
  ublock-cookies-easylist: 5602-41, 1d.21h.53m
  fanboy-social: 17452-12, 1d.21h.53m
  fanboy-thirdparty_social: 69-15, 1d.21h.53m
  easylist-annoyances: 5089-40, 1d.21h.53m
  easylist-chat: 271-0, 1d.21h.53m
  fanboy-ai-suggestions: 232-1, 1d.21h.53m
  easylist-newsletters: 9170-28, 1d.21h.53m
  easylist-notifications: 2481-173, 1d.21h.53m
  [2 lists not shown]: [too many]
 default:
  user-filters: 10-0, never
  ublock-filters: 51265-81, 1h.8m Δ
  ublock-badware: 10928-30, 1h.8m Δ
  ublock-privacy: 3986-2, 1h.8m Δ
  ublock-unbreak: 2813-1, 1h.8m Δ
  ublock-quick-fixes: 444-13, 1h.8m Δ
  easylist: 95857-162, 1h.8m Δ
  adguard-spyware-url: 2478-134, 1d.21h.53m
  easyprivacy: 55648-33, 1h.8m Δ
  urlhaus-1: 26375-11, 12h.6m
  curben-phishing: 162646-50, 12h.6m
  plowe-0: 3519-1021, 9d.22h.28m
  LegitimateURLShortener: 2972-228, 8m
filterset (user): [array of 10 redacted]
switchRuleset:
 added: [array of 9 redacted]
hostRuleset:
 added: [array of 1 redacted]
userSettings:
 advancedUserEnabled: true
 userFiltersTrusted: true
hiddenSettings: [none]
supportStats:
 allReadyAfter: 617 ms (selfie)
 maxAssetCacheWait: 235 ms
 cacheBackend: indexedDB
popupPanel:
 blocked: 27
 network:
  volkskrant.nl: 18
  dpgmedia.cloud: 5
  googletagmanager.com: 1
  optoutadvertising.com: 1
  usabilla.com: 1
  visualwebsiteoptimizer.com: 1
 extended:
  ##._18iyt9h0
  ##div[id][class][tabindex]:matches-css(before, content: /Adverte…
  ##.h1-container:has(> div[class]:matches-css(before, content: /A…

[krystian3w]

Perhaps the parent has a size (e.g. applied in background-image or div with height/width), the network filter (& rule) creates a cosmetic fallback on the default configuration reducing the size of the IMG tags to zero (fails for inline injected images in PICTURE tag, then I see gap about 1 character width (I doubt it's worth extending hiding after PICTURE:has([src*=blocked]) abstract)).

[gothic-bum]

Documentation: Hide placeholders of blocked elements

[ghost]

I will mark this as the answer as there is no solution to this issue.

[freezer2022]

hansjansen2: I will mark this as the answer

Well, it's illogicial and it makes no sense, as it's completely unrelated to your issue, it was just a blind shot that turned out to be wrong, because you didn't provide enough details, and also in the other reply you've admitted yourself that you "don't block large video elements." and at the same time you agreed with what I said: that you block images using filters, therefore, if anything, my answer delved deeper into the heart of the matter, and as such would be more appropriate to mark as the answer.

hansjansen2: as there is no solution to this issue.

Hasty and erroneous conclusion, even more illogicial, as:

• your issue doesn't contain enough details to claim so
• you don't have enough knowledge and skill to claim so
• you didn't even give a chance to respond and didn't wait for the discussion to end, to claim so

the issue most likely lies in your skill, hence is not a uBO's issue, nor related to Block Large Elements at all.

[freezer2022]

hansjansen2: 1. Block images on mentioned sites

How, your step is unclear, as there are several ways of "blocking images" (and each of them can leave whitespaces / placeholders if applied unprofessionally):

• via Block Large Elements switch (but this blocks not only images, but also videos as well)
• via network filters or dynamic rules
• via cosmetic filters (it's rather called hiding)

Also you doesn't seem to have NL regional filter list enabled if this even matters (unless it's for some reason hidden behind: "added: [2 lists not shown]: [too many]"), but it seems it should be rather in "default:", because I have my regional list shown in "default:").

[freezer2022]

hansjansen2: I block images through the popup of uBlock Origin.

Well, then like I already said, most likely you lack skill and CSS knowledge to create good filters via Element Picker, which is not an uBO's issue, as Picker is not a magic tool that will always perfectly hide everything an user wants after a single click.

Besides, your whole issue report is too broad: no screenshoots, no specific elements you want to block, no filters you already tried - we can't help further with such a vague information, and it becomes rather a festival of blind guessing.

[ghost]

The issue occurs on most sites, which is why I did not provide screenshots. But for reference I provided three examples. The issue is not with the filters, I expected this to work through the blocking image feature. And not that it blindly blocks all images but leaves remnants of it's structure. But if that is out of scope I understand that too.

nos.nl

Details

Images allowed

Images blocked

• The elements around the image should have been removed, so there are not empty boxes. Only titles should remain.

security.nl

Details

Images allowed

Images blocked

• The post images retain their blocks which should be removed.

volkskrant.nl

Details

Images allowed

Images blocked

• Similarly the boxes where the images stood should have been removed.

[gorhill]

leaves remnants of it's structure

The img element associated with the blocked image is properly removed from view. If you want to remove more than just the img, you will have to create cosmetic filters.

There is no magic way for uBO to figure out what exactly should be removed beyond the associated element -- trying to be "smart" like this would lead to tons of complaints of broken layouts or more cases of placeholders not being removed. Using the example you provide, the placeholder would still exist after removing the img element and its two nearest ancestors. If removing its three nearest ancestors, the headline associated with the image would be removed.

Bottomline, use cosmetic filters if your customizations lead to unwanted placeholders.

[ghost]

Understandable!

[freezer2022]

Besides, Dynamic filtering blocking basically works on a network level, not on a DOM/cosmetic level, therefore the user should not "blindly" expect that it will magically hide all the remaining DOM placeholders/whitespace on its own in all cases.

As per: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Does-uBlock-Origin-block-ads-or-just-hide-them%3F in case of image network blocking, it additionaly collapses the associated image's DOM counterpart, but that's all, trying to be too smart would cause too much wrong hiding and and too many breakages due to almost infinite number of DOM configurations.