AdGuard Browser Extension v4.0: full redesign and new filtering log

Meet AdGuard Browser Extension v4.0! It’s not a mere update but a major release that delivers a pack of new features to the users of the extension.

Full redesign

The overall AdGuard Browser Extension has been redesigned — we bet you wouldn't recognize it now — but this can be seen most clearly in the filtering log. If you were using its former version, you'll be able to tell the difference: the new version presents searching in tabs, many new request statuses and filters that facilitate finding the needed requests. New filters and statuses are highlighted, and and tooltips explaining each one pop up when hovering a cursor over them. Apart from that, you can preview requests and format them in the same dialog — clicking the "Beautify" button makes it easier to read these requests.

The editor in the User rules section can now be opened in fullscreen mode, which makes working adding, editing, and deleting filter rules much more convenient. Finally, there is a new action on the AdGuard Browser Extension popup that allows to reset all the user rules for the currently opened website in one fell swoop.

Besides, now the AdGuard Browser Extension features dark theme that everybody loves so much.

Responsive design

We switched to responsive (or adaptive) design. That is to say, interface elements will adapt to screen size both on desktop and mobile devices, regardless of the model.

This is convenient both for us, because we don't need to develop separate versions of the Browser extension, and for users — it's always nice when an app (or a browser extension, in the case given) looks good.

Code refactoring and TSUrlFilter

Now let's move to a more sophisticated level. Refactoring has become sort of a buzzword that implies massive code rewriting, which we did to complicate our lives but make them easier in the long run. Besides, we added support for TSUrlFilter, our new filtering platform that implements AdGuard content blocking rules.

TSUrlFilter is a rule application module that will be used in various projects, including AdGuard DNS. Namely, it's a new filtering engine. In AdGuard apps, this role is performed by CoreLibs that you could have heard about.

Support for new modifiers after switching to TypeScript

"Still don't get what makes TSUrlFilter better than the previous filtering engine?" the most curious may ask. Probably, the main advantage is the new modifiers: $removeheader, $redirect-rule, $ping, $path, $noop, and $denyallow. And the $redirect modifier has been significantly improved, so now all the $redirect rules for a website can be cancelled by applying @@||example.org^$redirect.

Apart from the above-mentioned, Hebrew and Finnish localizations were added.
Hope you'll like the new version of AdGuard Browser Extension! As always, a complete list of changes can be seen on Github.