I noticed this subject comes up a lot, from people complaining about the speed/performance of YouTube and Flash to people switching to newer hardware just because of issues with embedded Flash. I thought I'd offer a few tricks as I'm not sure if everyone know them.
First trick: http://www.m.youtube.com/
This is the mobile YouTube website. It's used primarily by mobile devices with QuickTime support, largely iPhone/iPod Touch users although I wouldn't be surprised if there are other uses for it. Anyways, it's become my primary method for accessing the site. All the videos are QT format, and most are available in Standard and High quality, although even High is only about 320x240 resolution. If you don't have any third party programs set up, the videos will launch QT Player and stream through there. For reference, my iBook can play back the High Quality setting, so just about anything that runs OS X should be able to handle this. It's also a good option for anyone without modern browser support (so if you're running Panther or earlier).
Second Trick: http://clicktoflash.com/
This little plugin only works in Safari 3 and 4, but it prevents all rogue Flash portals from loading. So this includes everything, including primary website content, but also includes ads, which are increasingly relying on Flash, slowing down the browsing experience significantly on older machines. If you need to use the Flash that the plugin is blocking, just click the place-marker, and it will load the applet.
Using both of these tricks, my iBook is a capable internet browser, if not all that quick. Also worth a mention because I didn't think about it until today, if you use the Zoom function in reverse, you can fit more on screen on resolution challenged Macs like the iBook. By zooming out one level below Normal, I get the same amount of content on screen as I would if I were using a 1024x768 screen (the Clamshell gets by with an 800x600).
Just thought I'd share! Sorry if this is old news. 🙂
First trick: http://www.m.youtube.com/
This is the mobile YouTube website. It's used primarily by mobile devices with QuickTime support, largely iPhone/iPod Touch users although I wouldn't be surprised if there are other uses for it. Anyways, it's become my primary method for accessing the site. All the videos are QT format, and most are available in Standard and High quality, although even High is only about 320x240 resolution. If you don't have any third party programs set up, the videos will launch QT Player and stream through there. For reference, my iBook can play back the High Quality setting, so just about anything that runs OS X should be able to handle this. It's also a good option for anyone without modern browser support (so if you're running Panther or earlier).
Second Trick: http://clicktoflash.com/
This little plugin only works in Safari 3 and 4, but it prevents all rogue Flash portals from loading. So this includes everything, including primary website content, but also includes ads, which are increasingly relying on Flash, slowing down the browsing experience significantly on older machines. If you need to use the Flash that the plugin is blocking, just click the place-marker, and it will load the applet.
Using both of these tricks, my iBook is a capable internet browser, if not all that quick. Also worth a mention because I didn't think about it until today, if you use the Zoom function in reverse, you can fit more on screen on resolution challenged Macs like the iBook. By zooming out one level below Normal, I get the same amount of content on screen as I would if I were using a 1024x768 screen (the Clamshell gets by with an 800x600).
Just thought I'd share! Sorry if this is old news. 🙂
