Disabling refresh on Google News

[twilson]

Google News (http://news.google.com) refreshes itself every 900 seconds, apparently using Javascript, since when I disable Javascript globally it stops refreshing. I would like to disable this one particular behavior without affecting other uses of Javascript on the page (such as Fast Flip), if possible, although to get rid of the refresh I would gladly sacrifice them. Is it possible to discover which of the scripts is responsible for the refresh and disable only that one? If not, can I disable all scripts on news.google.com without affecting google.com? The documentation seemed to suggest that this wasn't possible.

[therube]

Code: Select all

<noscript><meta http-equiv="refresh" content="900"></noscript>

NoScript has an Advanced | Forbid META redirections insice <NOSCRIPT> elements, so that should do it - though it is a global setting, not per domain.

Mozilla has a accessibility.blockautorefresh that also should work, but that too is global.


Related: Refresher: META redirects & Aviv (though actually two different topics going on)

[twilson]

Concerning the META redirection inside <NOSCRIPT>, my understanding was that the browser (here, FF) would only act on these declarations when JavaScript was (either unavailable or) disabled completely. But NoScript asks that JavaScript not be disabled. Also, NoScript's "Forbid META redirections" option is available only for Untrusted sites, but that was another part of my question: how can I make news.google.com untrusted without affecting google.com?

[therube]

NoScript's "Forbid META redirections" option is available only for Untrusted sites

The interface is confusing in that respect, but it affects all sites, trusted or not.

[twilson]

OK, thanks -- that answers one of my questions. But there are several others I'd still like an answer to:

• When, exactly, are <NOSCRIPT> tags executed when using FF with the NoScript add-on enabled? The documentation says not to disable JavaScript when using NoScript, so it's not clear when these tags will be headed, if at all.
• Is it possible to disable scripts selectively on a page, or must you disable all or none of them?
• Is it possible to disable scripts on a subdomain (such as news.google.com) without disabling them on the domain itself (such as google.com) and all of its other subdomains (such as maps.google.com)?