Add option to automatically remove 'www' prefix from GUI-made rules

[ro-i]

Prerequisites

• I verified that this is not a filter issue
  • Filter issues MUST be reported at filter issue tracker
• This is not a support issue or a question
  • Support issues and questions are handled at /r/uBlockOrigin
• I performed a cursory search of the issue tracker to avoid opening a duplicate issue
  • Your issue may already be reported.
• I tried to reproduce the issue when...
  • uBlock Origin is the only extension
  • uBlock Origin with default lists/settings
  • using a new, unmodified browser profile
• I am running the latest version of uBlock Origin
• I checked the documentation to understand that the issue I report is not a normal behavior

Description

I would like to suggest to add an option (maybe to the settings pane of the dashboard) so that the 'www' prefix gets automatically removed from a rule the user added per GUI. (I know that everything is possible using the text-based rule syntax, but not all of my users want to use them.)
Example: If one likes to allow javascript on the site www.example.org, one often wants it to be enabled for login.example.org, too.

A specific URL where the issue occurs

https://www.orange.fr

Steps to Reproduce

1. Go to site
2. Enable Javascript and 3p stuff
3. Go to login
4. Be redirected to https://login.orange.fr
5. Need to enable Javascript and other stuff again

Expected behavior:

If one enables Javascript or other stuff per GUI for www.example.org, those settings should be effective for example.org (without www). This behaviour should be adjustable in the settings.

Actual behavior:

One needs to enable settings for every single subdomain of a site.

Your environment

• uBlock Origin version: uBlock Origin v1.30.0
• Browser Name and version: Firefox 81.0 (64-bit)
• Operating System and version: Fedora 32

[yourduskquibbles]

Quasi-related open issue from old issue tracker: gorhill/uBlock#2035

[yourduskquibbles]

Maybe not quite a dupe though since this is about enable/disable options on popup panel vs creating rules through element picker?

[gorhill]

Right, never mind, read to fast.

[uBlock-user]

Duplicate of gorhill/uBlock#2035

[gorhill]

Not a duplicate, one concerns the picker while the other concerns rule-making -- it's not the same code involved. However, issue #1018 could be considered a duplicate of gorhill/uBlock#2035.

[robmonte]

Just thought I'd chime in on this enhancement request since I frequently check back to see if there's ever an update on it.

I think this enhancement is potentially one of the biggest hurdles to using medium mode for a lot of semi-casual/semi-competent users. Of course I don't have any real data on this, but it's a hunch based on my own experiences with friends & family I try to push towards using medium mode. Every single one of them have found it exhausting to control individual subdomains.

I am a medium mode user myself, and I understand that I control each subdomain with separate rules. I like it too. On some sites when I know I want all subdomains to follow the same rules as the root domain, I go into the rule list to manually remove the subdomain from the URL. Easy enough. But I think for the semi-casual users who want to delve a little into having more control, it can be very tedious to have to keep changing rule settings any time a website redirects through an alternate subdomain. Enough to turn them off from it entirely.

I think a simple toggle, right next to toggles like cosmetic filtering and javascript, that switches between controlling the specific subdomain or the root domain, would vastly improve the usability of medium mode for a lot of people.

[u-RraaLL]

I think a simple toggle, right next to toggles like cosmetic filtering and javascript, that switches between controlling the specific subdomain or the root domain, would vastly improve the usability of medium mode for a lot of people.

There's not enough space for another button, especially not on mobile. Besides, making this a per site toggle would probably cause too much confusion. A global setting would be simpler fer regular users.

[robmonte]

There's not enough space for another button, especially not on mobile. Besides, making this a per site toggle would probably cause too much confusion. A global setting would be simpler fer regular users.

That may be the case too. Personally I think a per-site toggle with a global default is better, just like how the Javascript toggle works. Then the panel can just be adjusted to accommodate the button (second row/wider/etc). But I'm not committed to the idea, the more important thing was just starting a discussion about this first.

[cole-k]

I also have this issue, although I agree with the previous discussion that this doesn't warrant its own button.

I have two suggestions: both would be advanced features, since I don't see normal users needing this kind of customization.

1. A feature that when enabled, causes (double?) tapping/clicking the URL in the blocker to switch block toggles to the entire domain. For example, in the screenshot below (ignore that it's an old UI) clicking spectrum.ieee.org would change it to ieee.org. Clicking again toggles back.
   
   If you enable noscript while it shows ieee.org, it would make the rule no-scripting: ieee.org true instead of no-scripting: spectrum.ieee.org. The block toggles would also visually update to indicate whether they are active/inactive, e.g. if noscript is enabled for spectrum.ieee.org but not for ieee.org, the UI would toggle the state of the noscript element to reflect this when the URL is toggled.
2. A feature that when enabled, causes overrides from the GUI to apply to the entire domain instead of the subdomain. This could be accompanied with the ability to import lists for which domains should have their subdomains be treated separately. https://publicsuffix.org would be a good default, although it doesn't solve the maps.google.com and mail.google.com issue.

In both cases, it should be made clear to the end-user that their override applies to only the subdomain vs the entire domain; I'm not entirely too sure how to accomplish this clearly. Some thoughts I had were to use a color to indicate the change, make it explicitly indicate all subdomains will be filtered by writing*.ieee.org, or have the text All subdomains on ieee.org. After thinking about it some more, it seems like this should be an advanced feature, in which case the UX considerations may be less stringent.

These suggestions are not necessarily mutually exclusive. You could use the domain list from 2. to inform whether the GUI by default will show the whole domain versus the subdomain in 1.

I would be willing to do (or at least try) the implementation devwork if this sounds like a good idea.