Fandom Fails

With all the shows, movies, and video games we love, there is a need for a definitive resource on them. Sadly, the cost of hosting your own wiki has caused Fandom to become the centralized source of almost all media related wikis.

This would be great if they actually delivered a viable product. However, the plethora of ads, popups, and distracting UI distracts from the most important part, the content.

I applaud any game or media community that decides to host their own wiki instead. Places like Bulbapedia, Fire Emblem Wiki, and Stardew Valley Wiki deserve our support. (Also see the Nintendo Independent Wiki Alliance for more suggestions!)

Additionally, Breeze Wiki provides a privacy friendly frontend for Fandom that I might switch to soon. Let me know if you want me to go over the frontends I use and the Redirector (Chrome, Firefox) extension in another article.

However, we still need a way to access content on Fandom while minimizing the downsides. Enter UBlock Origin (Chrome, Firefox), also known as the extension you probably already have and if you do not already have it you should already have it and need to install it right now! UBlock Origin already block some of the annoying ads and popups but we can customize it even more! I’ve seen other UBlock Origin scripts for Fandom but they never went far enough for me.

I went through each of the popups I wanted to block and added them to the custom filters list in UBlock Origin. I was also able to customize the CSS to remove the annoying sidebar and make the content maximized in the screen. This does mean that you cannot search other Fandom wikis from the current wiki you are on and you need to use the top search bar. However, this is not an issue for me since I am generally on a Fandom wiki for a specific game.

Below is the UBlock Origin filter script for you to use.

  fandom.com##.WikiaRail.right-rail-wrapper
  fandom.com##.page__right-rail
  fandom.com##.global-footer
  fandom.com##.unified-search__layout__right-rail
  fandom.com###mixed-content-footer
  fandom.com##.global-navigation__bottom
  fandom.com##.global-navigation__logo
  fandom.com##.global-navigation__links
  fandom.com##.WikiaBarWrapper
  fandom.com##.fandom-sticky-header
  fandom.com##.render-wiki-recommendations
  fandom.com##.global-navigation
  fandom.com##.top-ads-container
  fandom.com##.ph-registration-buttons
  fandom.com##.main-container:style(margin-left: 0px !important; width: 100% !important;)
  fandom.com##.community-header-wrapper:style(height: 100px !important;)
  fandom.com##.fandom-community-header:style(padding: 0px 0px !important;)
  fandom.com##.resizable-container:style(max-width: 100% !important; width: 95% !important;)

I tried cleaning up the classes and ids that were blocked. The interesting part is the CSS styling. In UBlock Origin filters you can add styling! Just select the element like normal then add :style() with the style properties you want. You need to make sure to add !important afterwards to make it apply.

I analyzed how the maximize button on Fandom worked and changed the page so it was maximized by default! Removing all the junk also made the scrolling not lag!

Please try it out and let me know what you think!