Image Load Control is a browser extension for Mozilla's Firefox web browser to block the loading of images on sites. The extension includes blacklist/whitelist functionality to block or allow the loading on select sites.
Firefox includes native options to disable the loading of images on sites. Downside to using it is that it works globally only, meaning that it is either turned on or off, and that it is controlled by a preference, which means that it is not easily changed. Firefox did include a front-facing setting once to toggle the loading of images for sites, but Mozilla did remove it.
To use it, Firefox users need to change the preference permissions.default.image; this can be done by loading about:config the browser's address bar.
A value of 1 is the default and means that Firefox will load all images. A value of 2 blocks the loading of all images, a value of 3 only the loading of third-party images.
Image Load Control adds granularity to the image blocking functionality. Instead of using an all-or-nothing approach, it is allowing users to set the loading of images per origin. You could block the loading of all images on image-heavy sites to speed up the loading, block images on all sites but select sites, or block images on sites that may post inappropriate images.
The extension blocks the loading of all images on all sites by default. Once installed, it works automatically on all sites that get loaded or reloaded in Firefox.
Image Load Control adds an icon to Firefox's address bar; this icon controls the loading behavior of images. Click on the icon to toggle the functionality, i.e. from blocking to allowing, or allowing to blocking.
No other controls are available. The extension keeps records of all changes that you make to the blocking behavior, but you can't access the list or add sites to it manually.
Other browsers
Other browsers do include options to block the loading of images on sites. Google Chrome has such an option in the browser's site settings. A click on a site's icon in front of the address and the selection off Site Settings opens these. There you find an option to block "images" from loading on the site in question.
Vivaldi tops this with a toggle on its bottom toolbar to allow or disable the loading of images or animations in the web browser.
Closing Words
Blocking images used to be a good solution back in the days of dial-up Internet connections to speed up the loading of sites. Whether it had something to do with the widespread use of animated images on web pages during that time is not clear, but these may have played a role.
The Firefox add-on does a good job, but it needs a toggle to set the global option to allowing by default. As it stands, it does block the loading on all sites unless you allow a site to load images.
Now You: do you block images on certain sites, or have done so in the past?
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