Extreme is a data saver, designed to be used as a tool to reduce the data usage of Chrome using extreme maneuvers, like Opera mini but in different ways. It mainly uses content blocking (which may reduce the browsing experience), but also uses data saving request header, and some customizations for user experience. It is not an ad blocker or a content blocker. Although it works in a similar fashion, everything is seen and implemented from a data saving perspective.
The biggest offenders to data I've noticed are:
- Images
- Media
- Scripts
- Fonts
According to a report from
httparchive, they account for
75% to 94% of the average page weight and thus are the focus of this
extension. By default, the extension blocks all of these things from any site
with the URL scheme of http:// or https://. But what is blocked can be
customized on a host name basis (like https://www.google.com). A more
granular approach could be implemented but since almost all sites implement
their styles universally across their host name, it would be unnecessary load
on the browser.
Some sites may use less data if the headers of the requests contain the
Save-Data: on directive. This extension adds it to every request to increase
the amount of data saved.
There are two stages of unblocking the items.
If the page relies on some part (example: JS scripts) and you want to load the JS for just one time, you can click on the icon of the extension on the extensions toolbar. This brings some options and you can check what you want downloaded and click 'Apply'. This is only for the lifetime of the tab, until the extension is turned off from the popup, or until 'Apply' is clicked for another domain.
If you want a site to always load with some items, you can check what you want to be loaded and click save. This will save your configuration in the Custom list tab, and will use it for future page loads.