Pop-Up Killers

How does one get info on their design

[MrDolphin]

I just joined WebmasterWorld and I think its great, Wish I would
have found it sooner!

That being said, I have had some problems lately with
users complaining about spawned windows (pop-ups)
not coming up and I suspect its the new AOL and/or
popup killers. I have looked around a bit but I cannot
seem to find any definitive info on how to program around
these things and allow the user to experience the
site. (I'd hate to have to resort to frames, being a devout anti-frame bigot)

Anyway if anyone has any scoop on the poop of these,
I would greatly appreciate it if you'd share the info

-The Water Mammal

[rcjordan]

>program around

I think you're in for some bad news (tedster is still in denial, heh!):

for starters, check out thread and the one referenced in it
[webmasterworld.com...]

[awcabot]

I like pop-up blockers. If I new how to get around them, I certainly would not say so.

Come up with a better business model to generate revenue from your site.

[rcjordan]

The problem is that pop-ups are very handy for informational sites, particularly those that need glossaries or deeper instructions. For instance, airline ticketing sites (and many other types shopping carts) depend heavily on pop-ups and, imho, they're more intuitive and offer a better UI than secondary pages would provide.

[tedster]

> tedster is still in denial, heh!

You bet, rc. But you know I don't use automatic onLoad or onUnload stuff - just links with an onClick script. And as long as the returns and pageviews look good, and the clients keep getting results, then I'm sticking to my guns!

Most of the utilities I've tested are not blocking pop-ups that only launch onClick, with the notable exception of Panicware which you, rc, were so kind to point out to me ;)

<added>
Even PanicWare now has an easy toggle for the user in case they hit a link they want to use on an informational site.
</added>

[graywolf]

If you have the AOL pop-up blocker on it's very easy to miss. The sound is very low and the visual notification is very small. My user base is very non technical.

I have removed all of the mission critical ones from my site, and plan to have all of them removed by 4th quarter of this year.

[edited by: graywolf at 8:05 pm (utc) on May 7, 2003]

[rcjordan]

> it's very easy to miss

Panicware's is easy to toggle, yes, but also easy to overlook. I'm usually half-way into a shopping cart and have hit a (seemingly) dead link before I remember to deactivate it.

[MrDolphin]

Thanks for the posts guys, I think I figured out a way around all this nonsense.

I'm really not using "popups" for ads or revenue, I am using them for delivering:

1) streaming media content.
2) informational content.

Perish the thought of using the OnLoad or unLoad events.

The problem was that I was using the Javascript
window.open method which is blocked by the zonealarm pro
and some other popup blockers. (Hats off to Tedster for posting that info in another thread.)

I simply switched to using target="_blank" in the link tag.
<a href="popup_page.html" target="_blank">

I can't remove the scrollbars and such from the new window,
but I stopped getting complaints from users about not being
able to access the content.

Using the window.resizeTo() method in the linked document
I can make the window looks pretty much like I want it to,
sizewise anyway.

The Water Mammal
(No other useful Porpoise)

[edited by: MrDolphin at 9:45 pm (utc) on May 7, 2003]

[tedster]

It might be useful here to show the approach I use, which does deliver the content in spite of many pop-up blocker apps.

<a href="page.htm" onClick="popUp('page.html');return false;">Link</a>

Many pop-up blockers will either:

1. Allow the clicked link to work
2. Open the "vanilla" HTML link instead

The "return false" part of the code keeps the original page from changing if the popUp() function does execute. But beware - Panicware kills the whole link.

[MrDolphin]

Ted, I could have used that method as well but its essential that the content open up in a new browser window; thats why I went this way.

It's either this or use ....gag.....Frames......choke.....

-The Slippery Wet One