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we use a few different methods to open new windows to display dynamically generated PDF's... target="_blank" and window.open
and got a message from a user that stated he refuses to "cripple" his computer to allow popups from our site...
what in the hell has this world come to... "oh my god.. popups.... shut down, shut down..." chill teh f*** out... its not the end of the world...
im tired of all these technophoic users who think that every little piece of the web that they dont understand is a monster....
you pop up haters need to get back..
Uninvited pop-ups are no different to a total stranger poking his head through your window and asking you buy his cr*p.
If you like that, fine, but I and many others, reserve the right to reach for a 14lb sledge hammer. Or the technological equivalent.
If you want happy visitors who will (presumably) give you money, then it's time you considered their tastes, regardless of how anti-social your tastes may be.
As it happens, I deal with many sites that use pop-ups for legitimate business purposes, and they have all been set up to provide their services without abusing me.
You need to learn better ways of indulging your obsession - without scaring away customers.
It's entirely possible, I promise you.
thats like me going to the Verizon site which i pay for services on a monthly basis and saying... "oh no, verizon has pop ups, they are up to something evil"...
ridiculous. the pop up is to display a dynamic PDF for the viewer to print and/or read without having to completley leave our site or hit the back button.
how is that crippling his computer?
It is probably worth investigating to see if other visitors feel the same way.
they enter critera into a search form, which dynamically generates a form in a new window via:
'Run crystal report passing criteria params
ResponseHelper.Redirect("prov_dir_display_results.aspx", "_blank", "")
I advise clients to include a small notice next to the click-point (will display in a second window) so as not to surprise the new visitor, and let them know that they may need to approve the new window depending on their pop-up blocking apps.
got a message from a user that stated he refuses to "cripple" his computer to allow popups from our site...
Fuggedaboutit ;)
IMO someone that blocks every popup, even from sites they use frequently, is going to end up frustrated soon enough and reconsider.
I agree with ted's "pre-warning" advice, and if a popup is blocked (but javascript is enabled), it's possible to give the user some useful feedback about why the window may not have opened.
IMO, your complainant is a customer service issue - he needs to be convinced that this popup is of use to him.
tell me one good reason to block pop ups from a legitimate website of a company that you pay on a monthly basis for our services...
Some people just lump popups as "bad" and have them all blocked. You need to weigh if your current setup is worth that risk.
thats like me going to the Verizon site which i pay for services on a monthly basis and saying... "oh no, verizon has pop ups, they are up to something evil"...
I'm confused here...are you trying to convince us that popups are great? It really doesn't matter what my opinion is...or yours for that matter. The only opinion that matters are your visitors.
ridiculous. the pop up is to display a dynamic PDF for the viewer to print and/or read without having to completley leave our site or hit the back button.
I've seen sites do it both ways. Neither bother me much, but people are used to hitting the back button. Most people will prefer to not add another tab or browser to view a page. In some cases though, this is unavoidable.
how is that crippling his computer?
Obviously it's not. But people will lump good popups in with the majority of bad ones...even I cringe a little when sites use window.open.
Either ignore his advice or do something about it, but trying to convince us that he's crazy doesn't make a lot of sense. Do what you think is best for the majority of your customers...the important thing to find out is if he's part of the majority or just an outlier.
[edited by: StoutFiles at 11:25 pm (utc) on Dec. 2, 2008]
no i wasnt trying to convice you pop ups were good or bad...
i was trying to convey that a customer claimed that he had to "cripple" his computer to get the information he needed from out site and it was a ridiculous claim.
my verizon point was, why would this person think we want them to "cripple" their computer when they pay a state wide company for services we provide... uhhh yeah thats our mission to have everyone disable pop ups so we can infultrate your systems.
i just get tired of people taking technology waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to seriously... LIKE TYPING IN CAPS... big deal... if you can actually hear me shouting you have a deeper issue.
i will in fact take into consideration all aspects of this issue, but the majority will remain in tact. and considering this is the only actual compaint we have received in 2 years, he might be SOOL
"cripple"
Usually, it works fine so long as you warn:
LINK (PDF - Opens in pop up window)
You have to be really clear what it's going to do. People hate surprises.
That's the reality of the web, and we all (users and webmasters alike) have to deal with it. Designing a site that depends on popups to function correctly is, pure and simply, designing a site that won't function for many people: just like ignoring web standards and coding for the Internet-Explorer-bugset-du-jour, or coding a site that won't work without gratuitous Flash navigation.
The other reality of the net is: surfers see a lot of sites that were designed to work on the webmaster's machine, rather than on the net. Most of the time we just blow them off: very rarely do we bother to tell the webmaster why his site isn't worth the trouble of figuring out whether it's worth the trouble of modifying the security that we're comfortable with.
My recommendation is to climb off of your high horse, recognize that by forcing people to turn popups on you're enabling the advertising scum of the internet to harass your visitors even after they've left your site, and redesign the site so it doesn't require popups.
Or, if that's too much work, at least warn your visitors up front that the site won't work without popups, so surfers can leave quickly without getting frustrated.
There are lots of good sites that work fine without popups. The many surfers who don't like them can probably get along fine without them--and without your site. And they have that choice.
But, for that matter, you can probably get along fine without 20% of your potential visitors. And YOU have THAT choice.
So I don't see your media presentations and half of your menus and Google analytics doesn't track me very well (it's scary how many sites use GA). And most of the time I don't even notice if there's a popup. Many sites have all these little areas that I have to click on if I want to see whatever advertisement is supposed to go there - and trust me, I don't bother.
In some very rare occassions I will allow a popup or turn on javascript. Most times though I just shrug and leave the site. I know that's harsh and out of the ordinary, but it's what I do. I can and do take my money elsewhere.
See, my attitude is not that a popup is the end of the world. It's just that I really am disinterested if some web programmer decided that I had to have popups turned on in order to do business with you. I kinda look at it like they don't have a clue as to what they're doing. Plus it's actually easier for me to go elsewhere than it is to turn on popups one time or enable javascript. Particularly when I'm not a fan of either.
I don't disagree that getting all excited about typing in caps is a bit of a funny thing to be offended about, but people do. They actually react to caps as if you're shouting. They *feel* you shouting.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
Pop-up blockers were developed and added to browsers for a reason. They are annoying as hell. While your site might be 'legitimate' and use them the correct way, other sites which 'look' to be 'legitimate' abuse them in numerous ways often times making it nearly impossible to close them all.
I keep pop-ups blocked. I choose when to temporarily enable them on a case by case basis when I notice the browser has blocked a pop-up.
As far as the guy having to 'cripple' his machine, I think I'd tell him to get a new machine or find an internet cafe when he needs to do business with you.
If the file is of any size I would explicitly warn of the file size as well as it opening in a new window.
The lay user encounters the worst kind of annoying pop-ups on a more frequent basis, has less of an understanding of "good neighborhoods" and "bad neighborhoods" and lacks the tools or experience to control the pop-ups they will encounter.
We have to make up for that by being extra sensitive* about how we use pop-ups (and even inline pop-ups since some users won't make the distinction).
*Forgive me for using the word sensitive, if you're :::ahem:: sensitive about that word. ;)
PS: to the OP, ALL CAPS POSTS are very annoying to others however, and when I see one of those, I just disregard it, as I feel it's more difficult to read and I assume the poster is some egoistical guy who thinks his post is more important than others or some tech newbie who can't figure out how to use the caps lock key. In either case, not worth reading.
About crippling his computer - his language is strong but his sentiment is right on the money. If using your site would require him to disable his popup blocker then it does mean he is degrading his browsing system just because of your poor UI.
The worst popups of all are those embedded within Flash. Flash designers need to realise that 100% of popups launched from Flash are blocked, and in most instances to see them would require allowing popups for the entire domain (not just allowing through the one instance this one time).
Do you guys consider links with target="_blank" to be pop up windows too?
I consider it to be depreciated (as that is what it is...)
Do you mean "deprecated"? It still validates for me...
deprecated- yes that's what I meant to type. The target attribute was deprecated in HTML 4.01 - if you are still able to validate it you must be using an old DOCTYPE.
The target attribute was deprecated in HTML 4.01 - if you are still able to validate it you must be using an old DOCTYPE.
I use XHTML 1.0 transitional. Is there an equivalent to target="_blank" that validates for strict doctypes?
As for making informational pop-ups more friendly to the advanced use who prefers to have javascript turned off, I find that this code helps:
<a href="popup-page.html" onclick="popUpFunction('popup-page.html');return false;">link</a>
The link still works in a "same window" fashion if javascript is turned off.
<a href="popup-page.html" onclick="popUpFunction([b]this.href[/b]);return false;">link</a>
In Firefox it just opens a new tab which is even better.
Glad I don't have your crabby visitors!
