[thelist] Java - pop-ups...Why?

Chris W. Parker cparker at swatgear.com
Wed Jan 22 12:26:01 CST 2003


Melissa Read <mailto:read at drsfostersmith.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> What are opinions about using pop-up windows to display 'more
> information' type info? Is the trend going towards more
> linear usage & just using the same browser window instead of pop-ups?

/i/ don't mind popups (informative popups that is). i know some people
hate all kinds of popups including new windows. i find this strange and
a bit masochist, but what do i know? ;)

> Are there any stats out there about who disables java on
> their computers? I've found 10% to be a number, but I don't
> know if it is accurate. Is that number going up or down?

the only stats you need are the stats that come from your site. the
site(s) you work on could have a drastic difference in the amount of
people that disable/dislike popups. siteA could have 1%, but siteB could
have 60%. this is an average of 30.5% which in one case (siteA) is
significantly higher than the truth, and in another case (siteB)
significantly lower.

in other words, general stat averages are not a good thing to go by.

> We use pop-ups a lot on our site & some people want to be rid
> of them because not everybody can use them...Others want them
> all over because we have lots of additional information we
> want to display & sell sell sell...I want to figure out what is best
> for our customers.

who do you mean by "some people" and who do you mean by "others"? are
these customers or are these people who work with the site? if they are
customers you should probably get rid of the popups since not being able
to use the site because of popups is a greater evil than causing some
users distress over not using popups.

> I've found, up til now, many non-net savy  customers get
> confused with the pop-ups & I'd like to go for a more linear
> approach so people would never lose our site.

hey look at that. problem solved. no more popups for you!

at my place of work, most of our people like popups and new windows
(which i am pleased with) so that makes it sort of easy for me.

hope that helps.

chris.

p.s. i believe you mean javascript and not java. they are two separate
technologies. and no java is not short for javascript.



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