[thelist] Holy Status Bar Batman

Jeff Howden jeff at jeffhowden.com
Wed Aug 3 18:24:04 CDT 2005


Sam,

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> From: Sam Carter
> 
> <a href="#" onClick="window.open( 
>        'Engine.htm?xmlUrl=../toc.xml+environment=development'
>      , 'name'
>      ,
'fullscreen=no,location=no,menubar=no,resizable=no,status=no,toobar=no'
>      );">Click Here to Launch</a>
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I know that some others on this list that I expected to chime in whinging
about your use of JavaScript have already complained about the code snippet
above that you posted.

You probably already know that the # is the wrong value to use *ever* for
the href attribute.  You may also know that "onClick" really should be
"onclick" (note the case).  You probably also know that abstracting a call
like this to a function would be more appropriate for a number of reasons.
You may even know that moving the link to be used in the open() method
really should be moved to the href attribute.  All that aside, what you may
not know is that all the items in the third argument of the open() method
that have a value of no don't have to be included in the third argument.
Instead, just omit them and they'll automatically be turned off, provided
the user's browser, the user's window settings, and the security context
your site is running in all allow them to be turned off.

You (and the people at the place where you work who are mandating popups)
should read this:

Links & JavaScript Living Together in Harmony
http://www.jeffhowden.com/articles/links_and_javascript/

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> Some IE 6.0 browsers occasionally leave the status bar
> present at the bottom... covering the navigation links
> at the bottom (this is a major issue).  This problem
> is intermittent, but not too rare (2 of 6 workstations
> show this problem occasionally).
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This all depends on what version of windows, what service pack is installed,
and what zone your site is running in.  If they're running XP with SP2 and
your site isn't in the Trusted Zone, then you won't be able to turn off the
status bar.

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> A fair amount of other JS executes within the launched
> window, (unfortunately, I don't have access to that
> script), but I believe once a window is launched without
> a status bar, enabling the status bar is not supposed
> to be an option. [...]
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It's not.

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> [...] For example, I can see the window is relocated to
> coordinates (0,0) after the launch, so there is some 
> behind-the-scene JS doing the window move.
><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><

Ewwwww.  No offense, but moving the window to the top left just shows that
the people scripting these popups know absolutely nothing about their users.
You really shouldn't be moving the window, but if you "have" to, you should
be moving it to the center of the window.

 [>] Jeff Howden
     jeff at jeffhowden.com
     http://jeffhowden.com/



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