SIGIA-L Mail Archives: Re: SIGIA-L: How users react to pop-up w
Re: SIGIA-L: How users react to pop-up windows
From: Rebecca Davis (rebeccalynnedavis_at_hotmail.com)
Date: Wed Feb 07 2001 - 11:42:56 EST
I think we need to make a distinction between different kinds of popups. The
article you sent was about advertisements. However, I'd be interested in
what people think about functional popups (wizards).
A functional popup enables a user to complete a specific task and:
* Not lose their context (the page they came from never goes away)
* Not be distracted by other navigation - while they're in the popup wizard
(be it a one-step or multi-step wizard), they aren't confused by other items
typically on the page, since they are constrained to only what is in the
popup
* Related to above point: Have clear action - either Save or Cancel
Popups are a surprisingly political issue where I work. We wrestle a lot
with whether or not we should keep our actions in pop up wizards or just
have page refreshes. We have the popups for the reasons cited above but have
the following concerns:
* Severe conflicts with AOL browsers (this is an issue for our audience)
* Appears too "technical"
* Goes against format of many typical sites such as Yahoo!
* Not part of our discussions, but an interesting point in the article Amy
passed on - that vision-impaired people rely on the large headers at the top
of the page and are thrown by the visual clutter of popups. I think in my
case, specifically, this isn't an issue, however, since we put a large title
on our popups and they dominate the screen with their size.
I'd welcome your guys' thoughts on this topic - the use of popups for
functional purposes as opposed to advertising.
Thanks!
>From: Amy.Belanger_at_kohls.com
>To: sigia-l-digest_at_asis.slis.indiana.edu
>Subject: Re: SIGIA-L: How users react to pop-up windows
>Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2001 09:04:19 -0600
>
>Interesting article on the hatred of pop-ups, posted to WAI-IG list today.
>Hope this helps your fight against pop-ups. It mentions the negative effect
>they have on the disabled using the net, as well as some software out there
>to prevent pop-ups.
>
>http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-4719798.html
>
>Lucie Melahn <lucie_at_cloud9.net> wrote:
>
> >>The trouble is, I can't seem to find any documentation for what I assume
>to
> >>be universal hatred of little windows.
>
>Amy
>
>Amy Belanger
>
>Web Usability Designer
>Kohl's Department Stores
>
>
>
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2
: Sun Nov 23 2003 - 22:54:30 EST
|
