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: Lucie Melahn (lucie_at_cloud9.net)
Date: Thu Feb 08 2001 - 11:54:25 EST
Hi Ed,
I totally agree with your reasoning. After reading this discussion, it's
clear to me that pop-up windows are not *automatically* bad, but more
importantly, they are not necessarily the best solution, either.
just to show how unpredictable clients can be, however, this line of
reasoning doesn't seem to work on her. My first reaction when I heard her
idea was YUCK! pop up windows!, although of course I didn't say that. what
I did say was, "well, I don't know, there may be browser compatibility
problems." but since this is an extranet, the client has defined a list of
system specs for their users, which includes 4.0 browsers or above (and AOL
is not supported at all). Drat. OK. My second thought was, What a dumb
idea! I would be so annoyed if a window popped up as a navigation tool!.
What I said was, "I'm not sure a pop up window is really the best solution
here." And I proceeded along the lines of your reasoning, saying that a
pop-up window wasn't really adding anything to the experience in this case.
well, guess what? she didn't agree. I guess she's just too attached to her
"alternative navigation" as she calls it. The only arguments that have
seemed at all compelling with this PM have been technical/usability issues.
So that is what I'm dwelling on.
by the way... the PM asked if we would provide some alternatives to the pop
up windows, so I appreciate your ideas!
At 07:57 PM 2/7/01 -0500, Ed Guttman wrote:
>I'm not sure that looking for usability evidence is the path that you should
>take to try and change this PM's mind. It is true that there are some
>circumstances that *do* call for popups, and everyone who wants to use one
>thinks that theirs is one of those circumstances.
>
>I think that the real question might be to wonder exactly what potential
>benefit this popup provides to the user. If I understand your description,
>all that is happening is that the user is following a path called
>"Solutions" through the site, and that they might need to pogo-stick in this
>section a bit because there may be several solution types that are of
>further interest. They are not viewing links that will take them off-site,
>nor does this represent a separate or supplementary workflow or reference
>(such as a dialog box, or a tip). This is straightforward navigation and
>sub-navigation.
>
>As such, all you need to do is provide easy links to the whole solution list
>from all of the solution info pages. This could be done using a popup menu
>(dhtml, javascript, html, whatever...), or an ever-present list of solutions
>on the page.
>
>The only thing I can think of that would complicate this further, is if each
>solution in the list has a brief description that you wish viewers to be
>able to read prior to diving down to the solution info page. If this is the
>case, then you could have a solutions overview page, which lists all the
>solutions along with their brief descriptions, and from which you could link
>to the info pages. On the info pages, you would then provide a shortcut
>popup menu that allows you to jump to any other solution, as well as a link
>back to the overview page (possibly via the global nav). This way, people
>can get all the brief descriptions front-loaded, then get the details
>without having to pogo-stick back to that overview page.
>
>Hope this helps.
>
>-Ed
>______________________________________________________________
>Edward Guttman V I A N T eguttman_at_viant.com 212 271 7849
>
> > From: Lucie Melahn <lucie_at_cloud9.net>
> > Date: Mon, 05 Feb 2001 16:02:31 -0500
> > To: sigia-l_at_asis.org
> > Subject: SIGIA-L: How users react to pop-up windows
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > We've got a pretty big client that is maintaining a dozen different
> > projects with our firm right now. Each of the projects has a project
> > manager assigned on our sign and a PM on their side.
> >
> > One of the projects is a redesign of the client's public web site. The
> > client-side PM for this project is pretty web-savvy, and has quite the take
> > charge personality. she has pretty specific ideas about what she wants us
> > to build and how it should be done. That's not such a bad thing, but every
> > now and then she gets fixated on something that may or may not be a good
> > idea, and it can be hard to change her mind.
> >
> > prime example: like everyone else these days, the client wants the site to
> > include "solutions" areas. OK, no problem, right? the client writes up some
> > copy addressing Business Challenge XYZ, and includes a list of products
> > that can help solve it.
> >
> > so here's the snag. The PM has decided that the best way to do this is with
> > pop-up windows. The user clicks on something (say, a button that says "Our
> > Solution for Small Businesses"), a window pops up, the user scrolls or
> > pages through it, then clicks on links of product names. Clicking on the
> > link causes the main browser page to go to the info for that product.
> >
> > She is very proud of herself for having come up with this idea, but I am
> > not thrilled. Like everyone else, I cut my teeth on Jakob Nielson's Top Ten
> > Mistakes in Web Design, of which number 2 is "Opening new browser windows".
> > Now, I happen to think there are times when it *is* appropriate to open a
> > new browser window, such as when you are providing links to other sites and
> > you don't want the user to leave your own site. However, I seem to recall
> > hearing substantial anecdotal evidence that opening a small window (the
> > dreaded pop-up window) is almost always a bad thing. I've heard that users
> > just close little windows immediately, even before the content downloads,
> > because it looks like one of those ultra-annoying GeoCities ads. I
> > definitely do this myself if I have even the remotest suspicion that a
> > pop-up window is an ad.
> >
> > The trouble is, I can't seem to find any documentation for what I assume to
> > be universal hatred of little windows. My client, who is fixated on pop-up
> > windows, wants to see some studies. I've been poking around for a couple of
> > hours and can't find anything other than Jakob Nielsen's ten commandments.
> >
> > has anyone usability tested pop-up windows, or have you seen test results?
> > I'd like to be able to show my client some real data one way or another.
> >
> > thanks,
> > Lucie
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Lucie Melahn ICE Inc.
> > Information Architect 250 Park Ave South, 3rd floor
> > lucie_melahn_at_iceinc.com New York, NY 10003
> > www.iceinc.com t:212.477.4000, f:212.260.7746
> >
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