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RE: [Sigia-l] how user-initiated pop-ups affect the user experience
From: Karl Groves (kgroves_at_nasafcu.com)
> 1. Up-to-the-minute numbers on user attitudes toward
During July 2003, we placed a survey on our website to get members' impressions of our website.
Although it lacks any hard data, Sean Kenney outlines a strong case against pop-ups.
>From an accessibility standpoint, pop-ups area hideous inconvenience people on screen readers and those who use a keyboard to navigate. User-spawned pop-ups *can be* made more accessible, but mostly it is still a new window with a "Back" button that no longer works to get them back to where they are.
Pop-up blockers are definitely causing a problem with these "legitimate" new windows. We're seeing an increasing amount of complaints about our online mortgage application, which opens in a new window. Users with pop-up blockers get a blank screen and therefore cannot access the application at all. Ultimately, it is my opinion that NO NEW WINDOWS should ever be opened. We are taking steps to eliminate all new windows on this site, focusing instead on streamlining IA so that a new window is not necessary.
However, there are still instances where we need them. A lot of the things on our website were developed by others (read as: before me) or purchased by third parties. In such instances, we are beginning to make the necessary adjustments to make the new windows more user-friendly. See below my article on "A More Accessible Pop-Up Window" which explains a method to make a user-spawned window open regardless of whether the user has JavaScript enabled or not.
Additionally, I should mention another way to do this. Basically, you write the popup's link with a "document.write". Then, within your <noscript> element, you write a redundant link. This is the method we're using to fix the problem with the mortgage application.
Anyway, here's the article:
Among the many concerns of accessible design is found in "Guideline 6" of the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines:
Popups are among the items that most often violate this accessibility guideline
>From here on out, lets assume our target audience fits one of the two situations just mentioned - either they have JavaScript disabled or their browser cannot recognize JavaScript.
In the first case, using "#" as the hypertext reference will result, at best, in their being taken to the top of the page. The "#" sign is interpreted as what's known as a "Fragment Identifier Separator" ( see geekspeak at - http://www.w3.org/Addressing/URL/4_2_Fragments.html ). What this means to us is that the "#" is supposed to point somewhere, such as a named object on the page. It is not a default "Do Nothing" character. The hash symbol prepends the name of the target. So that Contact me will take you to a place on the page that is named "contact" - <a name="contact"></a>
Using just plain "#" as the hypertext reference is bad because "A void fragment-id with or without the hash sign means that the URL refers to the whole object." In most browsers, it will be interpreted as pointing back to the beginning of the page. At best, it will do nothing when clicked.
In the second case, using "javascript:;" as the hypertext reference simply does nothing. Remember, we're dealing with those who for one reason or the other can't use anything dependent upon JavaScript. So again, this link does nothing for someone whose browser does not recognize javascript.
It can be done better and work well for all
<a href="file.html" onclick="window.open('file.html', 'window_name', 'toolbar=yes, location=yes, status=yes, menubar=yes, scrollbars=yes, resizable=yes, width=xxx, height=xxx'); return false"> Open Window </a>
The above is the "accessible" method to open a popup (opening new windows is bad anyway, so I guess this is the lesser of two evils). Using the real file as the hypertext reference, but set the link to "return false" will operate properly whether the person has JavaScript enabled or not. Those without JavaScript enabled still get to the content, and those who have JavaScript get the popup as intended.
Now, here's the treat:
The use of the word "Close" might be confusing, but there are two schools of thought here.
Alternatively, you might also use the alt text attribute of a transparent spacer image: Ultimately, this comes down to what you hear me say so often: You cannot reliably predict the user or their settings. So don't try. Make it right and it will be usable to all.
Disclaimer:
Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox: The Top Ten New Mistakes of Web Design - http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990530.html
Karl L. Groves, Certified Master CIW Designer
301-249-1800 ext.497
Opinions expressed in this e-mail represent only myself and are not in any way to be taken as the words or opinions of my employer.
Searchable list archive: http://www.info-arch.org/lists/sigia-l/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.6 : Tue Feb 17 2004 - 12:54:15 EST
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