JavaScript Pop-ups – Good or Bad?
Having witnessed a recent discussion on the WAI Interest Group list I asked myself, are JavaScript Pop-ups good or bad (or evil)?
Conclusion
It depends. But mostly bad 
Con's
John Colby's from Birmingham City University arguments on why pop-ups are bad:
- Because people are warned about them (http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/guides/about-popups)
- Because of their association with scams, viruses, malware, sites using popups are 'less trustworthy'
- Users with sight or cognitive problems (http://soap.stanford.edu/show.php?contentid=47)
- (And personally) if they insist on using popups I'll go away.
Richard from Userite remembers us that:
...the pop-up almost certainly takes the focus away from the current window. Blind users will not know this unless you tell them AND provide a clear method to close the pop-up and return the user to the point immediately after where the pop-up activated. Also remember to provide a text based alternative for those who do not have javascripting.
with Charles McCathieNevile from Opera adding:
...that many users have pop-ups blocked by default now, so won't actually see it even if they are not blind.
Pro's
Harry Loots of the IEEE has a point when he says:
If it will supply useful information to the user, then don't kick against it, but make sure that the feedback / information so provided is accessible. For example, if the pop-up is used to confirm the product has been added and the user's browser does not support scripting/popups, a physical line of text may be displayed to confirm the product has been added (which can be hidden in the view seen by users who get the popup)
My Take
When a client asks for a specific design element, one needs to wonder where this need came from in the first place.
In the case that the client is not satisfied with visibility of system status. Try
- Improving titles and labels
- Adding non-obstructive instructions
- Providing feedback in an alternative way (as Harry pointed out), additional confirmation page always helps
- Keeping elements and its status (e.g. shopping cart belongs to the top right corner) in its user-anticipated location
- Using visual cues to show what just happened
Accessibility Events in May
Jennison Mark Asuncion just posted 4 upcoming accessibility events in North America:
- Ottawa's First Accessibility Unconference, May 6 in Ottawa Ontario (free event) register now at http://www.a11yyow.ca
- John Slatin AccessU 2011, May 17-19, Austin TX http://www.knowbility.org/v/accessu-detail/John-Slatin-AccessU/39/
- Accessibility Camp Seattle, May 20-21 (free event) register now at http://www.AccessibilityCampSeattle.org
- The Guelph Accessibility Conference, May 31-June 1, Guelph ON http://www.accessconf.open.uoguelph.ca/
Missed one? Post it in the comments section.
Highlights of Week 10/2011
- Using Lies in Research (by Nate Bolt) - learn from their mistakes to prevent your own
- The Dangers of Design by User (by Demetrius Madrigal and Bryan McClain) - this article shows that the phrase "some research is better than none" doesn't always apply.
- What’s New for Web Designers – Mar 2011 (by Cameron Chapman) - as always a great round-up of new apps for designers.
- User Interface Patterns for Dealing with Interactive Content (by Cameron Chapman) - Cameron is on a roll - another must-read.
- JavaScript Garden - a growing collection of documentation about the most quirky parts of the JavaScript programming language!!!
- Using Regular Expression: Tools and Resources (by hongkiat) - one must love this little helpers...
- 16 Essential WordPress Plugins Every Blog Must Have (by Karol K.) - more work ahead of me; thx for this compilation Karol.
List of UX Conferences in 2011
Here a list of interesting User Experience/Usability Conferences in 2011 (thanks to Sooria for sharing):
- CHI: http://chi2011.org/
- Nielsen Norman: http://www.nngroup.com/
- UIE: http://uiconf.com
- IXDA: http://www.ixda.org/conference
- IA Summit: http://2011.iasummit.org/
- HFES: http://www.hfes.org/web/HFESMeetings/2011annualmeeting.html
- Web 2.0: http://www.web2expo.com/
- Web App Masters Tour: http://www.uie.com/events/web_app_masters/2011/
Do you have any past experiences you'd like to share? Did I miss one? Tell me in the comments!
10 and 1/2 Lessons Learned from Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump
Who doesn't remember Forrest Gump? One of the all-time greats in movie history, the comedy turned drama, the 'dumb' guy that teaches us lesson after lesson. You gotta love this movie, at least I can watch it over and over again and so it just happened and I started wondering, why do his stories touch us so much and what can we learn? Bruce Temkin puts it elegantly: "People relate to stories because it is part of their evolutionary makeup. Stories cause our mirror neurons to fire at similar experiences, helping us remember and relate." That's why.
And here are the 10 and 1/2 Lessons Learned from Forrest Gump:
Start small
That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road.
You just start! Start somewhere, anywhere. Then you take one step, then the next, baby-steps to the elevator, right? Once in motion you take the next bigger step, one leads to the other and soon you hit the Atlantic Ocean
Have endourance
shit happens
Some could interpret this as 'get inspired', but whatever it is, it eventually boils down to... sh*&%$# happens! Don't give up, innovate and renovate.
Keep perspective
Jenny, it looked like there were two skies one on top of the other. And then in the desert, when the sun comes up, I couldn't tell where heaven stopped and the earth began. It's so beautiful.
Regardless of the circumstances, perspective can change everything. So don't loose perspective.
Move on
My mama always said you got to put the past behind you before you can move on.
What happened yesterday is over.......unless you choose to put it in your future!
Enjoy
And cause I was a gazillionaire, and I liked doing it so much, I cut that grass for free.
Enjoy what you are doing and greatness will be your harvest. Never become so obsessed that you loose touch with the little things in life, many times this is what counts most.
Care
I'm not a smart man... but I know what love is
Care about what you are doing, care about who will be using it. Don't try to be smart, follow your heart.
Learn
Momma always had a way of explaining things so I could understand them.
Find a mentor, learn from others, learn from yourself, learn from your successes, learn from your mistakes, whatever it is... learn!
Give and take
Jenny taught me how to climb. And I taught her how to dangle
It is ok to borrow ideas, to get inspired. Nobody needs to reinvent the wheel, but return the favor, contribute, share, help!
Appologize
I’m sorry I had to fight in the middle of your Black Panther party
Yes, bad idea hahahaha. Well, he got away with it that's why you could/should too. You screwed up? Be honest, be bold, appologize and explain!
Don't get distracted
Have you found Jesus yet, Gump? Forrest Gump: "I didn't know I was supposed to be looking for Him, sir."
Follow your believes, be true to yourself. Don't get side-tracked. It's good to expand your horizon, but stick to your plan.
Don't do stupid things
Stupid is as stupid does
Need I say more? Just don't do it!! And especially, don't do it again! KISS - keep it simple, stupid!
Bonus: Repetition helps remembering
My Mama used to say...'Life is like a Box of Chocolates'...you never know which one you're gonna get!
Repeat 100 times. Yes, it's nonsense. Just read the label and you know, but hey, repeat it often enough and you'll believe (and remember).
Further Reading
Some of the inspiration for this article (and good reads regardless) are the following links:
Add Shortcut Icon to your Webpage
Ok, nothing earth shattering but hopefully still useful to somebody out there.
Creating Icons in the Correct Size and Format
A shortcut icon must be square in size and at least 16 x 16 pixels.
It's important to save it in .ico format. Either create a bitmap using any image editor and rename it, or use the free online tool http://www.convertico.com/.
Include it in your page
Include the following code block into your main template or master page. If you don't have that, well, then include it into every page...
<head> <link rel="SHORTCUT ICON" href="favicon.ico"> <link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico" type="image/vnd.microsoft.icon"> <title>My Title</title> </head> |
Ah, yes, add it to the default.aspx of your Silverlight web project will do the magic as well.
Include it in your WordPress Blog
Update: Maria mentions that it is shockingly simple to include a favicon to your wordpress blog - http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/shockingly-simple-favicon/
Show me your shortcut icon!
Send me your page with shortcut icon and if I like the icon I will bookmark it
Go figure: What’s so funny here?
I can't believe I own this book... and looking back it's really funny that I actually ever purchased it.
Go figure what made me laugh?
Learn Java Now
Highlights of Week 05/2011
- 50+ Awesome CSS3 Techniques for Better Designs (by Cameron Chapman) - sweet!! buttons, gradients and more...
- Logo Design Gone Wrong: 10 Offbeat Examples (by bellefoong) - some humor (and lessons) in logo design
- HOW TO: Design & Program a Facebook Landing Page for Your Business (by Jonathan Goldford) - that's an incredible tutorial.
- 7 Common Project Management Problems (And How to Solve Them) (by James Clear) - be straight with your client in what you do; but be straight with yourself even more!
- Color Wheels are wrong? How color vision actually works (by Jason Cohen) - incredible article! Skip over the beginning but read until the end & check out the optical illusions!
- Finally – a fold for the web (your clients can rest easy) (by Christian Heilmann) - Nice bookmarklet that shows the fold on any page - finally
About Me
Michael Gaigg is Lead UI Engineer in Esri's Professional Services Division.
He has been designing map application for over 10 years and can't stop thinking about improving them.
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