Ian Anderson wrote:
I disagree with this statement. In my opinion, there are several very
good use cases.
The primary one is help windows, where instructions can be compared
with the items in the main window. A variant of this is T&Cs in forms,
where there are serious consequences for the user if they move off the
page while in the middle of completing a form - they may lose some or
all data.
I think generalisations like "users hate popup windows" are perhaps a
little unhelpful. I am sure a lot of people dislike popup adverts, but
to dismiss all use of popups on this basis is clearly to throw the
baby out with the bath water.
I agree absolutely. My reasoning (based upon lots of user feedback to
me) is as follows:
Partway through the eighties, Microsoft launched Windows in competition
with the Apple MAC, which had become renowned for it's graphical User
Interface (or GUI). This was hailed as a major step forward, with users
able to do real multi-tasking at last.
Since then, the systems have grown and improved and are the norm - the
thought of going back to DOS is pretty repellent for nearly everyone,
and esp for folk doing graphics (Photoshop for DOS? Illustrator for DOS?
- the mind boggles!
So, we all work in Windows, of one sort or another.
The whole basis of our way of working centers around windows: if you're
in an application and need help, you hit the help link/button and it
opens in a new window. This is good - instead of removing what you are
working on, the help is displayed separately, maintaining the original
content intact. You want to send a mail? No problem. just click your
mail icon and another window opens. And so it goes on. It's /very/
convenient indeed, and has improved productivity enormously, esp
compared to the old days of 'one program, one at a time' of DOS. Even
in this standards environment, you'll find that the web developer
toolbar for firefox opens its results in a new window (tab, whatever).
View source? Certainly Sir : here it is - oh yes, it's in a new window!
Even this mail you are reading is probably in a new window (unless you
use a preview pane and risk opening a virus, of course)! And the
reasoning? It's VERY convenient!
So, having been accustomed to this way of working for many years, I try
to get some of this flexibility and uncluttered approach into my web
pages. If I have a gallery of images, a click on a thumbnail will
perhaps open a larger display of the image - in a new window. If there
are some notes to be referenced, they open in a new window. If a link is
waiting for the content to be completed, an alert box "available
shortly" pops up, instead of you going to a useless (or non-existent)
page and having to come back unfulfilled. Marvellous! Instead of waiting
to go 'back' or 'forwards' all the time, the web experience becomes as
convenient, handy, and easy to navigate as the rest of the computing
experience. Great!
. . . or so I thought!
It seems that what I'm doing is wrong - popups are evil, opening new
windows is the work of the devil, and lots of similar horror accusations
abound. Apparently, it's an accessibility sin to open new windows - it's
also an affront to a user's choice if I dictate that a new window is
opened, esp if I don't warn the user. OK, everyone just hates those
annoying advertisement popups which appear, unsolicited, when viewing
certain web sites. But that isn't the same thing as opening a help or
information link in a new window, now is it? OK, in practice I do try
to be as accessible as possible. If you look at my site link below,
you'll see that in the 'portfolio' section (where I want open new
windows) it clearly says so on the links. So I do try to be 'good'.
However, I do remain confused: Whilst I really do have every sympathy
with someone who has an accessibility problem, I cannot reconcile how it
can be OK (indeed desirable) to use a fully fledged windows system (MAC
or PC) for 'computing', but as soon as you boot up your browser, all the
'requirements' change.
Duh??
Bob McClelland
Cornwall (U.K.)
www.gwelanmor-internet.co.uk
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