Cool future browser feature....

[Travis Newbury]

You know what would be a great browser feature? If the browser could
tell the web page if thee is a popup blocker running.

The page opens, tests for the existance of the pop up blocker, and
takes the appropriate action with the links.

Of course the "anti-popup for any reason" crowd won't think this would
be a cool feature...

 

[Adrienne]

You know what would be a great browser feature? If the browser could
tell the web page if thee is a popup blocker running.

The page opens, tests for the existance of the pop up blocker, and
takes the appropriate action with the links.

Of course the "anti-popup for any reason" crowd won't think this would
be a cool feature...

The problem is that too many people have abused pop-ups that most
blockers block everything. That can get annoying quickly when you want
to download something and the ****ing blocker blocks your download, or
you _want_ that little calendar widget to open so you can select some
date four months from now.

That's one of the reasons I really like Opera. I can open pop-ups I
_want_, and I don't have to save a list of allowed servers.

 

[mark | r]

You know what would be a great browser feature? If the browser could
tell the web page if thee is a popup blocker running.

The page opens, tests for the existance of the pop up blocker, and
takes the appropriate action with the links.

Of course the "anti-popup for any reason" crowd won't think this would
be a cool feature...

no thats just evil, there are better ways to advertise than POPUPS which
just suck (specially now everyones tabbed browsing)

Mark

 

[Captain Dondo]

Gazing into my crystal ball I observed "Travis Newbury"
<[email protected]> writing in @g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:




The problem is that too many people have abused pop-ups that most
blockers block everything. That can get annoying quickly when you want
to download something and the ****ing blocker blocks your download, or
you _want_ that little calendar widget to open so you can select some
date four months from now.

That's one of the reasons I really like Opera. I can open pop-ups I
_want_, and I don't have to save a list of allowed servers.

I just spent a half-an-hour fighting with Seagate's new RMA website....
ARGHHH!!!!

First off, it checks browser versions, and if you don't have Netscape
7.0 or IE 5.5+ it won't work.... Forget Firefox.

OK, so I fire up IE. Now it wants me to turn off the popup blocker.
But the stupid 'turn on your popups' auto-forwards after a few seconds,
so it's a matter of dexterity: You have to hit that notification box on
IE and click on the extra toolbar *before* the bloody website
autoforwards and IE turns the popup bar off....

After all that, it doesn't use popups at all for anything useful; it
pops up a small box, then closes it with no user intervention, and then
it just uses forms.... WTF? Who designs a website that a) needs a
specific browser, aand b) needs popups just to fill out a form....

 

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

I just spent a half-an-hour fighting with Seagate's new RMA
website.... ARGHHH!!!!

First off, it checks browser versions, and if you don't have
Netscape 7.0 or IE 5.5+ it won't work.... Forget Firefox.

Will it work with Firefox's UA spoofing? See:
http://prefbar.mozdev.org/
Verry handy for toggling other stuff as well.

.... WTF? Who designs a website that a) needs a specific browser,
aand b) needs popups just to fill out a form....

Fresh-outta-school deee-ziiiner who discovered New Tools To Play With.
Write to Seagate and complain. Tastefully, of course. <g>

 

[Captain Dondo]

Will it work with Firefox's UA spoofing? See:
http://prefbar.mozdev.org/
Verry handy for toggling other stuff as well.

Will check it out....

Fresh-outta-school deee-ziiiner who discovered New Tools To Play With.

It's definitely got that 'kitchen sink' feel to it....

Write to Seagate and complain. Tastefully, of course. <g>

Already done. Something about using IBM or Maxtor drives just so I
don't have to put up with their RMA website.... ;-)

I just had to vent a bit....

 

[Animesh Kumar]

I just spent a half-an-hour fighting with Seagate's new RMA website....
ARGHHH!!!!

First off, it checks browser versions, and if you don't have Netscape
7.0 or IE 5.5+ it won't work.... Forget Firefox.

Complain to the website and return their product. That's one way out of
such nasty companies.

 

[Travis Newbury]

The problem is that too many people have abused pop-ups that most
blockers block everything.

I can not agree with you more. It is lke Flash, way too many (read that
as most) have abused it.

That's one of the reasons I really like Opera. I can open pop-ups I
_want_, and I don't have to save a list of allowed servers.

FF is similar I don't allow any servers, but the little line comes up
and says "Hey this website is trying to open a window"...

 

[Travis Newbury]

no thats just evil, there are better ways to advertise than POPUPS which
just suck (specially now everyones tabbed browsing)

Who says it is for advertising? I see a lot more reasons to use a popup
window than advertising. (I won't list them because I do not want this
thread to be a "yea or nay" thread about popups.)

 

[Michael Winter]

mark | r wrote:
[snip]

[Testing for pop-up blockers is] just evil, there are better ways
to advertise than POPUPS which just suck [...]

Who says it is for advertising? I see a lot more reasons to use a
popup window than advertising.

Yes, there are many reasonable uses for them, but abuse has all but
killed the pop-up, whether it is legitimate or not.

With regard to testing, though, that could just be exploited as another
route towards abuse. For example, some unscrupulous person might
discover that unrequested pop-ups are blocked, so they run a script that
randomly adds event listeners to links within the document that will
spawn pop-ups when clicked (I'm sure I've seen that happen already, to
some degree).

Besides, it would be a difficult thing for browsers to report in some
cases as many pop-up blockers are third-party or transparent. Though
built-in or plug-in blockers could signal that they're active, there
would still be plenty of gaps.

Mike

 

[Travis Newbury]

Yes, there are many reasonable uses for them, but abuse has all but
killed the pop-up, whether it is legitimate or not.

You will find no argument on that point. MOST popups are unwanted and
unneeded

 

[Toby Inkster]

The page opens, tests for the existance of the pop up blocker, and
takes the appropriate action with the links.

Kinda can already using Javascript:

<script type="text/javascript">
var w = window.open("test.html","test");
var popup_blocker_is_running = !w;
w.close();
</script>

Whether it will work or not depends on the popup blocker.

 

[mark | r]

You will find no argument on that point. MOST popups are unwanted and
unneeded

name one use that cant be done better in AJAX
the issue is opening a new browser window - this is just wrong, all plain
and unapologetyically wrong - use AJAX to give inline feedback, provide live
updates of data, expand and collapse blocks of helpful content and/or extra
options based on user feedback

mark

 

[Travis Newbury]

name one use that cant be done better in AJAX
the issue is opening a new browser window - this is just wrong, all plain
and unapologetyically wrong...

You are obviously completely closed minded to any possible reason I
could come up with, so why bother discussing it.

 

[mark | r]

You are obviously completely closed minded to any possible reason I
could come up with, so why bother discussing it.

no thats you your talking about - admit it!

Mark

 

[Disco Octopus]

Toby Inkster wrote :

Kinda can already using Javascript:

<script type="text/javascript">
var w = window.open("test.html","test");
var popup_blocker_is_running = !w;
w.close();
</script>

Whether it will work or not depends on the popup blocker.

I suppose you could also do something like this in javascript...
<psuedo>

in PAGE1
popup a new page (PAGE2)

if "This is from your child"
the Popup Worked
else
the popup did not work
fi

in PAGE2
set a flag in PAGE2's parent (PAGE1) saying "This is from your
child"

</psuedo>

 

[Neredbojias]

With neither quill nor qualm, Travis Newbury quothed

You know what would be a great browser feature? If the browser could
tell the web page if thee is a popup blocker running.

The page opens, tests for the existance of the pop up blocker, and
takes the appropriate action with the links.

Of course the "anti-popup for any reason" crowd won't think this would
be a cool feature...

Actually, that could be implemented now, -and fairly easily.

Basically, open a test pop-up of minimal content, set a reasonable
timer, and if you can't "confirm" it after the time limit = pop-up
blocker.

 

[Neredbojias]

With neither quill nor qualm, mark | r quothed

name one use that cant be done better in AJAX
the issue is opening a new browser window - this is just wrong, all plain
and unapologetyically wrong - use AJAX to give inline feedback, provide live
updates of data, expand and collapse blocks of helpful content and/or extra
options based on user feedback

Up until recently, I had a website with many pages that *allowed the
user the option* of opening borderless fullscreen images in popups for
their viewing pleasure. However, with all the new controls appearing in
the browsers and the stigma of ad popups making popup-blocking very
desirable, I've decided to remove this feature and return to more
traditional methods of image-rendering. Once again marketing
"strategies" and disreputable *children* contribute to the decline of
something worthwhile for the public in general.

 

[Richard Cornford]

With neither quill nor qualm, Travis Newbury quothed

Actually, that could be implemented now, -and fairly easily.

Basically, open a test pop-up of minimal content, set a
reasonable timer, and if you can't "confirm" it after the
time limit = pop-up blocker.

You have got your logic the wrong way around: Can 'confirm' widow
opening = not a pop-up blocker. But; NOT not a pop-up blocker - does not
equal - a pop-up blocker.

Richard.

 

[Neredbojias]

With neither quill nor qualm, Richard Cornford quothed

You have got your logic the wrong way around: Can 'confirm' widow
opening = not a pop-up blocker. But; NOT not a pop-up blocker - does not
equal - a pop-up blocker.

Oh, absolutely true. My only thought here was to establish the facility
to open another window, not to confirm the presence of a popup blocker
specifically. Why would the distinction make any difference?