Alert box and pop up blockers?

[optimistx]

How have you solved the usage of alert box (or other modal message box),
when
users have pop up blockers active?

In the testing alert boxes seem to be a reliable way to interact with
users. But some designers use a div, which covers the
whole page so that the use has to (?) click that window before
proceeding. The div has been designed so that the actual
'box' is in the middle and alla the surrounding area is dimmed.

One might think that modal message boxes have nothing to do
in the production code. But when proceeding towards the
Ideal Errorfree Elegant program a lazy newbie programmer tends
to make compromises and misstakes.

Better alternatives?

 

[Noah Sussman]

some designers use a div,

Yes, a css overlay is imo the least intrusive and most reliable way to
notify the user, given that popup blockers are now ubiquitous.

which covers the
whole page

not necessarily -- a div's size is arbitrary, if you are using a
library that "covers the whole page," just tweak the css a bit

try smashingmagazine.com, they probably have a nice gallery of
implemented overlays

so that the use has to (?) click that window before
proceeding.

no, an overlay does not necessarily have to be modal

The div has been designed so that the actual
'box' is in the middle and alla the surrounding area is dimmed.

A modal dialog is just one possible style of overlay. But again,
overlays are defined using a combination of JavaScript, CSS and HTML.
If you tweak the code, you can make the overlay behave however you
want (but ymmv).

 

[Noah Sussman]

some designers use a div,

Yes, a css overlay is imo the least intrusive and most reliable way to
notify the user, given that popup blockers are now ubiquitous.

which covers the
whole page

not necessarily -- a div's size is arbitrary, if you are using a
library that "covers the whole page," just tweak the css a bit

try smashingmagazine.com, they probably have a nice gallery of
implemented overlays

so that the use has to (?) click that window before
proceeding.

no, an overlay does not necessarily have to be modal

The div has been designed so that the actual
'box' is in the middle and alla the surrounding area is dimmed.

A modal dialog is just one possible style of overlay. But again,
overlays are defined using a combination of JavaScript, CSS and HTML.
If you tweak the code, you can make the overlay behave however you
want (but ymmv).

 

[Noah Sussman]

some designers use a div,

Yes, a css overlay is imo the least intrusive and most reliable way to
notify the user, given that popup blockers are now ubiquitous.

which covers the
whole page

not necessarily -- a div's size is arbitrary, if you are using a
library that "covers the whole page," just tweak the css a bit

try smashingmagazine.com, they probably have a nice gallery of
implemented overlays

so that the use has to (?) click that window before
proceeding.

no, an overlay does not necessarily have to be modal

The div has been designed so that the actual
'box' is in the middle and alla the surrounding area is dimmed.

A modal dialog is just one possible style of overlay. But again,
overlays are defined using a combination of JavaScript, CSS and HTML.
If you tweak the code, you can make the overlay behave however you
want (but ymmv).

 

[Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn]

Yes, a css overlay is imo the least intrusive and most reliable way to
notify the user, given that popup blockers are now ubiquitous.

Your logic is flawed. How can approaches that circumvent popup blockers,
which are there to protect users from obtrusive popups, be less obtrusive?
"CSS overlays" of all kinds, particularly the advertising ones, are the new
plague of the Web because they are not accessible and cannot be disabled;
not yet.


PointedEars