IE to block pop-ups!

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

It's about time! What does everyone think?

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1080601811323&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154

I have an urge to write to the author informing her that other browsers have been offering this for years... I don't even remember what it's like to have them Smiling

druagord's picture

He has: 335 posts

Joined: May 2003

I realy think you should Smiling

Suzanne's picture

She has: 5,507 posts

Joined: Feb 2000

And the plugins that have been available for IE to do that for years? Yes! Do write in!

Greg K's picture

He has: 2,145 posts

Joined: Nov 2003

To be honest, except for the sites that give you a ton of pop us that pop up others when you close them, I prefer pop up ads.

I know, you think I'm crazy. But think of what the alternative is going to be. More sites where the ad is now part of the page that is a layer covering up the content I wanted to see. At least if it's a popped up window, I can quickly close it without having to look for a "CLOSE" button on the ad. (again, with exception to the extremely annoying sites).

On thing I'd like to see is a Browser MUTE button, so that you can mute all sounds from objects in a web site (music, flash files, etc), yet still leave the sound on for the rest of your programs. I have for years now had MIDI sound muted on all of machines due to all the people playing background music.

-Greg

Abhishek Reddy's picture

He has: 3,348 posts

Joined: Jul 2001

Greg K wrote: To be honest, except for the sites that give you a ton of pop us that pop up others when you close them, I prefer pop up ads.

I know, you think I'm crazy. But think of what the alternative is going to be. More sites where the ad is now part of the page that is a layer covering up the content I wanted to see. At least if it's a popped up window, I can quickly close it without having to look for a "CLOSE" button on the ad. (again, with exception to the extremely annoying sites).

I wonder how hard it would be to write a piece of JS in Mozilla that detects and disables those annoying ad scripts. I haven't tracked extensions lately, so there are none that do this job that I'm aware of.

Erica, I'm under the impression that Explorer is the most popular browser even worldwide. I don't have stats though. Sad

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

F12 > Enable Embedded Audio (uncheck) Wink

(The article does mention plugins but not alternative browsers.)

s0da's picture

He has: 157 posts

Joined: Mar 2004

i think it's a great idea. now i don't have to install the google toolbar anymore to block popups AND do a search for whooooooo for no reason. *snarf*

They have: 13 posts

Joined: Mar 2004

Well...I rarely use IE (I prefer Opera or Firefox...even NETSCAPE over IE), but I am glad to see that IE is finally going to address this issue.

Megan, you should definitely write in & let her know that other browsers tackled this issue long ago.

And, out of curiosity, I always thought that IE was only the most popular browser in the US, and that Netscape held the market worldwide? For instance, most of my friends who live in Africa or Europe do not use IE. Does anyone know that actual international usage?

Cheers,
Erica

The Webmistress's picture

She has: 5,586 posts

Joined: Feb 2001

acsinclair wrote: And, out of curiosity, I always thought that IE was only the most popular browser in the US, and that Netscape held the market worldwide? For instance, most of my friends who live in Africa or Europe do not use IE. Does anyone know that actual international usage?

IE6 is definitely the most used browser according to all my sites stats, with IE5. showing second, NS7 third with the others milling around with very, very low percentages!

Julia - if life was meant to be easy Michael Angelo would have painted the floor....

They have: 5,633 posts

Joined: Jan 1970

They better tell us webmasters what they are going to block and what they arnt going to block. Opening a new window (pop up). Is an extreamly usefull tool. You cant block everything. Then they must tell us what will not be blocked.
Now as long as you dont block all new windows there will alwase be pop ups. I garente that I can write a script that will get an ad that will open in another window.
Final note, as long as you dont go to porn sites you dont need a pop up blocker.

The Webmistress's picture

She has: 5,586 posts

Joined: Feb 2001

bja888 wrote: Final note, as long as you dont go to porn sites you dont need a pop up blocker.

Rubbish! I have a pop-up blocker and I've just looked throught the list of blocked ads and the list for non porn sites is huge!

Julia - if life was meant to be easy Michael Angelo would have painted the floor....

They have: 5,633 posts

Joined: Jan 1970

Well there are normaly a ton of pop ups on porn sites as compaired to your avarage web bisness web site. Im sure that alot are repeats also.

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

I remember back in the day when I used an old fashioned browser with no pop-up blocker I'd have problems with clipart sites, and font sites, and a lot more. I had to check a site from the critiques section in IE the other day and got a pop-up.

Anyway, you do have a point. In Opera you can choose to block all pop-ups or only unrequested pop-ups. MS should be clear about that. And yes, webmasters should be notified about this so anyone running pop-ups can find another solution. Although, this is a service pack and it could be that most people won't install it anyway.

They have: 6 posts

Joined: Sep 2003

Irrespective of whether you are using pop-up blockers because you do or do not surf adult orientated sites the fact still remains that it is possible to show consoles to our site visitors even if they have these programs installed!

Pop-up blockers were a great tool for the 'surfer' when they came out however, the real benefit came to the pop-up blocker company that sold these programs.. a new untapped market worth billions of dollars... think abotu it for a second, consoles do work when it comes to advertising our affiliate links.. the makers of these programs took money away from us in the long run.

Regards,

Lee

Suzanne's picture

She has: 5,507 posts

Joined: Feb 2000

popup blockers only work on windows that automatically popup, don't they? for windows that the user launches that function isn't blocked.

Personally I found them to be the worst type of "push technology" because it made visiting the web an upsetting experience. Physiologically, sudden movements trigger an adrenalin response in us -- popup windows that self spawn are like an attack, we go into defense mode, and learn to avoid the situation or become numb to the attack, either of which would reduce the effectiveness of this "campaign" (loss of users or loss of effectiveness).

I reject the idea that these blockers cost you money and made money for the popup blocker companies, because if the misuse of the technology wasn't so prevalent, and if these popup windows weren't so upsetting, then the popup blocker companies would not have made money, their product would not have been valued.

They have: 218 posts

Joined: Apr 2001

More important for me than a pop up blocker is a running program like Spybot SD while online. So many sites try to force download spyware (hotmail and about.com sites included), and without this tool, (in addition to changing security settings on folders), a windows installation can get messed up pretty fast.

TM

Want to join the discussion? Create an account or log in if you already have one. Joining is fast, free and painless! We’ll even whisk you back here when you’ve finished.