Member Avatar for macki

hi!

ive started encountering problems with developing sites with pop-up windows. These pop-up windows are not for ads, theyre for picture galleries or to other html windows...etc. Ive gotten calls from 2 clients saying b/c they installed or their friends have installed pop-up blockers they cant see part of their site. Does any one know how to get through pop-up blockers,
are pop-up windows dead or are there alternative methods?

any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

thanks,
jana

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Short answer: traditional browser pop-up windows (the ones opened with window.open) are unreliable for anything essential. Modern browsers and blockers will stop windows that aren’t opened by an immediate user gesture, and window.open() can return null when a popup is blocked — so do not depend on them for core navigation or galleries. (developer.mozilla.org)

Practical alternatives that keep functionality and avoid blockers: use an in‑page overlay/modal (what many call a “lightbox”) or link to a full-size image/page so the browser Back button still works (as suggested). If you must open a separate tab, prefer a normal anchor (<a href="..." target="_blank" rel="noopener">) rather than forcing window.open(); use rel="noopener"/noreferrer to avoid window.opener security issues. For accessibility follow the ARIA dialog pattern: role="dialog", aria-modal="true", set focus into the dialog on open, trap Tab/Shift+Tab inside it, and restore focus on close. Minimal markup example:

<button id="open">View</button>

<div id="modal" role="dialog" aria-modal="true" aria-labelledby="mTitle" hidden>
  <h2 id="mTitle">Image</h2>
  <img src="..." alt="...">
  <button id="close">Close</button>
</div>

Implement keyboard handlers (Esc to close) and a focus-trap in JS. (w3.org)

UX/SEO notes and quick tips: Google treats intrusive interstitials on mobile as harmful to the user experience, so avoid fullscreen popups on entry — use banners, delayed or exit-intent overlays, or inline affordances instead. Test with keyboard-only navigation and a screen reader, try corporate environments (where plugins/Flash are often disabled), and always provide a non-JS fallback (plain links or pages). If you keep a window.open path, detect blocking by checking its return value and fall back immediately to an in-page viewer. (developers.google.com)

Summary for this thread: , the callers you heard from are typical cases — stop trying to “circumvent” blockers. The community suggestions from , and point the right way: move to overlays/lightbox or clear linked pages, implement accessibility best practices, and fail gracefully when pop-ups are blocked.

Recommended Answers

All 6 Replies

Member Avatar for Meryl

I see its been a while since this post yet popups are still going strong however not a legitimant advertising but for the purpose of cookie stuffing , and spreading spyware and now using java to give the blockers the slip it seems the end will not come soon at least the SEO company's are slamming popups check out this little spat http://www.pageoptimiser.com/blog_popups.htm it only when google starts penelising that it will matter.

Member Avatar for MidiMagic

Why not just open a new page? The BACK button returns you to the menu page.

Member Avatar for efaith77

hi!

Does any one know how to get through pop-up blockers,
are pop-up windows dead or are there alternative methods?

My suggestion is to use light box for image display. Pop ups, in my opinion are dead. Light box and similar scripts are very classy looking and easy to use.

Member Avatar for almostbob

popup windows are dead for malware risks
flash is disabled in large and small corporates
Flash and popups severely limit the possible customer base

z-index and invisible/visible layers are the way to go

this post

has an alternative pseudo popup script attached

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