[Sigia-l] how user-initiated pop-ups affect the user experience

[David Hoffer]

In my experience, I've found that user intiated pop-ups are ok as long
as you indicate to the user that if they click a link or button that it
will open this window. I try to use it sparingly and only for very
specific purposes. If a 'What's This' link opens a small pop-up window
to offer the user contextual help, the window should be smaller than
the main window and have a button clearly displayed that says close
window. See among many other sites:

http://www.amazon.com/

However, I have tried never to use the word pop-up to describe this
kind of window. There's an obvious negative conotation. I refer to user
initiated pop-ups as 'child windows'...as in, "If the user clicks the
link in the main (parent) window, it will spawn a child window." 

Dave

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