Damned Pop-Ups!
It might be just me, but I think not.
I have a pet-peeve - and that's going onto a website to get needed information, begin reading and suddenly having a wall thrust up between my eyes and the article I'm trying to read!
Yesterday I accidentally scratched a brand new veneered floor we just laid and this cannot be fixed without removing the flooring back to the damage and replacing it!
I am trying desperately to find another way to fix this. The home-owner who chose to use such a cheap fake-wood floor will not be happy when he sees it tomorrow!
The last thing I'm interested in right now is subscribing to some flooring outfit when all I need is instructions or ideas on how to remove or hide scratches from this type of flooring!
I've been to three websites now. Every one of them, I've opened and began reading...
It's happened to all of us many times I'm sure. The screen goes grey and it's a pop-up that separates you from the information you are there for!
"Before I allow you to read any further, you must respond in some way to this message."
My response? Click away.
Pop-ups fry my behind! Yes, it's not a big deal to just close the pop-up, and that's not what's annoying about it - it's the fact that something suddenly interrupts what I'm trying to do - get information. It's like someone coming along and throwing the switch.
Grrr!
This is why I will NEVER use pop-ups on my websites - NEVER! This is not the experience I want to give to my readers. There are other ways to get the message across - like having the subscribe message somewhere inline with the article - or having it on the page somewhere - or even a slide-up or slide-in that does not interfere with someone trying to read the article!
Excellent reader experience is much more important to me than trying to drive a wedge between the reader and the material she is trying to read! It's like taking your hand and putting it between someone trying to read the newspaper and the news she's trying to read!
How rude and thoughtless!
I realize advertising is important but there are kinder ways to deliver it, be effective and not interfere with your prospects in such invasive ways. This is why I do not watch commercial television!
Something to think about if you are planning on using pop-ups on your website!
Daniel
Recent Comments
27
Hi Daniel,
I definitely agree...these kind of pop-ups are so annoying! Just the other day I went to a website to read something and I'd read two words and up came a pop-up that wouldn't let me even close it until I signed up. Forget it!
I'm not signing up just to continue reading when I don't know if it's even going to be helpful or not. I have enough emails in my inbox already. Now, if it came up at the end or been in a slide-in that would let me still read, maybe I would've signed up...but, since it didn't let me read it first, I clicked out of there!
Sorry to hear about the floor. I hope you can find a way to fix these scratches that works. My parents had laminate wood flooring installed in the living room quite a few years ago.
Well, they did it themselves and it still looks really nice, but it's been a hassle to keep it from getting wet even there...with grand kids and at that time, my brother's dog running around. Thank goodness the dog was very well behaved and potty trained. Otherwise, I don't think it'd still look as good as it does.
Best wishes :) ~Sherry
A pop-up that wouldn't go away unless you've signed up? That's pretty desperate! I've not ever run into any of those and if I did I would probably do more than just leave the site. That's bad!
As for the floor, I don't know what will be done with it. I gave suggestions to him that were given to me here.
Sometimes people want this kind of flooring put down in their kitchens and that's a really bad place for it because it can be very easily damaged by water! Anything composite, wood or paper-based should NEVER be put in kitchens and bathrooms. One might get by with solid hardwood but even that's not a good idea.
Yes, it popped up saying to "continue reading sign up to our newsletter." Ha, I wasn't wanting to read it that much, lol! Pretty desperate for sure...I don't know who would want to sign up when you couldn't read anything long enough to tell whether you liked it or not.
As for myself on the subject of flooring, I've never thought wood flooring to be a great idea in kitchens or bathrooms. But, I suppose some people don't think of the long term effects of water/condensation on wood.
Well, hopefully he'll give those ideas a try...you did what you could about it. Now, it's up to him. Nice to hear from you again Daniel. Take care and good luck with that floor!
Best wishes :) ~Sherry
I agree, they are incredibly annoying. If you are visiting a site for the first time I can't imagine anyone wanting to sign up before even having the opportunity to browse all the content. Too many pop ups and ads have made me leave sites. Exit pop ups, however, I think are fine...a bit less intrusive, and you can't blame a website owner for trying somewhere.
Yeah, I know. Mojo mentioned that below. Golly, they just can't wait to plaster that in your face before you even get a chance to know whether or not you like what you've read.
I can settle for an exit pop-up. When I want to go, I want to go, but at least the website owner has given you the fair shake when he puts that last.
Some people are so greedy (including the gurus of course) that they must squeeze as much out of the lemon as possible, even if it infringes upon the best experience of the reader.
The trouble with gurus (and what they teach as well) is that they look at prospects like fish to be caught. Most fish, as you know, will lunge at anything that looks like food, and most people are conditioned as fish.
I'm not a fan either Daniel.
When you say 'veneered' is that what we would call laminate flooring in the UK? The reason I ask is that my hubby fits those floors so may be able to help :)
Plywood is a laminate. It has layers that are laminated together.
A veneer is a finished surface. It too is a laminate.
There is a type of flooring that has wood grain, but all it is composed of is a composite material similar to Masonite (a dense and very hard paper product) with a printed wood surface on top, which is very thin. You could say "laminate," but I would think laminate is more of a plywood-type flooring they also call "engineered flooring." In this case, you get a thin surface layer of actual hardwood laminated to, usually a composite material mentioned above and a thin unfinished layer of wood on the bottom. (this I suppose is to make the consumer think he/she is getting wood through and through.)
I think veneer and laminate are interchangeable. I don't know if you have particleboard (used in cabinetry and bookshelves, etc) in the UK (which is rubbish before it even leaves the factory) but we do here in the U.S. That is made the same way - particleboard with a thin plastic surface with printed wood grain on it. Flooring is even worse - with micro-thin laminate on the surface!
Most people, when shopping for building materials do not have a clue about what they are looking at. It looks good and they get it because it's inexpensive. It's very easily damaged. In the case of particleboard, if you are familiar with it - get a water on it and it swells, making it look ugly!
Oh yes, my husband has moaned many times about fitting cheap flooring. It takes longer to lay and causes far more problems. What the customer doesn't realise is that if it takes longer to lay, then it costs more to the fitter - it's false economy!
I think we are talking (what we would call,) laminate flooring here. Did you lay it? Is the scratch in the middle or near the edge? Do you have any boards left over? Do you have any time available to re-do it?
I helped lay it. It is an interlocking flooring system that is commonly used, and is actually easy to lay. We did the whole house - kitchen, dining room, living room, hall, three closets and one of three bedrooms in four days, including all of the baseboards, shoe-moulding and door thresholds. I laid most of the flooring myself, doing roughly just over a room a day.
We have no more boards left over and they are sold by the case, but I suppose they could be purchased separately. The scratch is near the edge of the floor but to take it up again would require removal of boards that are under door jambs (which is quite a chore putting down in the first place trying to get it under the door jambs and interlocking them at the same time so there isn't a gap!) LOL! Don't laugh. It is possible and can be done, but it isn't easy.
I was using a utility knife to pare away part of the interlocking lip, a cheat to get it under a door jamb, when the knife slipped and I scratched the floor! Oh well - mine was not as bad as the other guy working with me - he slid the stove across the floor on a piece of cardboard. Great idea as long as there is no dirt under the cardboard! Oops! His scratch is MUCH longer than mine is, going half way across the room!
Not to mention, this is the worst kind of flooring to use in a kitchen! I hate to see what happens when water gets on it and is allowed to stand unnoticed.
If I were a home-owner, I would NEVER use such inferior materials. Solid hardwood cabinetry, doors, flooring, etc may be expensive and harder to work with, but it's well worth it and it lasts!
I agree, I just have an exit pop-up on my site.
As for pop-ups when I am browsing, I use Safari, and I just don't get them thank goodness!! :)
Safari prevents even these type of pop-ups? Interesting. If you open your own website on Safari, does it prevent your exit pop-up?
Cannot stand popups. Gurus claim they work, but whatever they may say, I am not using them. How anybody with a bit of brain can be willing to signup when that ugly things shows up? How come that Google punishes you for bad user's experience from many other aspects, and disregards this annoying thing?
I don't doubt that they work. People are so used to television commercials that they're no big deal and the same goes for getting junk mail.
I hate junk mail! It's almost as if it's the duty of the so-called "consumer" to get them.
Putting those things up in people's faces is just like slamming doors in their faces. Some of these gurus are so stupid! Why not appease everybody and if they are going to use a pop-up, why not one that isn't so invasive and rude.
I respect my readers. I do not slam doors in their faces and get the best of both worlds - use some less-invasive method for asking for sign-ups. I have nothing against that in and of itself.
Hi Daniel,
I totally agree with you. I hate that as much as you do.
I don't want to be interrupted when I am trying to read something especially those that want me to sign up to their list.
How do I even know that I want to sign up for their content when I haven't even seen their site yet.
Some of those sites also have so many ads that they take forever to load, the worst are those video ads or the ads that constantly refresh. I just hit the back button.
I admit, I have one pop up on my site as an email capture but, it doesn't load until they are ready to click off.
Yeah, I know. It doesn't make sense, but many do it and like has been said by someone else on here - gurus claim it works and they promote doing it.
Yes. If I were to have a pop-up, I would choose the one on exit, or better yet, one that slides in and does not interfere with the reading. It would say something like, "Liked the article? Why not subscribe by entering your details here..."
You could have this statically at the end of the article or as an exit- or slide-in pop-up.
I totally agree with you. What good is it to have pop-ups get put in your face when you've not had a chance to read the article!
Sheesh!
Hi Daniel - First sorry about the floor - get some butter abd ri=ub into the scratches as that will tone it down if you need something darker use vedgetable oil or darker still vedge oil mixed with a touch of Soya sorce - do not laight this stuff works
Now POP ups - I absolutely HATE as well just like you and whenI get a pop us I leave the site!!!!
On my site I have a pop up which comes on only when the visitor is leaving the site and I think this is the only way to fly
Hmmm. Very interesting. It is a very dark floor, probably dark walnut. I will pass the vegetable oil/soy sauce idea to the one I work for. I thought about using a dark wood stain for it but that might not be a good idea. I already passed that idea along, to be tried on a scrap piece, but I do like your suggestions.
The exit pop-ups seem to be a popular choice on here as several who have responded report using them. I don't know what possesses people to put the kind that pop up a few seconds after having opened a page. That is incredibly annoying to be reading something and BAM!
They're getting smarter though! Hitting the back button I noticed, clears the pop-up and my objective for those who feel they must use that type, is to create a bounce. So essentially one must hit the back button twice to do that, if it would then even count as a bounce at this point.
That's why I choose for an exit popup, it only appears when people leave my website, not interfering with the reading
Yes. Exit pop-ups are fine. I don't like those either but they are MUCH, MUCH better and I can tolerate those.
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I totally agree with you Daniel. Exit popups are the only ones that I will accept without a murmur.
I'm good with the exit pop-ups. Even better are the ones that slide up or from the right side when you reach the bottom of the page. Of all of these, I like the slide-ins. They do not require any kind of interaction at all nor are they invasive.