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July 22, 2008
Use and misuse: Flash in-browser pop-ups
Among modern annoyances, these little suckers are pretty intolerable. I rate them just below to regular "old skool" pop-up windows and screwed up bread crumb navigation patterns.
You know what I'm talking about, especially if you blog at SHU using Movable Type--it's the little window that takes over your main browser window so you can upload an image... MT used to have a pop-up window that asked if you just wanted to have the HTML for the image you just uploaded or if you wanted it in a new entry... And if you don't blog at SHU, you're still bound to run into it--Google Apps uses it, eMusic uses it, I think Blogger might, and I'm sure there are other culprits out there... 
What's the problem with it? I guess I might be a traditionalist when it comes to navigating web pages. I like having a trail so I can get back to where I came from. I use my history and hack URLs so I can get to what I want. I like having URLs assigned to each page I visit. I like being able to bookmark these things and find exactly what I want without a Flash program in my way.
Don't misunderstand me--Flash is valuable. But like most other web elements, it has its place. It's use in navigation is tricky in general, but I dislike it most of all when it takes over the run-of-the-mill web page I'm visiting and opens up as a mini window, an application of sorts, over top of my current window. When it's over my window, there is no URL and I can't access my window without closing the Flash window.
I realize that this is to combat necessary pop-ups being blocked by pop-up blockers... and it's a creative solution, indeed. I appreciate creativity in the face of a problem. After all, need is the mother of invention. I also realize that I have a Mac and therefore have a better chance of not being marauded by pop-up ads. However, I would like to believe that intelligent Internet users know how to enable and disable their pop-up blockers so that they can use the tools on whatever site. (I would really like to believe this.)
My biggest problem with the use of the Flash in-browser pop-ups is when they don't work or stop responding. This happens most often to me when I am working in Google Apps. I'm doing a site for a client based completely in Google Apps and recently he had me redesign the home page. While I was working in Google "Pages" the Flash pop-up failed to respond when I was trying to add some widgets to the site. I couldn't even get the Flash window to close. I had to close that tab in my browser and start over. UGH. Quite annoying when I'm moving through a number of steps to achieve a product in Google's convoluted application management system.
In MT, I used to leave the little uploader window open so that I could copy and paste the code it generated for the image right into my blog entry. Now I find it annoying that I have to go through several steps just to make that happen. Create -> Upload File. Then the Flash window. Select file and destination. Then it makes a new entry. Then I copy the code from that entry and tell the browser that, yes, I do want to navigate away from this page so I can paste this code where the heck I need it. Then I paste. Gah. If there is an easier way, someone fill me in.
I know this probably has the feel of a long, drawn out list of complaints (and it might very well be), but my gripe lies in the issue of the Flash in-browser pop-up's use/misuse--MT could have left it as a separate little window... Google could figure something out... or both could just trust their users to figure out how to work their pop-up blockers. From what I hear, even the new version of IE has a decent blocker. Now there's something revolutionary...
Posted by KarissaKilgore at July 22, 2008 7:38 PM