Buzz
Before the advent of pop-up blockers, your screen could easily become overwhelmed by ads like these. Explore more Web advertising visuals.We've all encountered it at some point while browsing the Web – you're visiting a new site and suddenly your screen floods with boxes promoting products and services from every corner of the Internet. Marketing agencies argue that pop-up ads generate more clicks than static advertising banners, although this might be more about user mistakes than intent. In other words, users trying to close a pop-up may accidentally click on the ad link, giving the advertiser a false positive.
Web Advertising Visual Collection
Some pop-up ads feature intrusive animations or sound effects that can disrupt a user's experience or even prevent navigation on a Web page. Occasionally, one pop-up can trigger several others to open as soon as you manage to close the first one. To make matters worse, certain pop-ups may contain harmful elements like spyware or viruses.
The majority of pop-up ads are Javascript-based applications that open a new browser window with fresh content. This new window appears over your current view, hiding the webpage you actually wish to see. Due to their intrusive nature, pop-up ads have long been ranked as the most bothersome form of online advertising in surveys.
Enter the pop-up blocker. The first pop-up blockers emerged on the Internet in the mid '90s. The most well-known at the time was PopUp Killer, developed by Xavier Flix. Today, pop-up blockers are included in most web browsers, and there are also numerous commercial and free programs available to keep your browsing experience free from clutter.
In this article, we'll explore how pop-up blockers work, the various types of blockers you can use to reduce pop-ups, and the potential challenges you may face when enabling a pop-up blocker.
Banner ads were once the most common form of online advertising. These ads are essentially hypertext links displayed as images. They can be static or feature Flash animations, but their main goal remains the same – clicking on them redirects you to the advertiser's webpage.
Pop-unders function similarly to pop-ups, but instead of appearing on top of your current browser window, they open beneath it. Usually, you only become aware of pop-unders when you close your browser.
Floaters (also known as Pop-overs) are becoming increasingly popular with advertisers. These dynamic ads move across your screen while you browse a webpage.
Pop-up Blocker Software
A typical pop-up advertisementMost pop-up ads are created using the Javascript programming language. When you visit a webpage with pop-up ads, the ads trigger as the page loads in your browser. The pop-up code is embedded in the webpage's code itself. Pop-up blockers scan the page's source code, looking for any instructions that tell the browser to open a new window. When a blocker detects such code, it disables the command, preventing the pop-up from appearing.
However, not all pop-ups are triggered when the webpage loads. Some are activated when you click a link or hover your mouse over a designated area on the webpage. A good pop-up blocker can identify these ads as well. In some cases, a pop-up blocker may only disable the ad after it begins to appear. If you've ever seen a pop-up quickly flash and vanish when you have a pop-up blocker active, that's the blocker detecting and deactivating the ad after activation.
Certain pop-ups use different programming languages, such as Flash. A Javascript pop-up blocker won't work on Flash pop-ups, as it's a separate programming language. To block Flash-based ads, you need a Flashblock program. These programs function similarly to pop-up blockers, disabling commands in webpages that trigger Flash animations. Some programs even combine both Javascript and Flash ad blocking in one package.
Not all pop-up blockers are the same. Some are highly effective at blocking intrusive pop-ups while allowing useful ones to pass through – these are called Intelligent pop-up blockers. Generally, most intelligent blockers only prevent pop-ups that appear when a webpage initially loads in your browser, leaving pop-ups triggered by user clicks untouched.
Trainable pop-up blockers rely on user decisions to determine which pop-ups to block and which to ignore. While each pop-up blocker varies, the process typically involves the blocker asking the user if they want to disable a pop-up when it first appears. If the user selects 'Yes,' the pop-up is added to a blacklist to prevent it from appearing in the future.
If the user selects 'No,' the pop-up is added to a whitelist, meaning it won’t be blocked again. While this type of blocker is easy to personalize, it can become frustrating as users are required to make decisions for each pop-up they encounter. Additionally, if the advertiser changes the pop-up slightly, it may bypass the blocker.
Serial pop-up blockers aim to block every pop-up ad they can detect. These blockers identify and deactivate every possible version of the code used to trigger pop-ups, regardless of whether the pop-up contains advertising or not. While they provide a pop-up-free browsing experience, they can sometimes cause issues when navigating specific webpages.
In the next section, we'll explore why you might choose to disable a pop-up blocker.
In response to pop-up blockers, some website administrators have started embedding code into their site’s HTML to prevent their pages from displaying on Firefox users' screens. Firefox includes an ad-blocking feature within the browser, which has upset some webmasters. When a Firefox user attempts to visit these sites, they are presented with a page of text explaining why they can’t access the content, accusing Mozilla (Firefox's publisher) of violating the Webmaster’s rights by blocking their ads. Creative Firefox users often look for ways to bypass this protective code, leading the site administrators to attempt new methods of blocking them, and the cycle continues.
In contrast to the Webmasters’ stance, many users and developers of pop-up blockers argue that Webmasters have access to more effective, less intrusive advertising methods. They contend that pop-up ads are so disruptive and aggravating, they make web browsing an ordeal. If websites offered less irritating ads, blockers wouldn’t be necessary. However, for some site admins, pop-ups remain the most viable option due to their low cost and higher success rate.
Drawbacks of Pop-up Blockers
Pop-up ads can be extremely irritating and may even significantly disrupt your browsing experience. So why wouldn’t we always want to block them? Some websites use the same window.open function to launch a new browser window containing valuable information. Online stores, for example, might use pop-ups to show customers a detailed view of a product.
Other websites might rely on pop-ups to allow users to complete forms without leaving the main page. This is often the case when you’re attempting to download a file. Some pop-up blockers may struggle to differentiate between helpful pop-ups and the invasive ads that we all dislike.
If you're using a trainable or intelligent pop-up blocker, you may have better luck. These blockers generally only stop unwanted pop-ups, but no blocker is flawless. You may still encounter a few frustrating ads, and there’s a good chance you’ll miss some helpful pop-ups at times too.
Luckily, most pop-up blocker programs offer a range of customizable settings, allowing users to fine-tune their browsing experience. For example, some programs let you mark specific websites as safe for pop-ups. Once you designate a website as safe, the blocker will stop disabling pop-up windows for that site. Other blockers may require you to temporarily turn off the blocker entirely in order to view pop-ups. Be sure to reactivate the blocker when you're finished on that site, or you'll find yourself overwhelmed with pop-ups again.
This is a question that many companies are posing to marketing firms. Pop-up blockers have gained significant popularity among internet users, with a New Scientist poll reporting that up to 81% of Americans use some form of pop-up blocker [source: New Scientist, December 16, 2006, Vol. 192, Issue 2582, p. 23]. Today, pop-ups aren't nearly as troublesome as they once were.
User surveys suggest that well-crafted videos are less bothersome than pop-ups. However, the least annoying ad, the banner ad, is also the least effective. Although users find banner ads less intrusive, they rarely click on them.
Some companies continue to use pop-up ads because they are quick and inexpensive to create. For businesses with smaller advertising budgets, pop-up ads can be an appealing choice.
