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Re: Opening modal window without user action

for

From: Marc Solomon
Date: Mar 28, 2016 12:38PM


I recently visited the Helen Keller National Center in New York. Prior to my meeting, I reviewed their newly redesigned (hellenkeller.org). First time visitors are presented with a message about website features for customizing the visual appearance of the content. The visible message container has a prominent location in the top left of the screen and all other background content is dimmed. The message content is placed near the top of the DOM so screen reader users discover the message as soon as you start reading the page. There is a Close Menu element at the end of the message that is keyboard operable and clicking outside of the message container also closes it. I am curious to know what others think of this implementation and if it could serve as a model for the types of modals we have been discussing on this thread.

Thanks,
Marc

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Patrick H. Lauke
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2016 10:20 AM
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Opening modal window without user action

On 25/03/2016 14:15, Mike Barlow wrote:
> I agree with Patrick. Though I'd never design a site that has an
> "automatic" popup like the op describes. Sometimes one must bow to he
> who signs the paycheck, but also sometimes he who signs the paycheck
> can be persuaded that his approach could lead to more problems than it's worth.

Ironically perhaps, I'd say that if the automatic popup happened right away, and NOT after a timeout (so that the user didn't already start interacting with the actual page, only to be unceremoniously and unwantedly being yanked off to this popup), then it would be less of a problem... (this would also remove the problem/annoyance experienced by all users - e.g. the "non disabled" mouse user who is starting to read/interact/scroll down on the page only to then be rudely presented with a doorslam modal; this would also, of course, be a problem for users with cognitive disabilities, or screen magnification, etc)

P
--
Patrick H. Lauke

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