Have popups and popunders suddenly become acceptable again? I really hope not, and with my consumer hat on, I still find them irritating to the point that i stop using sites completely that use them.
I am not talking about functional windows that open to help you select a calendar date for instance, but the ones that just carry advertising and are typically spawned from the homepage.
Take MoneySupermarket.com as an example; a very successful UK site for comparing financial products, and one that has doubled in popularity in the recent weeks due to the global credit crunch. I have been aware of this site for a while but not had cause to use until this week as my current mortgage offer just came to an end.
From all accounts it is the best site for this type of information in the UK, it certainly must be doing well to spend the advertising dollars they are. But I had a horrible experience whilst using it and in the end gave up and went elsewhere. The problem was that on every page there is a script running that tries to open a popunder window, and on some pages you feel inclined to accept the popunder because it seems to contain functionality only to feel tricked when shown a window full of ads.
Grr.
As a consumer they have lost me now. I will not return to use the site until they stop this practice. Usability and consumer behaviour studies I have been involved in indicate that I will not be alone. The site may be enjoying double volume right now, but the long term effects of such actions may be felt in the leaner days.
:~Dax~:
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