Pop-ups bounce back
Published: 07 Jun 2004 11:30 BST
Deflating pop-up blockers
Some new pop-up techniques simply avoid that command, thus subverting blockers that rely on suppressing it. For example, some advertisers are sending pop-ups through a "user initiated command" triggered when people mouse over an object on the page, according to ad executives familiar with the technique.
"It initiates a JavaScript command, and it gets around pop-up blockers that don't block user initiated commands like Google and Yahoo," said Adam Tuttle, director of Adserver sales for Fastclick, another ad network. Adserver does not use the technique, he said, because it does not behove the company to send an ad to someone wishing to avoid it.
The pops don't stop
Despite a rise in software to block pop-ups and pop-unders, the intrusive ads have more than tripled their online presence in the last two years.
Google declined to comment for this story. But the company's Web site references one common way that people end up with pop-ups, even if they've downloaded its tool. Adware, or software that gets bundled with other popular applications like Kazaa, can deliver the ads because they originate from the desktop, not the browser, and are not governed by the blocking tools. "You may have these programs or others like them installed on your computer without even being aware of it," according to Google's Web site.
Mainstream advertising networks and distributors are reluctant to discuss what steps, if any, they are taking to circumvent pop-up blockers, although some admit that they've developed new methods to serve such ads. In addition, some advertisers are busy developing intrusive formats that mimic pop-ups in their ability to grab attention, but that don't surrender control over when and how they're displayed to consumers' Web browsers.
Publishers have taken to spawning in-pages ads in lieu of pop-ups, called "overlays" or "floater ads." Like stacking paper, the ads will float over the middle of a Web page to catch people's attention before reading requested content. Visitors typically can't manipulate the ads like they can a pop-up or pop-under by minimising the window or clicking the exit button. Floating ads will remain on the page until they disappear, or until the visitor leaves the page.
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3 comments
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If you have a lot of pop-ups, try this cure: Mozil... Gilbert Godin -
Vote with your money, if a company uses pop-up/und... Chris
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Agree with the above post. Use Mozilla Firefox. Kikki Bona Sijabat
