14 ms·

The shady economics of a non-functioning close button of an annoying "Subscribe to newsletter" popup. Bottom line: it works but also sends a negative subliminal

by mojuba 8y ago

The shady economics of a non-functioning close button of an annoying "Subscribe to newsletter" popup. Bottom line: it works but also sends a negative subliminal signal to the visitors that a given business is desperate. Just something for website owners to have in mind.

mcv 8y ago
I increasingly tend to close popups on websites by deleting them from the DOM through dev tools. Not the most user-friendly method, but it's quite thorough.
- mojuba 8y ago
  Doesn't always work though, some web sites also manage to block scrolling of the main content which may not always be easy to figure out (esp. on messy web sites with megatons of JavaScript code, HTML and CSS). And surely there are browser plugins that help you remove annoying DOM elements in one click?
  - icebraining 8y ago
    uBlock Origin has a visual picker, which also saves the blocking rule for future visits: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Element-picker https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Element-picker
    - vxNsr 8y ago
      Only issue is the scrolling, how do I make a rule that blocks the inline js to prevent scrolling in the body elem. or worse when it's not inline.
      - mcv 8y ago
        I usually look at the body element and start removing classes there. That often works. But I suppose a plugin should be able to figure out automatically why something isn't scrolling.
        mojuba 8y ago
        Or a shortcut for non-technical people: outline.com. Works perfectly even on most paywalls, not just annoying popups.
- dredmorbius 8y ago
  I have a set of Stylus custom CSS styles I use, including a quite effective "Interstitials and Overlays" stylesheet. It's not applied to all sites, but individually to a large number. https://pastebin.com/raw/VcgNNwDp https://pastebin.com/raw/VcgNNwDp https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://plus.google.com/104092656004159577193/posts/hFzKwoiroQn https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://plus.google.com/104092...
- xur17 8y ago
  I have started putting made up email addresses, or `abuse@domain.com` into these boxes.

by mojuba 8y ago

mcv 8y ago

I increasingly tend to close popups on websites by deleting them from the DOM through dev tools. Not the most user-friendly method, but it's quite thorough.

mojuba 8y ago
Doesn't always work though, some web sites also manage to block scrolling of the main content which may not always be easy to figure out (esp. on messy web sites with megatons of JavaScript code, HTML and CSS). And surely there are browser plugins that help you remove annoying DOM elements in one click?
- icebraining 8y ago
  uBlock Origin has a visual picker, which also saves the blocking rule for future visits: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Element-picker https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Element-picker
  - vxNsr 8y ago
    Only issue is the scrolling, how do I make a rule that blocks the inline js to prevent scrolling in the body elem. or worse when it's not inline.
    - mcv 8y ago
      I usually look at the body element and start removing classes there. That often works. But I suppose a plugin should be able to figure out automatically why something isn't scrolling.
      - mojuba 8y ago
        Or a shortcut for non-technical people: outline.com. Works perfectly even on most paywalls, not just annoying popups.
dredmorbius 8y ago
I have a set of Stylus custom CSS styles I use, including a quite effective "Interstitials and Overlays" stylesheet. It's not applied to all sites, but individually to a large number. https://pastebin.com/raw/VcgNNwDp https://pastebin.com/raw/VcgNNwDp https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://plus.google.com/104092656004159577193/posts/hFzKwoiroQn https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://plus.google.com/104092...
xur17 8y ago
I have started putting made up email addresses, or `abuse@domain.com` into these boxes.