Tobold's Blog: Feedback needed on blog comments popup

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Feedback needed on blog comments popup

A reader wrote me that he has problems adding comments to my blog, because the add comments window is a popup, which is blocked by some software. I checked my blog settings and noticed there is a way to change the comment window. So now I changed the window for adding comments to be a normal browser window, and not a popup window.

I would love to hear some feedback on whether that change is okay for all of you, or whether you preferred the popup window for some reason. Please also tell me if you prefer the new way over the old way. In principle the new way, without popups, should be more compatible with all sorts of systems and popup blockers.
- posted by Tobold @ 2:37 PM Permanent Link

Comments:

I highly dislike the new settings, since :

*** It opens in the same window.
*** It is much more visible at work, and i guess my boss will not like it.

If your other reader has trouble whith his popup blocker he shoule make an exception for your blog in his blocker settings.

My 2 cts.

Boterham

# posted by

Anonymous : 7/2/08 14:59

It works fine.

My view is: popups are bad. I'd rather control my own window rather than having the site owner make those decisions for me.

With browsers like Firefox (and the newer IE versions I think) you can open links in new tabs without much trouble. I use middle-click but I can't remember if that's the default.

# posted by

Anonymous : 7/2/08 15:05

Prefer the new system.

# posted by

Dissimilitude : 7/2/08 15:30

I can view the contents of the original post PLUS the latest comments AND type my own comment at the same time. I'm happy.

The popup window WAS a bit annoying...

# posted by

coprolit : 7/2/08 15:40

I much prefer the window rather than the pop-up. Easier to read comments while responding to them IMHO. Oh and you don't get that weird little stray browser window that you wonder about when you go to shut the PC down only to realize you left Tobold's comments open.

# posted by

heartlessgamer : 7/2/08 15:51

I preferred the old "pop-up" comment box, it was a lot more low key while browsing at work. And as Boter said, Firefox makes it easy enough to allow pop-ups from selected sites that this shouldn't be an issue.

# posted by

Cap'n John : 7/2/08 15:53

gimme back my popup!

# posted by

Unknown : 7/2/08 15:59

It doesn't really make much a difference to me.

However, if the pop up comment window was bugging someone all they had to do was click on the article link then scroll down and hit the "Post Comment" button. This opens up comments in the same window instead of a pop-up.

# posted by

Relmstein : 7/2/08 15:59

Ether way is fine with me, I just have remember to hit back instead of closing the window.

# posted by

Mr. Gone : 7/2/08 16:25

I dont like it when the original post dosnt show up as the first entry of the comment section.

# posted by

Anonymous : 7/2/08 16:55

Can't the pop up window be expanded?

# posted by

Anonymous : 7/2/08 17:16

First thing....

Software should not block popups that are opened when a user action is performed. So, if I click a link, it's okey to open a single new window.
Blocking should happen when more than one window is opened or if no direct user action is performed.

At least this is what happens with Firefox. And anyway when a browser blocks a popup, should alert and let user to change the setting for a per site basis.

Anyway.....
For me is quite the same for both methods.

May be I would prefer a bit the old style as comment box is anyway very small, so I can rearrange around the window as preferred while doing other stuff. Anyway no real preference

# posted by

Jack-o-Lantern : 7/2/08 17:16

I prefer the new system.

# posted by

Billy Jo : 7/2/08 17:19

The pop-up is way better. You need to be able to see the original post...and the comments, when leaving a comment.

# posted by

BugHunter : 7/2/08 17:22

Finally i can comment. Not sure if that was concise enough of feedback, but there you have it.

I would have replied to hundreds of your posts over the past year or so that i have been daily reading your blog.

bravo. keep it like this.

# posted by

Anonymous : 7/2/08 17:57

In IE at least, you can simply hold down shift when you click the comment link to open it in a new window. I vote you keep it like this. If even a few additional people are able to comment when before they could not, it is worth it.

# posted by

Anonymous : 7/2/08 18:20

The new comment setting is much better, IMHO.

# posted by

Anonymous : 7/2/08 19:01

prefered the old way, can't read the original post like this

also the layout is ugly

# posted by

Anonymous : 7/2/08 19:01

Another vote for the new system.

# posted by

Anonymous : 7/2/08 19:06

Not having a popup is great, I hate popups and always thought "why does there have to be one?" when I commented here :)

On the other hand, the default Blogger layout for comments is indeed ugly.

So ... while I prefer the new layout, maybe there's a way to comment in-place? I have no experience with Blogger, but other blogging packages allow that, with Ajax magic and whatnot - just a comment form below the post, and pushing "submit" automatically transfers the comment to the server, puts it into the database, and updates the site without reloading. Aah, one can dream...

# posted by

haslo : 7/2/08 19:24

It's really easy: just click on the permanent link and then click to read comments. You go to a full page with a box to comment in. No popups. No change to the blog.

That's how I've read the blog since the permanent links went in.

# posted by

Polynices : 7/2/08 19:24

I don't like the comments being in the same window. I prefer to close the comments window and have the topics listed in another window.

This really only affects me when I want to post a comment because for a while (since I am connecting from work and want to be "browsing" as little as possible), I check to see how many comments a new topic has received and then click on the title of the topic (to display the topic and its comments together in one window).

Then I copy the topic and the comments and paste them into an empty Word document.

Then I close my browser and read the topic and comments offline.

# posted by

Anonymous : 7/2/08 19:26

I liked the width of the old style better. I tend to write rather long comments sometimes and having to scroll in my own comment (not to mention other comments) kinda sucks.

# posted by

Anonymous : 7/2/08 19:58

There are space issues at the top at boters comment. Looks cramped.

If this comment page took advantage of the new screen width you could really save some real estate on the page. With the comment entry box on the right it forces the comments into what looks like the old width you had in the popup.

If you want the comments to open in a new window, consider adding the post being commented upon to the top of the new window for reference.

Nobility - WoWDojo

# posted by

Anonymous : 7/2/08 20:09

New system is better imo, the old system was fine, but I prefer everything to be in one spot, easier to read, less windows to deal with the better for me.

# posted by

Anonymous : 7/2/08 20:23

IMO, the old verison was much more work-friendly

# posted by

Anonymous : 7/2/08 22:08

Yikes - I dislike the new way. I much prefer the popup - it's less obtrusive and doesn't navigate you away from the original post (which you may want to refer back to whilst commenting).

# posted by

Anonymous : 7/2/08 22:52

BugHunter said...

The pop-up is way better. You need to be able to see the original post...and the comments, when leaving a comment.

This is a very good point.

# posted by

Anonymous : 7/2/08 23:51

If you're going to use a "_self" window then :

1: have the comments use the full screen, not just a column to the left.

2: Have the original post in view at the top.

I can live with 1, but not 2.

# posted by

Anonymous : 8/2/08 01:40

It's hard to get feedback about popups, if people can't comment on your blog due to popups in the first place. Just saying ;p

It's more convenient for me without popups, but works either way.

# posted by

Anonymous : 8/2/08 02:21

Use to the old comment window pop up but this works fine...wish you had started blogging on Wordpress.com in the beginning but variation is the spice of life I suppose ;)

# posted by

Anonymous : 8/2/08 14:27

I prefer this new method, and I'd like to add that there's a 'show/hide original post' link (does not open a new window or anything) right above the first comment.

# posted by

Scott : 8/2/08 14:55

If you hold down SHIFT while clicking on Post a Comment, you'll get a separate comment window to pop up. Okay, it doesn't look exactly like the old one, but at least it is possible. I see more people preferring the new non-popup way than those preferring the old popup way. And those who prefer the popups have some workarounds available, while people who have popups blocked at work can't that easily work around them.

So the new comment way stays, without popups.

# posted by

Tobold : 8/2/08 15:14

The new way is better simply because the user gets to choose whether to view comments

a) in the same tab,
b) in a new tab or
b) in a new window...

With the popup approach there is no choice, which is bad.

# posted by

Anonymous : 9/2/08 14:41

If you are clicking a link that generates a pop-up, and you are not getting that pop-up, that's just a browser/popup blocker out of control, doing the wrong thing due to bad settings or something. That's what you need to fix. There was nothing wrong with Tobold's old comment system.

# posted by

Anonymous : 10/2/08 06:08