Ineffective PMs or A New Notification Method? - PSO-World.com Forums

AzureBlaze · 05-14-2006, 03:00 AM

I've run into some trouble, but it's not a technical difficulty.

More of a request on how to make something better or figure it out. As everyone (should) know, usually a PM is announced to you by a pop up window, which you press to take you to the PMs box.

However...most current softwares have at least one pop up blocker/guard/whatever turned on at ALL times. Running more than one?
I have to deal with 2 blockers that try to block PSOW (antivirus and browser) Some blockers don't even notify when they block! So luring that elusive PM window can be a pain. And if you DONT see it, no one thinks to check, so you get tons of missed messages because the menu makes your PM box obtuse to get to.

-Ask people to turn off their blocker on the antivirus and browser? (I suppose you could, but who would? If you knew how? What about remote computers? You have to hassle turning it back on every time you leave PSOW?)

-Do people new to PSOW get told of messages making pop ups? Does anyone remember?

The incidents:
(A mod might remember)I did a PSU article and a long lost pal did an off topic post to try and contact me. I PM'd a response to try and re-establish contact, but he never saw the PM.

A friend on PSOW recieved several PMs about beta-sharing, and failed to check the box in time. The beta was closed and the PM'er missed the opportunity to share the beta because the reminders were all blocked.

My suggestion:
Would it be hard to make some kind of a button that appears on the home page (like on one side or something so it doesn't interfere w/content) that is in an EASY spot to see (not scroll down 10x to get at it) that like...changes color or shows up different somehow when you have a new PM in the box. Like it's normally gray but turns red and has "New PM" written on it or something when you have a PM. Or if you're not logged in, it's always gray.

I don't know about code, or even how anyone gets the pop up to appear, so I've no idea the difficulty level of this.

But I do know that pesky pop up blockers ARE creating a problem, and important communication is being missed daily because no one knows they've got a PM.

Is this possible to implement? Are there other ideas?

KodiaX987 · 05-14-2006, 09:09 AM

If your popup blocker is minimally competent, it should have a whitelist option that would allow PSO-World.com to show its popups.

AzureBlaze · 05-14-2006, 10:48 AM

This is true...
But it unfortunatly requires the user to also be minimally competent in order to put psow on the 'ok for popups' list. (I did it for mine) My problem with it is that no one seems to know to do it, or they simply don't do it and all the PMs get missed. I'd like to think that the majority of people WOULD bother to say popups=ok, but I can't find any other explanation for why no one actually gets their PMs.

EphekZ · 05-14-2006, 11:23 AM

you cant just look at the bottom of the main forums to see if you have pms?

Skorpius · 05-14-2006, 11:28 AM

I thought pop-up blockers signaled when they blocked a pop-up.

EphekZ · 05-14-2006, 11:33 AM

Quote:

On 2006-05-14 09:28, Skorpius wrote:
I thought pop-up blockers signaled when they blocked a pop-up.

I was just about to edit my post and add that.

KodiaX987 · 05-14-2006, 08:50 PM

Quote:

On 2006-05-14 08:48, AzureBlaze wrote:
This is true...
But it unfortunatly requires the user to also be minimally competent in order to put psow on the 'ok for popups' list. (I did it for mine) My problem with it is that no one seems to know to do it, or they simply don't do it and all the PMs get missed. I'd like to think that the majority of people WOULD bother to say popups=ok, but I can't find any other explanation for why no one actually gets their PMs.

The problem is that it takes an even more competent person to actually code the flashing button that says you got a PM. If you want to get a feeling of what being a webmaster is, right-click anywhere on the main page and select View Source.

Hell, back a few years ago, PSOW didn't even have a popup notifier to tell you had a new PM.

Sorry bud. If people aren't smart enough to know how to use their own browser or popup blocker... Why should someone else wipe after their stupidity?

AzureBlaze · 05-14-2006, 11:56 PM

I figured it'd be hard.
As you can see in my sig, I am already a webmaster of 2 sites. Granted, they're not all that interactive or complicated, but I do know some things. (unfortunatly not enuff to offer help with the button)

As for the people who can't/won't/don't know how/forget to use it, I guess I was just angling for a better way that can't be foiled by over-zealous technology and isn't susceptible to forgetful folks or people in a rush to the site.
...And as for wiping up after the stupidity, I suppose I am dissapointed that someone elses' error/oversight can end up costing me, as well as them.

EJ · 05-15-2006, 12:16 AM

The only other way that I believe is the easiest for a button like that is probably a small flash button since I made several for my school and use it to notify about new things.

But the problem is if the user doesn't have a flash player install, since I'm more of a flash person I really not sure how one would do it through html or dreamweaver.