Alan,

       The big issue with pop-up windows (having been in this discussion
in the W3C) is one of location and navigation. For "blind navigation,"
the two important aspects are knowing where you currently are
(location), and knowing how to get from where you are to where you want
to be (navigation). Pop-up windows take the focus of the browser from
the window where you think you are, and suddenly drop you into an
unexpected place. The result is disorientation, and often a failure to
provide navigation back to where you want to be.

       Imagine that you are leaving your front door to go to work. You
forgot your lunch on the kitchen counter, so your magic door decides
that you should be back in the kitchen to get your lunch. It doesn't
tell you that it's going to do this, just, boom, there you are.

       As a sighted person, you would know that something odd had
happened, because your refrigerator is not in your front yard.  But if
it was the middle of the night, and this happened, you might crash into
the refrigerator because you expected the sidewalk to your garage to be
there.

       You would be very disoriented, and have a difficult time figuring
out what had happened.  Hence, pop-up windows (and magic doors) are bad
things because then confuse both location and navigation.

       Denis Anson, MS, OTR
       Computer Access Specialist
       College Misericordia
       301 Lake St.
       Dallas, PA 18612
       email: [log in to unmask]
       Phone: 570-674-6413


       > -----Original Message-----
       > From: * EASI: Equal Access to Software & Information
       > [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Alan Cantor
       > Sent: Monday, November 04, 2002 1:41 PM
       > To: [log in to unmask]
       > Subject: What is the problem with accessible pop-up windows?
       >
       > I have a question about WCAG 1.0:
       >
       > 10.1: Until user agents allow users to turn off spawned
windows, do
       > not cause pop-up or other windows to appear and do not change
the
       > current window without informing the user.
       >
       > What problems are there with operating-system produced pop-up
       > windows? Let's say a user enters data onto a form on a
web-based
       > application. The use hits the submit button, the data is
validated,
       > and is found to contain an error. If javascript pops an error
       > message, there will be accessibility problems. But if Windows
draws
       > a dialog box to report the error (with an appropriate title
bar,
       > message text, and standard pushbuttons) is this a problem? What
       > techniques are more accessible than an accessible pop-up
window?
       >
       > Alan
       >
       >
       > Alan Cantor
       > Project Manager
       > Strategic e-Government Implementation
       > e-Government, OCCS
       > 416-212-1152
       > [log in to unmask]