22 Dec 2011, 2:24 pm
The popup on the forum index (list of all forums).
It is supposed to remind people to log in or register. Or it was designed to compel people to register so more accurate forum metrics could be collected. I get that. But it is incredibly annoying for two reasons:
People just reading the posts will not want to register. They have to deal with the popup EVERY single time they hit the back button out of a forum, or when they click the forum index link. Every time! Someone might stumble upon WP looking for answers, and they'll quickly get confused or frustrated by this.
Second, I regularly clear out my browser cookies which of course logs me out of the forum. I tend to browse and read the forums without logging in (see above) until I find a topic I'd like to post to. That may be days and days of dealing with that pop-up over and over, until I decide to post and therefore login.
Even if one isn't bothered by incessant prompting, the little X in the corner isn't at all obvious, making it look like the visitor must register to proceed. That does not appear very friendly to casual visitors. The DIV containing the popup covers the entire page and blocks all links. Seriously, almost as if this was made intentionally as annoying as possible. 
There are two solutions:
1) get rid of the popup completely
2) if you want to keep it, make the X in the corner larger, and set a cookie when X is pressed so the pop-up does not return again. Make the cookie expire in 24 hours so the user is prompted only once every 24 hours, instead of incessantly.
spongy
Veteran
Joined: 17 Jul 2010
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 8,055
Location: Patiently waiting for the seventh wave
22 Dec 2011, 2:34 pm
It is supposed to remind people to log in or register. Or it was designed to compel people to register so more accurate forum metrics could be collected. I get that. But it is incredibly annoying for two reasons:
People just reading the posts will not want to register. They have to deal with the popup EVERY single time they hit the back button out of a forum, or when they click the forum index link. Every time! Someone might stumble upon WP looking for answers, and they'll quickly get confused or frustrated by this.
Second, I regularly clear out my browser cookies which of course logs me out of the forum. I tend to browse and read the forums without logging in (see above) until I find a topic I'd like to post to. That may be days and days of dealing with that pop-up over and over, until I decide to post and therefore login.
Even if one isn't bothered by incessant prompting, the little X in the corner isn't at all obvious, making it look like the visitor must register to proceed. That does not appear very friendly to casual visitors. The DIV containing the popup covers the entire page and blocks all links. Seriously, almost as if this was made intentionally as annoying as possible.
There are two solutions:
1) get rid of the popup completely
2) if you want to keep it, make the X in the corner larger, and set a cookie when X is pressed so the pop-up does not return again. Make the cookie expire in 24 hours so the user is prompted only once every 24 hours, instead of incessantly.
Alex is talking about a software update here http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt182429.html
So your suggestion would probably be read by him there.
Sorry if it looks like Im just tosing you around but he is the one that implements the software... and chances of him finding this thread by himself are quite small
25 Dec 2011, 5:59 pm
