JavaScript Pop-up box vs Light box?

Question

Hello cool so I think I have a good question for a bit of a debate. I am currently looking for a good method for displaying something important - terms and conditions for a product - so when a client comes to a page in order for them to access to any functionality they need to agree with the terms and conditions. now I know there are some disadvantages with pop-ups like:

1. If scripting is disabled, or if the browser does not support JavaScript, the pop-up will not work

2. Search engines cannot follow links to pop-up windows (scripted elements are always ignored)

3. Pop-ups present accessibility problems

4. Site management tools (e.g. DreamWeaver) cannot update links to pop-ups if you move the destination page to another section of your site

5. Many people have pop-up killers running that close the window the moment it’s opened In Mozilla, there is an option to stop pop-ups opening in the first place

Not the thing I am worried about is that lightbox might not be compatible withsome of the older browsers. here in africa people are not super up-to date I have seen people using ie-4 (shivers down the spine). but we are only really concerned from ie-7 up. has anyone used lightbox before? or have any suggestions for something of this nature? I am use there must be a lot of use case for a feature like this.

What do you think?

Answer 1

as a webdeveloper myself i suggest you to use lightbox over popup anytime.
Your concern are right but i would rather focus on a couple:

1. rarely javascript is disabled nowaday, if it is often it's becouse of company firewall and they wouldn't let the employers access your site in first place.
   Yes, some people is still using old browser but it's diminishing overtime, if you are really concerned about it you can, with some more work, create both a popup and a lightbox and drive it trough the meta user agent check.
2. popup are incredibly annoying for the people becouse:
   a) you have to click or to "tab-dance" on a different window that the one currently active.
   b) as you stated most of the browser now block popup as a default feature, so there are high chance that people won't even go through the step of allowing the popup of www.mycoolsite.org to work.
   c)it can kill any google analytics tracement (if you want any) while lightboxes it's a normal html element in the page and thus traceable via javascript event bind.
3. lightbox is amazingly easy to use and customize, offering you the chance to develop your idea without compromise.

Answer 2

In your situation and technical requirements (IE4, no-javascript), you shouldn't use either. Put a page in front of product access where the user needs to agree to terms. That is the most pragmatic approach, business value before eye candy.

In fact, I would even go as far as to say that for required terms agreements, both lightbox and popup are anti-patterns, they just needlessly complicate matters for both developers and end users.