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Lightbox effect for contact form

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:33 am
by social_experiment
I'm thinking of using a lightbox effect for a contact form; is this a good idea or bad in terms of usability? The effect will work with jQuery but i will have a back-up contact form in place should javascript be disabled.

To my way of thinking a user might be annoyed if they got to the contact page and had to click another button to display the contact form; any other thoughts about this?

Re: Lightbox effect for contact form

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 9:13 am
by Eric!
Why don't you detect if javascript is disabled and redirect to the form automatically to avoid the extra button click?

Re: Lightbox effect for contact form

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 5:23 pm
by social_experiment
So if i accessed the contact page the form would be in a lightbox already, without having to click a button; assuming javascript is enabled

Re: Lightbox effect for contact form

Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 5:00 pm
by Eric!
I guess I don't know what you mean. Detect if javascript is turned off and don't present the lightbox version. If it is enabled, then show it. Where are the extra clicks?

Re: Lightbox effect for contact form

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 3:58 pm
by social_experiment
If the user clicks on the contact page the contact form won't be displayed; for the user to see the contact form they need to click something (button, image, text link) to display the form, this is the click i am refering to;

Re: Lightbox effect for contact form

Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 2:07 pm
by Live24x7
The user clicks on the contact link - if js is enabled - a lightbox pops up else he is redirected to a plain html contact page.
Everything happens in just one click.


On a sidenote - why are developers going crazy over lightboxes ?
How does it improve usability ?
It used to have a novelty feel when it was new.
but now with every other site employing light-boxes - one could look different by using plain html forms

Re: Lightbox effect for contact form

Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 4:26 am
by social_experiment
Live24x7 wrote:On a sidenote - why are developers going crazy over lightboxes ?
How does it improve usability ?
It used to have a novelty feel when it was new.
but now with every other site employing light-boxes - one could look different by using plain html forms
No idea but it can become very annoying very quickly; hence my question; Personally i feel if you have one in a specific area (a single form, or in a gallery) it won't detract from the site's overall usability. After some contemplation (and testing) i've decided to go with a for contact form without lightbox.

Re: Lightbox effect for contact form

Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 10:31 am
by Live24x7

Re: Lightbox effect for contact form

Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 1:06 pm
by social_experiment
The 'immoveable and modal' point is what bugs me the most about lightboxes; good find on the article.