Back in my post about what I think some best practices are in ASP.NET applications I mentioned that a good web application shouldn’t use popup windows. Instead of popup windows I think it is much better to use a javascript modal.
On my last application we used a modal called subModal which uses iframes, but lately modals that use ajax have become much more prevalent and popular. The main reason (in my mind) to avoid the iframe approach is that is complicates your javascript. You have to communicate between windows while dynamically loading the content into a div lets you reference anything on the page like normal.
On my rails side project I have been using Lightbox Gone Wild and I have been pretty pleased so far. The other day Jayme sent me a link to ModalBox which looks very promising.
Anyone using ModalBox? Or a better modal?
-James
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I’ve been using the Microsoft AJAX toolkit ModalPopup with good success.
I recommend double checking if you *really* need a modal. In most cases, something simple inline or on a new page is a better design choice.
Scott,
I couldn’t agree more, I think the modal is becoming over used and can often be very annoying. I thought awhile about the one place I am using it and after trying a couple different ways I think it is the best way to handle the UI.
-James
james, where needed, I use jquery and the jqModal plugin.
it’s minimalistic for my tastes and easy to customize.
Here’s the link:
http://dev.iceburg.net/jquery/jqModal/
Although we try to avoid them too, sometimes modals are necessary… we use prototype window for modals and not modals. It’s kinda big, but very configurable
I’m a big fan of using a floating div + and the DragPanelExtender.
Sometimes you have to use an Iframe-backed popup if it is to show up over a dropdown or listbox in IE.
What really sucks is when requirements dictate that the popup be draggable outside the current browser window. That’s what I get for working on internal line of business apps though.
Implemented some multi-step ModalBox dialogs on some really complicated PHP pages a while back. Was a good solution for the task.
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