Web pop-ups are dead but rollovers are just as irritating

A few years ago it was common to have pop-up windows  on websites. When you visited a web page or clicked a link, left a page or whatever, a pop-up window would appear on the screen. It usually contained an advert or something similar that you had absolutely no interest in and it was really irritating.

A few enterprising individuals wrote utilities that prevented pop-up windows from appearing on the screen and it reduced the annoyance factor of these somewhat. Then anti-pop-up facilities started appearing in web browsers and now it is a standard feature of modern software. You just tick a box in the settings to prevent pop-up windows with adverts and other junk from appearing on the screen. In fact, you probably don't even need to go into the settings because it is usually set by default.

Now that we have blocked most pop-ups and regained control of our browsers, there is a new threat to our sanity - rollovers. They are driving me nuts. What is a rollover? A typical example is a website that has a menu bar at the top of the web page or somewhere on it. When the mouse rolls over the menu bar the menus drop down and are overlaid on the page. Sometimes the technique is used for adverts too and there may be a small advert on the page and when the mouse rolls over it, it expands to double or treble its size. Other objects on the web page may trigger similar effects when the mouse rolls over them and they cause panels to appear, display boxes, drop down menus, pop up definitions and links, and so on.

Navigating web pages is like an arcade game in which you have to try to move the mouse from its current position on the web page to the link or button you want to click without triggering numerous effects when it rolls over items. I rarely succeed. The most common thought that springs to mind when navigating the web these days is 'Agggghhhh!' as I get caught out yet again by some rollover and it gets in the way of what I want to do.